Gordon W. Russell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195189599
- eISBN:
- 9780199868445
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195189599.003.0001
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter highlights the role of international and regional cultures in shaping our behaviors toward others. The influence of worthy and unworthy sports heroes on their admirers is examined with ...
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This chapter highlights the role of international and regional cultures in shaping our behaviors toward others. The influence of worthy and unworthy sports heroes on their admirers is examined with regard to aggression. The actions of third parties are shown to be capable of directly or indirectly influencing levels of aggression in others. A large majority of people are shown to be obedient to authority figures, even following orders to ostensibly harm another person. Large-scale disorders are frequently found to have originated with exceedingly petty provocations that escalate to violence. Gender, racial, and occupational groups are often targets for aggression by others holding stereotypical attitudes.Less
This chapter highlights the role of international and regional cultures in shaping our behaviors toward others. The influence of worthy and unworthy sports heroes on their admirers is examined with regard to aggression. The actions of third parties are shown to be capable of directly or indirectly influencing levels of aggression in others. A large majority of people are shown to be obedient to authority figures, even following orders to ostensibly harm another person. Large-scale disorders are frequently found to have originated with exceedingly petty provocations that escalate to violence. Gender, racial, and occupational groups are often targets for aggression by others holding stereotypical attitudes.
Amy J. Binder and Kate Wood
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691145372
- eISBN:
- 9781400844876
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691145372.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
This chapter examines three conservative styles in which undergraduates at Eastern Elite University are engaged: civilized discourse, highbrow provocation, and a fuller embrace of campaigning. ...
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This chapter examines three conservative styles in which undergraduates at Eastern Elite University are engaged: civilized discourse, highbrow provocation, and a fuller embrace of campaigning. Civilized discourse is the form of expression that Eastern Elite's conservative students use and philosophize about most frequently, regardless of which right-leaning club they belong to. Members of the university's chapter of the College Republicans were the most avid proponents of the civilized discourse style. The chapter first considers the students' explanations for why certain forms of political expression are preferred or disdained in their clubs and on their wider campus before discussing how organizational structures at Eastern Elite influence students' ideas and behavior.Less
This chapter examines three conservative styles in which undergraduates at Eastern Elite University are engaged: civilized discourse, highbrow provocation, and a fuller embrace of campaigning. Civilized discourse is the form of expression that Eastern Elite's conservative students use and philosophize about most frequently, regardless of which right-leaning club they belong to. Members of the university's chapter of the College Republicans were the most avid proponents of the civilized discourse style. The chapter first considers the students' explanations for why certain forms of political expression are preferred or disdained in their clubs and on their wider campus before discussing how organizational structures at Eastern Elite influence students' ideas and behavior.
Jerome Neu
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195314311
- eISBN:
- 9780199871780
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314311.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Modern rap battles are a continuation of the traditional dozens played by black male adolescents. Such insult rituals allow for the controlled expression of aggression and the defining of boundaries ...
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Modern rap battles are a continuation of the traditional dozens played by black male adolescents. Such insult rituals allow for the controlled expression of aggression and the defining of boundaries (between adolescents and their mothers as well as among peers). Still, there are limits, and what starts as playful insult sometimes crosses over into personal insult. The aggression is sometimes naked, as in Brazilian briga. Even looking at someone “the wrong way” can be a provocation in a world of macho honor. How we are looked at and how we are seen raise issues of who we are, of status and honor.Less
Modern rap battles are a continuation of the traditional dozens played by black male adolescents. Such insult rituals allow for the controlled expression of aggression and the defining of boundaries (between adolescents and their mothers as well as among peers). Still, there are limits, and what starts as playful insult sometimes crosses over into personal insult. The aggression is sometimes naked, as in Brazilian briga. Even looking at someone “the wrong way” can be a provocation in a world of macho honor. How we are looked at and how we are seen raise issues of who we are, of status and honor.
