There is ample evidence that:
- there is no physical embodiment of "free will"
- everything in the physical world is deterministic, although at the quantum level, "statistically deterministic with random sampling"
Thus, one cannot be said to "commit a crime," only that the particles in one's brain and one's body happened to be in a configuration and receive interactions with other stimuli such that those actions physically occurred.
We already know these things, but we ain't updating our justice system to account for this.
You're making the mistake of projecting the deterministic nature of "machine level" causality onto the ability of the scripting language that is human agency to interact with the world in ways that can be characterized as "good" or "bad." Which isn't to say that compassion for the sinner and acknowledgement of how in thrall we all are to circumstance shouldn't be encouraged. Just, high-level, there is choice, if only because the deterministic switches are black boxed.
Thus, one cannot be said to "commit a crime," only that the particles in one's brain and one's body happened to be in a configuration and receive interactions with other stimuli such that those actions physically occurred.
We already know these things, but we ain't updating our justice system to account for this.