Caroline Spelman, the environment secretary, has issued an unequivocal apology to the House of Commons after taking personal responsibility for the "wrong" decision to change the ownership of 258,000 hectares of state-owned woodland.
While criminal justice and the campus disciplinary process are two distinct ways of determining someone's responsibility for a wrong, there is of course yet another, a substitute justice system in social and public life, in which the presumption of innocence is not an aspiration.
We try to relieve these self-punishing attitudes by denying responsibility for any wrong actions.
Fully acknowledge and take responsibility for the wrong doing.
Commemorations provided by groups responsible for wrongdoing may demonstrate a willingness to acknowledge responsibility for such wrongs, (renewed) respect for the victims, and commitment never to repeat such misdeeds (Barsalou and Baxter 2007, Blustein 2014).
These mitigating conditions usually diminish their responsibility for the wrongs they do, sometimes making their action wholly excusable (though not objectively justified).
(NOTE: Then-Tax Committee ChairmaNurlan Rahkmetovov resigned shortly thereafter, stating that ethics rules demand he share responsibility for the wrong-doings of his subordinates. Some commentators suggested, however, that he had been directly involved in the crimes. END NOTE).
For many of us, having a space where we can confess our faults and take responsibility for our wrongs can be a path to a better life.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey were no doubt surprised to learn that fellow cast member Teresa Giudice was finally accepting responsibility for her wrongs against them.
I did nothing wrong but I take responsibility for being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Jones said on 105.7 The FAN in Baltimore on Tuesday.
