Does culture impact on notions of criminal responsibility and action? The case of spirit possession.
Transcultural psychiatry October 1, 2016 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1177/1363461516661642 via PubMed
Summary
In multicultural societies like the United Kingdom, people hold diverse beliefs and norms, yet all must follow standard laws. This paper examines how culture affects criminal responsibility, using a recent UK case where an individual committed a crime during alleged spirit possession. The authors argue that a cultural defense can help contextualize such actions, clarifying the individual's relationship to their society and improving justice in a multicultural setting.
Study at a glance
| Design | case study |
|---|---|
| Key finding | Using a cultural defense can aid understanding of an individual's relationship to society and facilitate justice in multicultural societies. |
Abstract
Multicultural societies such as the United Kingdom are host to people with diverse belief systems and behavioral norms. Whilst a country requires that all members of society conform to standardized legal requirements, cases arise that involve certain complexities related to the cultural or religious context in which a certain action was committed. This paper addresses the impact of culture on notions of criminal responsibility and action. Through a case study of a recent event in the United Kingdom, we explore whether a cultural defense is relevant for contextualizing incidents in which an individual commits a criminal action during an alleged period of spirit possession From this analysis, we suggest that using a cultural defense can aid understanding of an individual's relationship to the society that he or she identifies with and facilitate the practice of justice in a multicultural society.