A devilish tumor
Exercise
began collecting child pornography and propositioning children. On the day before he was due to be sentenced to prison for his crimes, he had his brain scanned. He had a tumour. When it had been removed, his paedophilic tendencies went away. When it started growing back, they returned. When the regrowth was removed, they vanished again.” (Carr, Geoffrey, “Liberalism and Neurology: Free to Choose?,” December 23, 2006).
Analysis
Explanation is not justification. Criminal penalties need to be based on the incentives they produce. When this idea is applied to the case, the question is to what extent the person could have averted his behavior once he started detecting his new pedophilic tendencies.
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