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The guilty mind and criminal sentencing: integrating legal and empirical inquiry as illustrated by capital sentencing
Author(s) -
Schopp Robert F.,
Patry Marc W.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.551
Subject(s) - culpability , mens rea , doctrine , criminal law , interpretation (philosophy) , law , punishment (psychology) , criminology , psychology , political science , sociology , social psychology , computer science , programming language
Abstract We articulate an interpretation of mens rea that is broader than the traditional special sense but narrower than the traditional general sense. Mens rea in this intermediate sense addresses the guilty mind required by the sentencing criteria for specific criminal sentences for particular offenses. We advance an analytic structure for the integration of legal and empirical inquiry regarding standards of culpability that establish eligibility for capital punishment under contemporary United States legal doctrine. This structure addresses legal standards of culpability directly as well as indirectly in the form of evolving standards of decency. The general form of this analysis should be applicable more generally to sentencing provisions that address culpability as a sentencing consideration for other criminal sentences. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.