INTERRELATION OF A REASON FOR COMMITTING A CRIME AND EMOTIONS IN CRIMINAL LAW

Abstract

The paper considers the question of interrelation of reasons and emotions in criminal law, characterizes various contemporary psychological theories of reasons for committing human acts involving the emotional component, evaluates possibilities of their use in criminal law. Emotions of a person and the reasons of his actions cannot be defined on the basis of external or internal exposure to the stimulus. At the same time, not in all situations feelings and emotions become an impelling force similar to a reason; they often act as background emotional state of a person when he or she is committing illegal acts and for many crimes they have no criminal meaning. Under the circumstances the necessity arises for carrying out complex studies of a mental element of a crime and psychology of a person committing a crime. It is reasonable to commission forensic psychological expertise in criminal cases involving violent crimes, because these socially dangerous acts are connected with a strong manifestation of emotional and psychological aspects of a personality.