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How is anybody ever responsible for the actions of someone else (not speaking legally)?

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How can you compare off-handed trolling of a bum to premeditated harassment of a child?

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The offense may be more despicable, but imo fundamentally nobody is ever responsible for the actions of another. You can't control what other people do, just like nobody can control what you do. Your actions are your own. It's pretty easy to shirk off that responsibility by blaming circumstance or environment or outside forces, but everybody's actions are still their own responsibility and nobody else's.

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Something to consider here is that I think it's pretty well known that children who are raped at a young age are mentally affected by it and their relationships will suffer perpetually unless they receive a LOT of counseling treatment.

I think something like this argues against what you're saying. While, in theory, they control their own actions, it is a pretty universal thing for them to all have certain problems thereafter in their life (e.g., sexual addiction).

So I don't think your statement is quite as universal as you're trying to imply.

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I agree, but I believe GoT's point is that the only way to make sense of the law is to treat everyone as if he/she was responsible for his/her actions entirely. Obviously we're all products of our environments/genetic makeups. Given infinite knowledge you could probably have a pretty good idea how/why I do things, be able to predict them/understand them causally... but that doesn't absolve me of responsibility, you know? Whether or not it's the case that we are caused by certain environmental factors in much of our action/decision making (which I agree with you - we almost certainly ARE), if the law were to try and reflect this then it would be a hopeless sea of chain-of-causality-pass-the-buck

so we're left with: we're all physical creatures, probably just part of a large mechanistic process and hence not "responsible" for any of our actions really

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the only sensible way to legislate is as if we were responsible for all of our actions

imo at least

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No. There are obviously very specific circumstances that would absolve you of your actions as you most definitely can be overwhelmingly compelled by force, etc. If I hold a gun to your head and insist that you punch you mom in the face or I'll kill you both, you are no longer responsible for that action. I know that's extreme, but culpability for actions certainly is a continuum from that situation to onen where I act in a vacuum and the action is completely my own.

Miajag had a good post earlier that deals with this (sort of)

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In Maryland, at least, appellate courts have ruled that school systems can be held liable for wrongful death for failing to prevent a student's suicide, as well as committing actions that create an "irresistible impulse" to commit suicide, so it would appear you could almost certainly sue someone (possibly successfully) for actively contributing to a suicide in this manner.

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