Jerome Neu
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195314311
- eISBN:
- 9780199871780
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314311.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
Because speech can also be conduct, words deeds, the First Amendment cannot provide blanket protection for all offensive speech. This is especially true for what J.L. Austin calls “performative ...
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Because speech can also be conduct, words deeds, the First Amendment cannot provide blanket protection for all offensive speech. This is especially true for what J.L. Austin calls “performative utterances.” We must try to be clear on the principles at stake‐‐as claims to freedom of speech meet claims of self‐defense and provocation‐‐as we seek to draw legal boundaries to control fighting words, obscenity, and hate speech.Less
Because speech can also be conduct, words deeds, the First Amendment cannot provide blanket protection for all offensive speech. This is especially true for what J.L. Austin calls “performative utterances.” We must try to be clear on the principles at stake‐‐as claims to freedom of speech meet claims of self‐defense and provocation‐‐as we seek to draw legal boundaries to control fighting words, obscenity, and hate speech.
Andrew Ashworth and Barry Mitchell (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198299158
- eISBN:
- 9780191685637
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299158.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
The law of homicide is probably the most high-profile area of the criminal law, and yet in recent years it has been relatively neglected by law-reform agencies. This book brings together six English ...
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The law of homicide is probably the most high-profile area of the criminal law, and yet in recent years it has been relatively neglected by law-reform agencies. This book brings together six English criminal lawyers to discuss the future shape of the English law of homicide, and deals with such important topics as the definition of murder, the relevance of mental-abnormality provocation, unintentional killings, defences, and sentencing. It also considers broad policy choices and matters of detail in their contemporary social and legal contexts, and highlights the difficult issues that need to be tackled if we are to have an up-to-date law for murder and manslaughter.Less
The law of homicide is probably the most high-profile area of the criminal law, and yet in recent years it has been relatively neglected by law-reform agencies. This book brings together six English criminal lawyers to discuss the future shape of the English law of homicide, and deals with such important topics as the definition of murder, the relevance of mental-abnormality provocation, unintentional killings, defences, and sentencing. It also considers broad policy choices and matters of detail in their contemporary social and legal contexts, and highlights the difficult issues that need to be tackled if we are to have an up-to-date law for murder and manslaughter.
Jeremy Horder
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198256960
- eISBN:
- 9780191681707
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198256960.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology, Philosophy of Law
This book draws on historical and philosophical sources not normally linked in analysis of the criminal law, to provide a detailed study of the effect of provocation on culpability in morality and ...
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This book draws on historical and philosophical sources not normally linked in analysis of the criminal law, to provide a detailed study of the effect of provocation on culpability in morality and law. It traces the fascinating history and colourful development of the legal doctrine of provocation, right up to present-day controversies over the scope of the doctrine’s application in murder cases. These developments are illuminated throughout by setting them in the context of the changing moral and philosophical understanding of anger, its effect on responsibility, and the role it plays in the human character.Less
This book draws on historical and philosophical sources not normally linked in analysis of the criminal law, to provide a detailed study of the effect of provocation on culpability in morality and law. It traces the fascinating history and colourful development of the legal doctrine of provocation, right up to present-day controversies over the scope of the doctrine’s application in murder cases. These developments are illuminated throughout by setting them in the context of the changing moral and philosophical understanding of anger, its effect on responsibility, and the role it plays in the human character.
Jeremy Horder
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198256960
- eISBN:
- 9780191681707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198256960.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology, Philosophy of Law
This book is about moral and legal responsibility for provoked retaliation. It focuses on the historical and philosophical underpinnings of the legal doctrine of provocation. In English law, that ...
