Action, Ethics, and Responsibility: A Framework

Kings to Cowards: One-Punch Assaults

“…By including dangerousness as a sentencing criterion to the new one-punch legislation, governments in Australia seem to have appreciated that dangerousness and culpability may converge in a particular case. 81 The bridging between the psychological and material aspect of dangerousness is mirrored by merging the different aims of mandatory one punch sentencing, that is, incapacitation, deterrence, community protection, and rehabilitation with regard to the mildly, moderately, or severely dangerous offender, 82 and accountability, conduct denunciation, and recognition of death as maximum harm subsequent to the committed act of punching to the face. To achieve this, Western Australia, Queensland, NSW and Victoria created new offenses to address this type of crime for which a traditional classification of either “murder” or “manslaughter” seems inadequate.…”