(This leaves open the question of whether the criminal law can create wrongs, or whether it rather gives formal recognition to wrongs whose wrongfulness is initially determined by extra-legal standards).
Mala prohibita, on the other hand, consist in conduct that is not wrongful independently of the law that prohibits it: if they are wrong, their wrongfulness depends essentially on their illegality.
"Wrong" and "harm" are separate concepts, Gladwell says, and "wrongfulness is not contingent on harmfulness".
On those definitions of "unnatural" that make human intervention sufficient for unnaturalness, the view that unnaturalness is sufficient for wrongfulness would entail the even more outlandish conclusion that everything humans do is wrong.
Further, the wrongfulness of a state action is precluded if the act is required by a peremptory norm of general international law.
If a judge or jury concludes that the accused is incapable of premeditation yet has the capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his behaviour to the requirements of the law, the court can bring a less serious penalty to bear.
Pistorius' trial resumed after a break of one month during which a psychologist and three psychiatrists also assessed whether the double-amputee runner was capable of understanding the wrongfulness of his act when he shot Steenkamp through a closed toilet door.
On Monday, the court received reports from mental health experts who concluded Pistorius was not suffering from a mental illness when he killed Steenkamp and was able to understand the wrongfulness of what he had done.
