The Emotional Brain and the Guilty Mind : Novel Paradigms of Culpability and Punishment

This book seeks to reframe the normative narrative of the ‘culpable person’ in American criminal law through a more humanising lens. It embraces such a reframed narrative to revise the criteria of the current voluntarist architecture of culpability and to advance a paradigm of punishment that positions social rehabilitation as its core principle. The book constructs this narrative by considering behavioural and neuroscientific insights into the functions of emotions, and socio-environmental factors within moral behaviour in social settings. Hence, it suggests culpability notions that reflect a more contextualised view of human conduct, and argues that such revised notions are better suited to the principle of personal guilt. Furthermore, it suggests a model of ‘punishment’ that values the dynamic power of change of individuals, and acknowledges the importance of social relationships and positive environments to foster patterns of social (re) integration. Ultimately, this book argues that the potential adoption of the proposed models of culpability and punishment, which view people through a more comprehensive lens, may be a key factor for turning criminal justice into a less punitive, more inclusionary and non-stigmatising system. Acknowledgements Table of Contents Table of Cases Table of Statutes Prologue Overview of the Book 1. The Rationalist Soul of Culpability: An Analysis of the Guilty Mind I. Introduction II. The 'Broad' Nature of Culpability III. Autonomy and Rationality: Framing the Model of the 'Person' in Criminal Law IV. The Voluntarist Architecture of Culpability: Choice, Capacity, and Fair Opportunity V. Voluntarism and Legal Doctrine VI. Voluntarism, Emotions, and Socio-Environmental Factors VII. Emotions and Socio-environmental Factors in Sentencing VIII. Conclusion 2. From the Guilty Mind to the Punished Person: Criminal Culpability through the 'Evolution' of Punishment I. Introduction II. Rational Individualism and the Enlightenment III. Between Libertarian and Scientific Individualism IV. The Rise and Fall of Treatmentist Rehabilitation: From Penal Modernism to the Model Penal Code V. Voluntarism and the Resurgence of Retribution VI. Backlashes VII. Conclusion 3. Critiques of the Model of the 'Person' in Culpability and Punishment I. Introduction II. A Thin Account of Human Agency III. A Static View of the Culpable Person IV. Dehumanisation V. Conclusion 4. Emotions, the Social Environment, and the Brain I. Introduction II. The Emotional Brain III. Emotions, Empathy, and Moral Behaviour IV. From the Emotional Brain to the Social Brain: How the Social Environment Becomes Embedded and Informs Social Behaviour V. Emotional Plasticity, Social Connections, and Positive Behavioural Change VI. The Pain of Social Exclusion VII. Conclusion 5. Holistic and Situated Culpability I. Introduction II. Autonomy and Rationality as Multidimensional Concepts: Reframing the 'Person' in Criminal Law III. Holistic and Situated Culpability: Revising the Architecture of the Current Paradigm IV. Implications for Legal Doctrine V. Holistic and Situated Culpability, and the Personal Guilt Principle VI. Conclusion 6. Social Rehabilitation I. Introduction II. Dynamic Personhood III. Social Rehabilitation: Theory, Pillars, and Normative Value IV. Practical Corollaries V. Conclusion Epilogue Bibliography Index "This book seeks to reframe the normative narrative of the 'culpable person' in American criminal law through a more humanising lens. It embraces such reframed narrative to revise the criteria of the current voluntarist architecture of culpability and advance a paradigm of punishment that positions social rehabilitation as its core principle. The book constructs this narrative by considering behavioural and neuroscientific insights into the functions of emotions, and socio-environmental factors within moral behaviour in social settings. Hence, it suggests culpability notions that reflect a more contextualised view of human conduct, and argues that such revised notions are better suited to the principle of personal guilt. Furthermore, it suggests a model of 'punishment' that values the dynamic power of change of individuals, and acknowledges the importance of social relationships and positive environments to foster patterns of social (re)integration. Ultimately, this book argues that the potential adoption of the proposed models of culpability and punishment, which view people through a more comprehensive lens, may be a key factor for turning criminal justice into a less punitive, more inclusionary and non-stigmatising system"-- Provided by publisher