Rationality and Responsibility

An agent’s responsibility for action has critical importance in both criminal and civil law. In a liberal society that favors negative liberty, the law permits maximum liberty and autonomy only to responsible agents.1 Generally unencumbered by legal regulation, they are free, for example, to make foolish, irrational and even dangerous life choices, such as refusing potentially life-saving medical treatments. Even if it is virtually certain that a responsible agent will harm others by, say, criminal behavior or behavior that might impoverish his or her family, the law cannot intervene unless the behavior qualifies as a criminal offense. In contrast, agents who are not responsible may be treated paternalistically for their own good or preventively deprived of liberty in the absence of criminal conduct for the safety of others.