On “The Nature and Significance of Culpability”

In 2018, David Brink published a writing exploring the relationship between culpability and punishment in criminal law. According to Brink, there are a few types of culpability — narrow, broad, inclusive.

First, narrow culpability, defined as a “whether she intended the wrong, foresaw it, was reckless with respect to causing it, or was negligent with respect to causing it” (348). To put it in simpler terms, this has to do the intent of the actor in the scenario, also known as mens rea, Latin for “guilty mind.” This culpability also includes an actus rea, Latin for “guilty act,” which includes the objective aspects of the case and a voluntary action that leads to wrongdoing (358). This wrongdoing can include the conduct (necessary), the results, and/or the attendant circumstances.

Another defined culpability is broad culpability, which can be described as “Culpable wrongdoing — that is, wrongdoing for which the agent is responsible and blameworthy — is a condition of criminal censure and sanction” (348). This concept includes a connection to “predominant retributivism” which can be affected by justifications and excuses for the actors wrongdoings (353). This causes issues when good enough excuses can free those who have committed a crime on the basis of their excuse. Regarding broad culpability, Brink says that in order to be broadly culpable, one must be able to fairly avoid the wrongdoing in not only situational control, but also normative competence (354–358).

Finally, the third culpability discussed by Brink is inclusive culpability in which he defined as “the combination of wrongdoing and responsibility or broad culpability” (348). This is more of a combination between the two and is how we think about the law and how we should punish those deemed culpable.

These culpabilities relate to criminal law in different but complimentary ways. Understanding these culpabilities will help us better understand criminalization and punishment in order to run our society as efficiently and fairly as possible

Also, please let me know your thoughts on these readings! I struggled in conceptualizing these readings so any insights you can provide will be greatly appreciated!!

Brink, D.O. The Nature and Significance of Culpability. Criminal Law, Philosophy 13, 347–373 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11572-018-9476-7.