Changing Conceptions of Human Nature and the Law
| Author | Robert Jacobs |
| Published date | 01 August 1987 |
| Date | 01 August 1987 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/104398628700300307 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
56
Changing
Conceptions
of
Human
Nature
and
the
Law
by
Robert
Jacobs
ABSTRACT
This
paper
discusses
the
relation
between
changes
in
the
legal
system
and
changes
in
the
conception
of
human
responsibility
which
have
taken
place
as
a
result
of
belief
in
the
work
of
Freud
and
Darwin.
The
evolution
of
these
beliefs -
a
matter
of
intellectual
history -
has
had
a
crucial
effect
on
the
structure
and
practices
of
the
criminal
justice
system.
Broad
public
acceptance
of
the
ideas
discussed
in
this
essay
will
continue
to
affect
the
development
of
the
system
to
the
year
2000
and
beyond.
INTRODUCTION
No
one
is
satisfied
with
American
justice.
&dquo;Why
is
this?&dquo;
Why
has
there
come
to
be
so
little
correspondence
between
what
the
law
says
and
what
the
system
does?
The
intellectual
history
of
the
last
century
suggests
at
least
one
answer.
Contradictions
have
developed
between
the
central
moral
assumptions
of
the
criminal
law and
the
way
in
which
people
think
about
the
causes
of
criminal
behavior.
Beliefs
about
good
and
evil
and
human
nature
have
changed
radically,
while
law
has
remained
relatively
static.
The
law
has
the
inertia
of
an
ancient
tradition.
Few
want
to
tinker
very
much
either
with
its
ethical
underpinnings
or
with
its
analytic
techniques.
While
legal
principles
proved
unyielding,
other
parts
of
the
criminal
justice
system
have
been
changed
to
accommodate
what
are
thought
to
be
more
modern
understandings
of
justice.
The
result
has
been
the
invention
of
legal
fictions
which
conceal
inconsistencies
between
the
system’s
reality
and
the
principles
of
the
law.
By
&dquo;legal
fiction&dquo;
I
mean
the
practice
of
observing
the
forms
of
the
system
by
making
some
pretense
about
the
facts.
There
is
no
reason
to
suppose
that
this
practice
will
have
ceased
by
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