Moral and Legal Responsibility of Psychopathic Offenders
This essay examines the definition of psychopath and whether psychopaths should be held accountable for their wrongdoing from moral and legal perspective in Australian context.
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A psychopath is defined as a person having no concerns for the feelings of
others and a complete disregard for any sense of social obligation (Hare, 1993). They
seem egocentric and function without the restraint of a conscience (Stout, 2005).
Their emotions are thought to be superficial and shallow, if they exist at all
(Chapman, Gremore & Farmer, 2003). They are considered callous, manipulative and
they typically never perform any action that they think will not benefit them. This
paper will consider responsibility status of the psychopath from legal, philosophical
and psychological perspectives. Based on the understanding that psychopaths should
be held accountable for their own actions, this paper will consider whether we, as
society, should punish or treat psychopaths.
Under Australian law, psychopathy alone will not support a defense of nonresponsibility, such as legal insanity. The...
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