engleski

The criminal responsibility of high-functioning autistic offenders in Croatia

This paper investigates, from a philosophical perspective, whether offenders who are high functioning autists are legally responsible for their crimes. We do this from the perspective of the Croatian legal system. According to the Croatian Criminal Law, but also criminal laws adopted in many other countries, the legal responsibility of the person is undermined due to insanity when two conditions are satisfied. The first can be called the incapacity requirement. It states that a person, when committing the crime, suffers cognitive or volitional incapacities or limited capacities that are relevant for exculpation. The second, let us call it the mental disorder requirement, states that these exculpatory incapacities are due to the presence of a mental disorder. In this paper we focus on the incapacity requirement. The review of the studies on executive functions deficits associated with high-functioning autism suggests that many of them should not be held completely responsible for the crimes they might commit. Nonetheless, we argue that these impairments in executive functions generally do not provide complete excuse.

High functioning autism ; Cognitive and volitional capacities ; Criminal responsibility ; Executive functions ; Duress

nije evidentirano