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This book is about moral and legal responsibility for provoked retaliation. It focuses on the historical and philosophical underpinnings of the legal doctrine of provocation. In English law, that doctrine has the effect of reducing criminal liability for a killing to manslaughter for what would otherwise be murder. The book aims to form historical insights and philosophical analysis into what one might call the story of the doctrine of provocation. It examines how provocation emerged as a partial defence to murder, how the legal understanding of the nature of action in anger appeared radically to change during the doctrine’s history, and how the doctrine’s mitigating effect has been explained and justified.Less
This book is about moral and legal responsibility for provoked retaliation. It focuses on the historical and philosophical underpinnings of the legal doctrine of provocation. In English law, that doctrine has the effect of reducing criminal liability for a killing to manslaughter for what would otherwise be murder. The book aims to form historical insights and philosophical analysis into what one might call the story of the doctrine of provocation. It examines how provocation emerged as a partial defence to murder, how the legal understanding of the nature of action in anger appeared radically to change during the doctrine’s history, and how the doctrine’s mitigating effect has been explained and justified.
Paul Robinson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199250219
- eISBN:
- 9780191719547
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199250219.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Years of exile, the economic effects of the Great Depression, and the growing strength of the Soviet regime, combined to undermine the morale of military émigrés in the 1930s. Within ROVS, there was ...
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Years of exile, the economic effects of the Great Depression, and the growing strength of the Soviet regime, combined to undermine the morale of military émigrés in the 1930s. Within ROVS, there was growing discontent with the leadership of General E. K. Miller. Younger generals, such as Generals Turkul and Skoblin, sought to push ROVS into greater underground activity within the Soviet Union, but Miller resisted. Disputes on this issue divided further. Accusations of Soviet provocation abounded, as émigrés became increasingly paranoid.Less
Years of exile, the economic effects of the Great Depression, and the growing strength of the Soviet regime, combined to undermine the morale of military émigrés in the 1930s. Within ROVS, there was growing discontent with the leadership of General E. K. Miller. Younger generals, such as Generals Turkul and Skoblin, sought to push ROVS into greater underground activity within the Soviet Union, but Miller resisted. Disputes on this issue divided further. Accusations of Soviet provocation abounded, as émigrés became increasingly paranoid.
James R. Lewis
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195156829
- eISBN:
- 9780199784806
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019515682X.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This essay examines the Order of the Solar Temple, focusing on founder Joseph Di Mambro. His idiosyncracies provide keys for understanding the Solar Temple’s dramatic final “transit.” The focus on Di ...
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This essay examines the Order of the Solar Temple, focusing on founder Joseph Di Mambro. His idiosyncracies provide keys for understanding the Solar Temple’s dramatic final “transit.” The focus on Di Mambro then feeds into a broader analysis of the three primary suicide cults examined by contemporary scholars: the People’s Temple, the Solar Temple, and Heaven’s Gate. It is argued that millennialism and external provocation are not as central for understanding suicide groups as previous analysts have suggested. Instead, a leader with failing health along with other factors characteristic of intensive religious groups are more important in predicting which groups are predisposed to suicide.Less
This essay examines the Order of the Solar Temple, focusing on founder Joseph Di Mambro. His idiosyncracies provide keys for understanding the Solar Temple’s dramatic final “transit.” The focus on Di Mambro then feeds into a broader analysis of the three primary suicide cults examined by contemporary scholars: the People’s Temple, the Solar Temple, and Heaven’s Gate. It is argued that millennialism and external provocation are not as central for understanding suicide groups as previous analysts have suggested. Instead, a leader with failing health along with other factors characteristic of intensive religious groups are more important in predicting which groups are predisposed to suicide.
Alan Brudner
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199207251
- eISBN:
- 9780191705502
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207251.003.0008
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter proposes a theory of excuse that, without blending it into exculpation, avoids the condonation of crime. The question it takes up is: given that neither compulsion by circumstances nor ...
