[Influence of individual cultural life on the penal system: the role of the medical expert].

A French Melanesian citizen who killed his uncle attributed his act to local beliefs involving witchcraft. The medical expert called on to give his psychiatric assessment ponders if he was able to fulfill his role of mediator. Since examination of the defendant revealed no mental abnormalities, the only possible explanation for the crime was the one implicating the local culture that made the defendant say that he had not killed a relative but rather a sorcerer. The psychiatrist asked the lawyer for a complete legal opinion. From the penal standpoint establishing responsibility depends on the defendant's powers of discrimination. Criminal law distinguishes between the intent, motive, and objectives of an act on the basis of one criteria which is damage in most cases. In the present case the act was intentional, the motive could not be taken into account, and the objective could not be considered to have social value. This case forces the conclusion that the juridical concept of "justifying fact" is based on social choices that rarely coincide with the culture of individuals in a minority group. By finding the defendant guilty the judicial system achieved social redress with respect to one culture but denied moral redress according to the values of another.