Crime and mental disorder – the paradox of social harm and punishment

Abstract

This article deals with the paradoxical relationship between social harm and punishment, through criminal irresponsibility in mental disorders, so that the universality of crime, justified by the harmful act, is challenged by several currents, including, zemiology. Therefore, a normative and theoretical, even critical, analysis has been necessary in order to overcome the definition of crime through the social harm, which has proved to be purely circumstantial in the case of an affirmative defense as in the case of mental disorder. The recognition of social harm, strongly recommended by zemiologists, as well as social and structural accountability, is very important in the development of restorative justice. Consequently, the new doctrine goes beyond the consensual discourse on the notion of crime and the usefulness of punishment.

Keywords

• zemiology
• mental disorder
• crime
• social harm