Criminal responsibility and human capacity: why impaired mental functioning affects moral culpability

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Declaration of conflicts of interest

Chris Maxwell has declared no conflicts of interest.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Notes

1 Byast v The Queen [2021] VSCA 344, [5] (“Byast”).

2 Oxford University Press, 2016, pp 27–31.

3 N Naffine, Human Agents in Criminal Law and its Scholarship, (2011) 35 Crim LJ 51, 53; see also Bronitt, S and McSherry, B (2010), Principles of Criminal Law (3rd ed), 38.

4 [2011] VSCA 311, [23].

5 Emphasis added see also Davies v The Queen [2019] VSCA 66, [295]; KR v The Queen [2012] NSWCCA 32, [20]–[22].

6 [2021] VSCA 160, [13]–[14] (“Herrmann”).

7 (2007) 16 VR 269 (“Verdins”).

8 [1996] 1 VR 398.

9 (2007) 16 VR 269, [26].

10 RA Duff, Answering for Crime: Responsibility and Liability in the Criminal Law, Hart Publishing, 2007.

11 Ibid 39.

12 Ibid 291.

13 Edwards v The Queen [2020] VSCA 339, [31].

14 DPP v Sokaluk [2013] VSCA 48, [37], Qui v The Queen [2019] VSCA 147, [73].

15 DPP v Weidlich [2008] VSCA 203, [17].

16 Veerman v The Queen [2012] VSCA 194, [22].

17 Tran v The Queen [2012] VSCA 110, [21], DPP v Boyles (a pseudonym) [2016] VSCA 267, [42].

18 DPP v Moore [2009] VSCA 264, [7].

19 [2009] VSCA 222, [47]–[49].

20 [2020] VSCA 212 (“Brown”).

21 Reasons, [35].

22 Brown [2020] VSCA 212, [80], [82].

23 [2021] VSCA 160, [52].

24 Carroll v The Queen [2011] VSCA 150; Charles v R (2011) 34 VR 41; DPP v O’Neil (2015) 47 VR 395.

25 R v Shafik-Eid [2009] VSCA 217, [27].

26 [2011] VSCA 150, [20]–[22].

27 [2012] VSCA 130, [28]–[29].

28 [2021] VSCA 215, [64]; see also Smith v The Queen [2020] VSCA 165, [42].

29 Rakatau v The Queen [2021] VSCA 76.

30 Johnston v The Queen [2013] VSCA 362, [15].

31 DPP v Boyles (a pseudonym) [2016] VSCA 267, [433].

32 [2015] VSCA 333, [43]–[45].

33 [2021] VSCA 344, [40]–[42].

34 [2015] VSCA 160, [14].

35 N Lacey, Philosophical Foundations of the Common Law: Social, Not Metaphysical, in J Horder (ed), Oxford Essays in Jurisprudence (2000).

36 https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/law-and-practice/practice-notes/sc-cr-7-expert-reports-on-mental-functioning-of-offenders.

37 [2020] VSCA 212.