Provocation and Responsibility

Book excerpt: Provocation and Responsibility breaks new ground by drawing on historical and philosophical sources not normally linked in analysis of the criminal law, to provide the first detailed study of the effect of provocation on culpability in morality and law. It traces the fascinating history and colourful development of the legal doctrine of provocation, right up to present-day controversies over the scope of the doctrine's application in murder cases. These developments are illuminated throughout by setting them in the context of the changing moral and philosophical understanding of anger, its effect on responsibility and the role it plays in the human character.