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This chapter proposes a theory of excuse that, without blending it into exculpation, avoids the condonation of crime. The question it takes up is: given that neither compulsion by circumstances nor by human threats removes the legal reason for punishing, how can its exonerating force be rendered compatible with the state's general duty to punish the guilty? The chapter criticizes various proposals for reconciling excuse with the duty to punish the guilty, including the moral involuntariness theory, the concession to frailty theory, the conformity to moral expectation theory, and the suspension of law's threat theory. It then proposes a solution: moral blamelessness exonerates because it simulates the conditions for legal exculpation. Just as the exculpated actor acknowledges the legal norm of mutual respect for agents, so does the excused actor acknowledge the public reason of the self-sufficient political community of which the legal norm is a part. The chapter argues that this theory would excuse the altruistic no less than the self-preferring murderer. It also offers a unifying explanation for the excusing force of entrapment, due diligence, and officially-induced error. Finally, it explains partial excuses as moral analogues of partial exculpations.Less
This chapter proposes a theory of excuse that, without blending it into exculpation, avoids the condonation of crime. The question it takes up is: given that neither compulsion by circumstances nor by human threats removes the legal reason for punishing, how can its exonerating force be rendered compatible with the state's general duty to punish the guilty? The chapter criticizes various proposals for reconciling excuse with the duty to punish the guilty, including the moral involuntariness theory, the concession to frailty theory, the conformity to moral expectation theory, and the suspension of law's threat theory. It then proposes a solution: moral blamelessness exonerates because it simulates the conditions for legal exculpation. Just as the exculpated actor acknowledges the legal norm of mutual respect for agents, so does the excused actor acknowledge the public reason of the self-sufficient political community of which the legal norm is a part. The chapter argues that this theory would excuse the altruistic no less than the self-preferring murderer. It also offers a unifying explanation for the excusing force of entrapment, due diligence, and officially-induced error. Finally, it explains partial excuses as moral analogues of partial exculpations.
Phil Branigan
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014991
- eISBN:
- 9780262295673
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014991.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Lexicography
Chomsky showed that no description of natural language syntax would be adequate without some notion of movement operations in a syntactic derivation. It now seems likely that such movement ...
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Chomsky showed that no description of natural language syntax would be adequate without some notion of movement operations in a syntactic derivation. It now seems likely that such movement transformations are formally simple operations, in which a single phrase is displaced from its original position within a phrase marker, but after more than fifty years of generative theorizing, the mechanics of syntactic movement are still murky and controversial. This book examines the forces that drive syntactic movement and offers a new synthetic model of the basic movement operation by reassembling isolated ideas which have been suggested elsewhere in the literature. The unifying concept is the operation of provocation, which occurs in the course of feature valuation when certain probes seek a value for their unvalued features by identifying a goal. Provocation forces the generation of a copy of the goal; the copy originates outside the original phrase marker and must then be introduced into it. In this approach, movement is not forced by the need for extra positions; extra positions are generated because movement is taking place. After presenting the central proposal and showing its implementation in the analyses of various familiar cases of syntactic movement, the author demonstrates the effects of provocation in a variety of inversion constructions; examines interactions between head and phrasal provocation within the “left periphery” of Germanic embedded clauses; and describes the details of chain formation and successive cyclic movement in a provocation model.Less
Chomsky showed that no description of natural language syntax would be adequate without some notion of movement operations in a syntactic derivation. It now seems likely that such movement transformations are formally simple operations, in which a single phrase is displaced from its original position within a phrase marker, but after more than fifty years of generative theorizing, the mechanics of syntactic movement are still murky and controversial. This book examines the forces that drive syntactic movement and offers a new synthetic model of the basic movement operation by reassembling isolated ideas which have been suggested elsewhere in the literature. The unifying concept is the operation of provocation, which occurs in the course of feature valuation when certain probes seek a value for their unvalued features by identifying a goal. Provocation forces the generation of a copy of the goal; the copy originates outside the original phrase marker and must then be introduced into it. In this approach, movement is not forced by the need for extra positions; extra positions are generated because movement is taking place. After presenting the central proposal and showing its implementation in the analyses of various familiar cases of syntactic movement, the author demonstrates the effects of provocation in a variety of inversion constructions; examines interactions between head and phrasal provocation within the “left periphery” of Germanic embedded clauses; and describes the details of chain formation and successive cyclic movement in a provocation model.
Jeremy Horder
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198256960
- eISBN:
- 9780191681707
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198256960.003.0008
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology, Philosophy of Law
This chapter considers other theorists’ analyses of the doctrine of provocation, and the concepts of anger than underpin those analyses. It looks at the moral aspects of retaliation in anger upon ...
