[FRIAM] Trumps motives not judiciable because they are "in his head"

[thompnickson2 at gmail.com]

Hi everybody, 

 

I am often been hard pressed by members of the "home church" to supply
examples of how locating motives "in the head" is not only a misdirection
but actually a dangerous illusion.  I give you
https://shows.acast.com/the-report/episodes/the-impeachment-day-7 which, at
minute 7:40, contains an argument that Trump's motives cannot be inferred
from his behavior because motives are inherently subjective, "in the head"
of the motivated person.   This, of course, contradicts long standing legal
practice, where demonstrating motive from higher-order patterns in behavior
(i.e., patterns distributed more broadly in time and space than in the
moments surrounding the motivated act) is a necessary element in most
criminal cases.  It is, for instance, the main element that distinguishes
manslaughter from murder.   In fact, the whole range of offences resulting
in death are distinguished by the degree to which the jury thinks the lethal
act was "voluntary".  

 

By the way, that link will serve to introduce you to the lawfare "reports
<https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-report/id1472798169> " which
attempt to provide a neutral precis of the proceedings, day by day.  

 

Nick 

 

PS:  I just did a dive into the legal dictionary.  Interesting.  Apparently,
the law makes a big distinction between motive
<https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/motivation>  and intent
<https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/motivation> , the former
being more like having a reason to commit a crime, the latter being more
like setting about to commit the crime.  Interesting stuff, this law
business  No wonder Oliver Wendell Holmes was a pragmatist.!

 

N

Nicholas Thompson

Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology

Clark University

ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com <mailto:ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com> 

https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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