Mark D’Souza (UCL): ‘The Criminal Blameworthiness of Negligence: Guidance and Choices’

Abstract: Theorists defending criminal liability for negligence think we can hold someone criminally liable for inadvertently causing an outcome when she could have become aware of the risk of causing it through her conduct, but did not, for (explanatory) reasons that reflect badly on her character. One popular explanation of how these reasons reflect on D’s character, is that they show that D had ‘insufficient regard for the interests of others’. I raise doubts about the ability of this explanation to convince. I then show that a better way to explain criminal culpability, including in negligence cases, involves distinguishing between the analyses of culpability required at the criminalisation stage and at the trial stage.

Mark D’Souza is an Associate Professor at UCL.

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