Distraction and Negligence

Abstract:     
I explore the conceptual and normative problems in deciding whether given criminal defendants are reckless or merely negligent. I focus on cases in which defendants create risks of which they allege they are consciously unaware because they are distracted at the moment harm occurs. Do these defendants believe they have created a risk? By what criterion should this question be answered? Is it the correct question to ask? I explore some of these uncertainties by contrasting cases of distraction from cases in which defendants create a risk they have forgotten they have created.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 14

working papers series