Read the following passage, then answer questions based solely on information from the passage. The cultural defense assumes that a defendant's criminal conduct is culturally motivated. Individuals are so strongly influenced by their cultures that they may be obliged to act in a particular way or they may not know or understand that such behavior has violated criminal law. Although this is not a formalized defense, it has become a legal strategy in which a defendant's cultural background is used to negate mens rea or to mitigate criminal culpability. Many examples of camouflaged cultural... Show more Read the following passage, then answer questions based solely on information from the passage. The cultural defense assumes that a defendant's criminal conduct is culturally motivated. Individuals are so strongly influenced by their cultures that they may be obliged to act in a particular way or they may not know or understand that such behavior has violated criminal law. Although this is not a formalized defense, it has become a legal strategy in which a defendant's cultural background is used to negate mens rea or to mitigate criminal culpability. Many examples of camouflaged cultural defenses exist in which evidence of a defendant's background was used to justify behavior, negate mens rea, reduce sentencing, or minimize punishment. In People v. Moua (1985), a Laotion man forced a Laotion woman from a Fresno City college to have sexual intercourse with him. Moua claimed that he was engaging in a Laotion ritual known as zij poj niam, or marriage-by-capture. In order to be wed, the woman must resist the man's sexual advances to prove that she is virtuous and to prove that he is strong. Moua believed that the victim's protest was part of the Laotion ritual. He was originally charged with kidnapping and rape but his charge was later mitigated by cultural evidence. Moua was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment. In the same year (People v. Kimura), a Japanese woman killed her two children by engaging in the Japanese custom of oyakoshinju, parent-child suicide. After learning of her husband's infidelity, Kimura tried to drown herself and her two children. Her children died as a result of her actions, but she did not. Parent-child suicide is not encouraged in Japanese tradition, but it is understood. Instead of living with shame and humiliation, suicide is considered an honorable way of dying. Those who kill themselves and leave their children behind to face a life of shame are seen as terrible human beings. In view of these facts, cultural evidence was used to establish a temporary insanity defense and Kimura was convicted of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder. Cultural evidence should be used only to establish mens rea or to mitigate punishment. It should not excuse the defendant's actions. We can be sensitive to cultural factors, but we cannot ignore grave injustices. Show less
Read the following passage, then answer questions based solely on information from the passage.
The cultural defense assumes that a defendant's criminal conduct is culturally motivated. Individuals are so strongly influenced by their cultures that they may be obliged to act in a particular way or they may not know or understand that such behavior has violated criminal law. Although this is not a formalized defense, it has become a legal strategy in which a defendant's cultural background is used to negate mens rea or to mitigate criminal culpability. Many examples of camouflaged cultural defenses exist in which evidence of a defendant's background was used to justify behavior, negate mens rea, reduce sentencing, or minimize punishment. In People v. Moua (1985), a Laotion man forced a Laotion woman from a Fresno City college to have sexual intercourse with him. Moua claimed that he was engaging in a Laotion ritual known as zij poj niam, or marriage-by-capture. In order to be wed, the woman must resist the man's sexual advances to prove that she is virtuous and to prove that he is strong. Moua believed that the victim's protest was part of the Laotion ritual. He was originally charged with kidnapping and rape but his charge was later mitigated by cultural evidence. Moua was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment. In the same year (People v. Kimura), a Japanese woman killed her two children by engaging in the Japanese custom of oyakoshinju, parent-child suicide. After learning of her husband's infidelity, Kimura tried to drown herself and her two children. Her children died as a result of her actions, but she did not. Parent-child suicide is not encouraged in Japanese tradition, but it is understood. Instead of living with shame and humiliation, suicide is considered an honorable way of dying. Those who kill themselves and leave their children behind to face a life of shame are seen as terrible human beings. In view of these facts, cultural evidence was used to establish a temporary insanity defense and Kimura was convicted of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder. Cultural evidence should be used only to establish mens rea or to mitigate punishment. It should not excuse the defendant's actions. We can be sensitive to cultural factors, but we cannot ignore grave injustices.
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