The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law
Chapter 7: Axes of Evil
Page 7: Plotting Crime
For a given harm (such as a theft of candy or a killing) where one falls on these axes goes a long way towards determining WHETHER and HOW MUCH one should be punished.
Four points plotted on the graph between the two axes of evil. “A” at “Very responsible” but “Accident.” “B” at “Intent” but “Not responsible. “C” at “Recklessness” and “Kinda responsible.” And “D” at “Intent” and “Very responsible.”
So people at points “A” and “B”, while responsible for the harm on the one hand, and intending it on the other, are nevertheless not likely to deserve punishment.
Someone at point “C”, however, was both reckless and kinda responsible. That person is much more likely to be punished, at least a little bit.
And the intentional, very responsible guy at “D”? He’s going down.
But wait, there’s more!
In addition to how bad the actor’s mental state was, and how responsible for it he was, we also look at how bad he HIMSELF was.