Knowledge, Values, & Rationality

Should a person be held responsible for their actions if they are unable to regulate them? Why?

What would Sam Harris say?

Is there ever an excuse for committing a crime? If someone is unable to control their actions because they are mentally ill, do they need to be controlled somehow? A mental illness can be defined by changes in someone’s behavior, thinking, or feelings, which causes difficulty in functioning normally. They need to be monitored in order to protect themselves and others from their potential harmful actions. Some may argue that no matter how mentally unstable a person is, they should be punished for carrying out a crime. If someone is not following the laws our society has put into place, then there needs to be some sort of action to prevent further incidents. We want our communities to be safe and promote optimal well being for everyone, as Sam Harris would say. We should hold a person responsible for their actions whether they live in reality or not. I do think that the punishment should vary for people who are not able to think logically. I also want to address the role of science and how it can help to solve problems.

Harris is in favor of anything that supports overall well being for everyone. So if a mentally insane person lashes out and commits a crime then they should be withdrawn from society. Harris would most likely agree that it is unsafe to have a mentally unstable criminal free in our society. Their punishment would most likely vary depending on the crime and his or her mental state. Also, Harris would suggest science as a way to determine someone’s punishment and figure out why the person committed the crime. Science can help us to understand an abnormality in the body, but it may not be able to fully solve a problem. (2)

I believe that everyone should be held responsible for his or her actions. Let’s say that a person with a brain tumor kills someone on purpose, without prior knowledge of an existing growth. The question is should we put them in prison or send them to an institution to get treatment? I would say that we need to get this person physical and mental help and withdraw them from society. For a patient with a brain tumor, I would suggest a mental health institute, so that they can fully heal. The tumor could have a huge impact on that person’s decision-making skills and I don’t think they should go to a prison where other inmates understand their punishment, whereas the person with the tumor may not. We would also need to figure out to what degree the tumor was effecting his or her judgment. Science could further our understanding of this, to a extent.

Science would play a slight role in cases like these because it could tell us facts about the person’s physical state. According to CCHR, “There are no tests in existence that can prove mental “disorders” are medical conditions. Psychiatric diagnosis is based solely on opinion.” (1) So with that said, these mental cases become even more complex because science alone can’t tell us whether the crime was performed due to an illness or not. After science has done all that it can do, the outcome of a case is in the hands of mental health specialists. Sometimes there is no way to prevent a mentally unstable person from committing a crime. So I think an important thing to do when an ill person commits a crime is to understand how their abnormalities influenced their wrong doing. Science can help us figure out their physical concerns but it won’t necessarily tell us why they acted the way they did. Every case is different, so it’s hard to make a statement about how harsh the punishment should be. It is difficult to rely solely on science to determine the cause of people’s actions. In the real world, decisions are made based on many factors, not just science.

So getting back to the main question.. yes I do think that people should be punished for committing a crime even if they can’t think logically. Severity of the punishment should vary from case to case because someone may have an obvious abnormality (like a brain tumor) that clearly influenced his or her rationality. Other times it is not so clear as to what motivated them to carry out a crime. Harris would most likely agree that we must pull them out of society, so that further harm doesn’t take place. He would say that we want to live in a world where we feel our well being is maximized, to which I agree.

Sources:

"CCHR International." CCHR International. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014. http://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-disorders/no-medical-tests-exist/

Harris, Sam. The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values. New York: Free, 2010. Print.

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