BIOETHICS / HEALTH CARE ETHICS

The purpose of this paper is to distinguish and examine the philosophical underpinnings of three models of criminal responsibility of the mentally incompetent. The models are determined by the assumed conceptions of criminal responsibility and of mental illness. They include: the Standard Model (admitting only responsibility of the mentally competent), the Positive Equalization Model (admitting criminal responsibility of both the mentally competent and the mentally incompetent); and the Negative Equalization Model (abolishing criminal responsibility of both the mentally competent and the mentally incompetent). In the evaluative part several argument are proposed in favour of the Standard Model.