Better Not to Know. On the Doctrine of Willful Ignorance in Criminal Law

Abstract

In modern criminal law, the attribution of responsibility for most of the behaviours that are criminally prohibited requires the subject to be aware of the objective characteristics of his act that make it criminally typical. Conversely, insufficient knowledge or error are causes for exemption from liability, except in those exceptional cases in which the punishment of conduct carried out without such knowledge is expressly provided for. How should a criminal law that considers knowledge as a basic element of liability deal with cases of willful ignorance?