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This chapter considers other theorists’ analyses of the doctrine of provocation, and the concepts of anger than underpin those analyses. It looks at the moral aspects of retaliation in anger upon provocation, and the degree of blame to be attached to departure from a mean, right, or proper degree of retaliation. These other aspects are the meaning of ‘grave’ provocation and the fate of the victim’s body.Less
This chapter considers other theorists’ analyses of the doctrine of provocation, and the concepts of anger than underpin those analyses. It looks at the moral aspects of retaliation in anger upon provocation, and the degree of blame to be attached to departure from a mean, right, or proper degree of retaliation. These other aspects are the meaning of ‘grave’ provocation and the fate of the victim’s body.
Sergey A. Ivanov and Simon Franklin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199272518
- eISBN:
- 9780191709746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199272518.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
The first tale dedicated specifically to a fake fool in a cenobitic monastery is the legend of a ‘mad’ nun who turns out to be the only saint in the nunnery. This ‘Cinderella’ is initially depicted ...
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The first tale dedicated specifically to a fake fool in a cenobitic monastery is the legend of a ‘mad’ nun who turns out to be the only saint in the nunnery. This ‘Cinderella’ is initially depicted as meek and speechless, but later on, as the hagiographic motif developed, the holy fool's passive provocativeness is transformed into active aggression. The nun, initially anonymous, acquires a name — Onesima, later Isidora and later still, she evolves into another kind of extravagant sanctity — pious transvestite.Less
The first tale dedicated specifically to a fake fool in a cenobitic monastery is the legend of a ‘mad’ nun who turns out to be the only saint in the nunnery. This ‘Cinderella’ is initially depicted as meek and speechless, but later on, as the hagiographic motif developed, the holy fool's passive provocativeness is transformed into active aggression. The nun, initially anonymous, acquires a name — Onesima, later Isidora and later still, she evolves into another kind of extravagant sanctity — pious transvestite.
Phil Branigan
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262014991
- eISBN:
- 9780262295673
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262014991.003.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Lexicography
This introductory chapter briefly sets out the book’s focus, namely syntactic movement and the forces that drive it. The book presents a partially new model of the basic movement operation in syntax. ...
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This introductory chapter briefly sets out the book’s focus, namely syntactic movement and the forces that drive it. The book presents a partially new model of the basic movement operation in syntax. The unifying concept in this model is the operation of provocation, which occurs in the course of feature valuation when certain probes seek a value for their unvalued features by identifying a goal to supply what they lack. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This introductory chapter briefly sets out the book’s focus, namely syntactic movement and the forces that drive it. The book presents a partially new model of the basic movement operation in syntax. The unifying concept in this model is the operation of provocation, which occurs in the course of feature valuation when certain probes seek a value for their unvalued features by identifying a goal to supply what they lack. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Sergey A. Ivanov and Simon Franklin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199272518
- eISBN:
- 9780191709746
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199272518.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Extravagant behaviour may qualify as holy foolery only if those who watch it assume that what lies beneath is sanity and pious purposes. The Orthodox Church holds that the holy fool voluntarily takes ...
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Extravagant behaviour may qualify as holy foolery only if those who watch it assume that what lies beneath is sanity and pious purposes. The Orthodox Church holds that the holy fool voluntarily takes upon himself the mask of insanity in order that he may thereby conceal his own perfection from the world and hence avoid the vanity of worldly praise. What prompts a given community to perceive signs of holiness where the only thing visible at an empirical level is insanity? An attempt is made to distinguish between holy fools and similar phenomena like shamans, clowns, jesters, mystics, and religious incendiaries.Less
Extravagant behaviour may qualify as holy foolery only if those who watch it assume that what lies beneath is sanity and pious purposes. The Orthodox Church holds that the holy fool voluntarily takes upon himself the mask of insanity in order that he may thereby conceal his own perfection from the world and hence avoid the vanity of worldly praise. What prompts a given community to perceive signs of holiness where the only thing visible at an empirical level is insanity? An attempt is made to distinguish between holy fools and similar phenomena like shamans, clowns, jesters, mystics, and religious incendiaries.
