Question

Hello everyone, in 70 words of more, please explain how excuses, justifications, and disclaimers differ, and provide an example of a time when you used one of these strategies to explain a mistake you made. Did you use the appropriate strategy? Why or why not?

Answer 1

When there has been a wrong-doing of some sort and somebody is accused, they may focus their defence on justification, excuse, or disclaimer which are quite different. Justification involves giving a sound reason as to why an act was carried out or not. Self defence maybe considered to be form of justification. Unlike justification, an excuse focuses on the actor, rather than the act. It accepts that the act may have been unreasonable but aims to show that the actor is not to be blamed. A diagnosis of a mental disorder is an example of an excuse defence. Whereas, disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify rights and obligations that may be exercised by parties in a legal relationship. A personal example would be when I returned home much later than my curfew. My mother was furious with me and I told her how I was late as I was unable to find a taxi. This was the use of an excuse, but this strategy clearly did not work with her. This is because the reason wasn’t strong enough to support my comin late; I could have, for instance, taken a lift from my friends or simply asked her to pick me up.