Can Your Brain Force You to Kill?
Via Flickr user neil conway
Just over a week has passed since the Aurora shootings and the media jumped on the subject of gun control. The more immediate debate brewing, however, seems to be the one that will decide the fate of James Holmes, the 24 year old madman responsible for the shootings.
Already, the murmur of the death penalty for James Holmes is steadily building to an audible rumble. The especially strange circumstances of Holmes, who claimed to be “The Joker” after committing his deeds, draws particular and exacting attention to the common question of the relationship between mental stability and criminal justice.
An article in the New York Times by John Monterosso and Barry Schwartz explores some of the murky silt that comes with determining a mentally unwell individual’s responsibility in a crime. The article explains that we tend to place human action in two categories: those that we intentionally perform, and those that our brain “forces” us to do. The article terms this “naïve dualism.” Why naïve?
“Naive dualism is misguided,” say Monterosso and Schwartz. “‘Was the cause psychological or biological?’ is the wrong question…All psychological states are also biological ones.”
The authors feel that as technology progresses and we learn more about human biology, we will find more reasons to avoid taking direct responsibilities for our actions, however minor they may be. In Holmes’ case, whether a jury views his actions as intentional or entirely biological could determine whether he lives or dies.
I don’t blame people’s desire to break down the issue into a clear, “did he mean to or didn’t he” choice. The ultimate decision of life or death for another seems easier when the answer is cut and dry. Holmes will not walk away from his deeds unpunished, but this article is a friendly reminder that science should not and cannot be seen as a fail-safe measure in directing our decisions.
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