Barry Mitchell
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199696796
- eISBN:
- 9780191742293
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199696796.003.0008
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology, Philosophy of Law
On 4 October 2010 the old common law plea of provocation which, if successful, reduced murder to voluntary manslaughter, was abolished and replaced by the partial defence of loss of control. This was ...
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On 4 October 2010 the old common law plea of provocation which, if successful, reduced murder to voluntary manslaughter, was abolished and replaced by the partial defence of loss of control. This was the culmination of a crescendo of criticism and frustration over three or four decades of case law, especially about, firstly, the requirement of a loss of self-control, and the apparent bias in favour of male reactions to provocation, and the law's inadequate accommodation of female reactions; and, secondly, the nature of the normative element in the law and the extent to which personal characteristics of the defendant could be taken into account. This chapter reviews some of the key elements and concerns about the old common law before turning to explore its statutory replacement. In so doing, it argues that the decision to base the new law on a loss of control requirement is fundamentally misguided. Whilst the use of ambiguous words and phrases may allow the courts a necessary measure of discretion, it will simultaneously risk injustice to some deserving defendants. The chapter also suggests that the objective requirement in the new plea has not been adequately thought through.Less
On 4 October 2010 the old common law plea of provocation which, if successful, reduced murder to voluntary manslaughter, was abolished and replaced by the partial defence of loss of control. This was the culmination of a crescendo of criticism and frustration over three or four decades of case law, especially about, firstly, the requirement of a loss of self-control, and the apparent bias in favour of male reactions to provocation, and the law's inadequate accommodation of female reactions; and, secondly, the nature of the normative element in the law and the extent to which personal characteristics of the defendant could be taken into account. This chapter reviews some of the key elements and concerns about the old common law before turning to explore its statutory replacement. In so doing, it argues that the decision to base the new law on a loss of control requirement is fundamentally misguided. Whilst the use of ambiguous words and phrases may allow the courts a necessary measure of discretion, it will simultaneously risk injustice to some deserving defendants. The chapter also suggests that the objective requirement in the new plea has not been adequately thought through.
Jeremy Horder
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199561919
- eISBN:
- 9780191743306
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199561919.003.0008
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter tells the story of the post-war reforms to defences to murder, through a re-consideration of the reforms proposed by Royal Commission on Capital Punishment (1953). The favoured ...
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This chapter tells the story of the post-war reforms to defences to murder, through a re-consideration of the reforms proposed by Royal Commission on Capital Punishment (1953). The favoured recommendations of the Royal Commission would have given a wide-ranging discretionary role in sentence mitigation to the judge and jury in individual murder cases. These recommendations were rejected by a government fearful of the public's reaction to the shrinking scope for the death penalty that such change would have involved. Instead, the government brought in new but narrowly focused partial defences to murder, and only slightly (albeit significantly) broadened the old defence of provocation. The result was a more heavily doctrinal approach to the circumstances in which a partial defence to murder applied than was favoured by the Royal Commission. Predictably, this approach mired the law in a bog of ever-thickening legal complexity from which there is now little hope of escape.Less
This chapter tells the story of the post-war reforms to defences to murder, through a re-consideration of the reforms proposed by Royal Commission on Capital Punishment (1953). The favoured recommendations of the Royal Commission would have given a wide-ranging discretionary role in sentence mitigation to the judge and jury in individual murder cases. These recommendations were rejected by a government fearful of the public's reaction to the shrinking scope for the death penalty that such change would have involved. Instead, the government brought in new but narrowly focused partial defences to murder, and only slightly (albeit significantly) broadened the old defence of provocation. The result was a more heavily doctrinal approach to the circumstances in which a partial defence to murder applied than was favoured by the Royal Commission. Predictably, this approach mired the law in a bog of ever-thickening legal complexity from which there is now little hope of escape.
