Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Diminished responsibility
(936 words)

1. Concept

Diminished responsibility (German Unzurechnungsfähigkeit, French non-imputabilité) is the absence, relevant in criminal law, of competency or soundness of mind in the perpetrator of a criminal act. Competency (also responsibility, capacity, German Zurechnungsfähigkeit, French imputabilité, more usually: imputation) became in 19th-century criminal theory the most important condition in subjective culpability and hence the key criterion i…

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Greve, Ylva, “Diminished responsibility”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_029397>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170626



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