Violence without Motive: Cultural Contingency and Conceptions of 'Mens Rea'

The shape and application of the criminal law is contingent upon its socio-cultural context, its contours derived from socially constructed ideas of immorality or evil. When a criminal prosecution is brought, the criminal law looks not only to the actions of the person, but to their mental culpability as well. It would therefore seem intuitive to think that the question of motive should be central to a decision to convict. However, orthodox doctrine asserts that the English criminal law does not look to the motive of somebody when attributing liability. This chapter examines this claim, and uses two ostensibly dissimilar instances in order to assess its justifiability and truth: participator violence during the course of contact sports; and assisted suicide.