Mayo Moran
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199247820
- eISBN:
- 9780191714788
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199247820.003.0007
- Subject:
- Law, Philosophy of Law
While the feminist and egalitarian debates concerning objective standards may sometimes seem incoherent or contradictory, exploring them provides a helpful point of departure for thinking through the ...
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While the feminist and egalitarian debates concerning objective standards may sometimes seem incoherent or contradictory, exploring them provides a helpful point of departure for thinking through the equality effects of the reasonable person. There is no doubt that feminists are awkwardly positioned on the question of the reasonable person. Feminism has traditionally expressed wariness, both about the reasonable man and more broadly about fashioning any defensible form of the objective standard. Indeed, feminists have been among the most prominent critics of the very idea of objectivity. The feminist literature is an obvious point of departure for considering the broader question of whether objective reasonableness standards are worth saving. After all, feminists have been among the most powerful critics of the reasonable man. This chapter examines feminist critiques of self-defence and provocation, equality and provocation, and sexual assault and the reasonable person.Less
While the feminist and egalitarian debates concerning objective standards may sometimes seem incoherent or contradictory, exploring them provides a helpful point of departure for thinking through the equality effects of the reasonable person. There is no doubt that feminists are awkwardly positioned on the question of the reasonable person. Feminism has traditionally expressed wariness, both about the reasonable man and more broadly about fashioning any defensible form of the objective standard. Indeed, feminists have been among the most prominent critics of the very idea of objectivity. The feminist literature is an obvious point of departure for considering the broader question of whether objective reasonableness standards are worth saving. After all, feminists have been among the most powerful critics of the reasonable man. This chapter examines feminist critiques of self-defence and provocation, equality and provocation, and sexual assault and the reasonable person.
VICTOR TADROS
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199225828
- eISBN:
- 9780191718571
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199225828.003.0014
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
It is sometimes argued that it is wrong to adjust standards of reasonableness that are imposed in the criminal law to accommodate particular characteristics or deficiencies that the defendant might ...
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It is sometimes argued that it is wrong to adjust standards of reasonableness that are imposed in the criminal law to accommodate particular characteristics or deficiencies that the defendant might have. That view is attacked in this chapter. It is suggested that we may adjust standards according to the expectations that we can reasonably have of people with various different characteristics. This allows a principled line to be drawn between factors which tend to erode criminal responsibility and those that do not. This argument is developed in the context of the law of provocation where the issue has been most thoroughly examined.Less
It is sometimes argued that it is wrong to adjust standards of reasonableness that are imposed in the criminal law to accommodate particular characteristics or deficiencies that the defendant might have. That view is attacked in this chapter. It is suggested that we may adjust standards according to the expectations that we can reasonably have of people with various different characteristics. This allows a principled line to be drawn between factors which tend to erode criminal responsibility and those that do not. This argument is developed in the context of the law of provocation where the issue has been most thoroughly examined.
Jeremy Horder
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199225781
- eISBN:
- 9780191715174
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199225781.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter provides an ‘anatomy’ of excuses, a close examination of the sometimes very different elements of which each is comprised. It begins by focusing on three different dimensions to excuses, ...
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This chapter provides an ‘anatomy’ of excuses, a close examination of the sometimes very different elements of which each is comprised. It begins by focusing on three different dimensions to excuses, without turning into an issue of critical importance the question whether they involve either motivational or judgmental elements. It then goes on to break down for the purposes of existing excusing conditions the meaning of a ‘rational defect’ in a morally salient moving force behind an action respecting which one remains morally active.Less
This chapter provides an ‘anatomy’ of excuses, a close examination of the sometimes very different elements of which each is comprised. It begins by focusing on three different dimensions to excuses, without turning into an issue of critical importance the question whether they involve either motivational or judgmental elements. It then goes on to break down for the purposes of existing excusing conditions the meaning of a ‘rational defect’ in a morally salient moving force behind an action respecting which one remains morally active.
