IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY

Authors

John Barker Waite, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

Do you believe in free-will, or mechanistic determinism, or fore-ordination, or fatalism? What do you mean by 'irresistible impulse'? What is the purpose of this prosecution against which you advocate, or deny, irresistible impulse as a defense; and just what do you mean by 'defense'? If, instead of one question, "is irresistible impulse a defense", we should ask these other questions of counsel, judge and medical expert, how often would their answers be in accord? Yet the one question can never be intelligently discussed in the absence of certainty and agreement as to the other premises. There are certain combinations of these ideas that are logically impossible, and yet are sometimes unconsciously assumed.

Recommended Citation

John B. Waite, IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE AND CRIMINAL LIABILITY, 23 Mich. L. Rev. 443 (1925).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol23/iss5/2