title: Does culture impact on notions of criminal responsibility and action? The case of spirit possession.
abstract: Multicultural societies such as the United Kingdom are host to people with diverse belief systems and behavioral norms. Whilst a country requires that all members of society conform to standardized legal requirements, cases arise that involve certain complexities related to the cultural or religious context in which a certain action was committed. This paper addresses the impact of culture on notions of criminal responsibility and action. Through a case study of a recent event in the United Kingdom, we explore whether a cultural defense is relevant for contextualizing incidents in which an individual commits a criminal action during an alleged period of spirit possession From this analysis, we suggest that using a cultural defense can aid understanding of an individual's relationship to the society that he or she identifies with and facilitate the practice of justice in a multicultural society.
authors: University College London a.ahmad@ucl.ac.uk.
authors: Ayesha
authors: A
authors: Ahmad
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Dein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007298:Insanity Defense; D016365:Liability, Legal; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D000067496:Spirit Possession; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: agency; cultural defense; culture; justice; spirit possession