ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the relations between the substantive, strategic, and moral dimensions of understanding and explaining criminal acts. In order to decide on the guilt of the suspects, judges must establish what sections of the Criminal Code describe the offenses for which they stand trial. If judges find a suspect guilty, they must decide on the kind and amount of punishment. Motives for violent crimes are closely related to the part that violence plays in the different kinds of offenses. In cases of murder, manslaughter, and assault, violence is an integral part of the offense. The most common explanations brought forward by confessing suspects involve shifting the blame to external circumstances such as victim precipitation, peer-group pressure, or economic necessity. The law treats suspects as rational, goal-oriented people who willingly and knowingly commit offenses.
