Is "I was drunk" ever a valid excuse for an illegal or immoral action?

Nope. Not unless the drunk person was endrunkinated against their will or knowledge.

Never. Unless the person was forced to get drunk.

Not at all, but some still use it, and sadly get away with it.
Hey what a shock @canidmajor you and I actually agree on a subject, the sky must indeed be falling.:)

When used as a defense/explanation in court, it better be followed by “Client is in an alcohol diversion program”.

Courts will add that as a condition of probation on top of any jail time.

Well, you’ve expressed a tautology of sorts. If “I was drunk” is an excuse in law, then the act is then not illegal (on the basis of the person’s diminished capacity). But I suppose you could clarify… “for an otherwise illegal act”.

And I think that we accept that, as @snowberry had expressed, if the person was made drunk against his will or control, then he’s excused. I think the same applies to minors, as a general rule. And it applies to a lot of medical interactions or conditions, especially if the person hasn’t been adequately warned about the possibility.

@CWOTUS The act could still be deemed illegal but the punishment could be sought to be diminished if drunkenness is considered a mitigating circumstance.

The previous question seemed to say that the OP thought up to 5 years in jail was too harsh a possible sentence for calling in a bomb threat when drunk.

And yes, if the person was slipped a roofie or something then that could be a different circumstance.

Intoxication does impedes your mental capacity, and just like mental illness, is a mitigating circumstance, and diminishes culpability.
Bit in no way does it make the act itself ‘OK’, and no one ever claimed that.

@ragingloli Ok, Good point. But there’s an element of free choice in getting drunk that there isn’t in mental illness, right?

Getting drunk is not a crime.
The only relevant question to that point is, did you intend to commit the crime before, or while you were shitfaced?

Personally I don’t believe so. Mainly because many of us have been completely zonked and we managed not to commit crimes, so unless you have an allergic reaction (which would be my defense…lol) I see no reason for you to commit an illegal action.

Now immoral is something different, that is simply character and subject to any personal whims.

I think it might be a mitigating factor in certain circumstances but generally speaking if you’re not responsible for your actions then who is?

@flutherother Yes, I can see it as a mitigating factor in boorish behavior that warrants an apology.

@janbb Alcohol diminishes the senses but does not diminish culpability.

Are we focused on serious crime only, or do we include stupid shit that only embarrassed yourself and that you have to apologize for?

@Dutchess_III Only focused on crime and serious stuff like rape. “Stupid shit that only embarrassed yourself” is between you and the victim or witnesses.

OK, then “No.” I once read something that said if you do something when you’re drunk that you’d never do sober, then it’s something you really wanted to do, subconsciously. I don’t know how true that is, but I, for one, never, not once, went home with a guy I had just met at a bar, no matter how plowed I got.

In other words, if you rape a woman, you are a rapist at heart.

Yes. For example, when you didn’t have a choice to get yourself intoxicated or not. e.g. You are on medication and supposed to be under someone else’s supervision. Or, someone forces you to drink, as with Cary Grant’s character at the beginning of his adventures in North By Northwest.

Or legally, in some cases, if you’re in Japan, where intoxication has been considered a legal excuse for behavior.

Sees to me that it’s a bit of a grey area, as there is responsibility for a sober free person to not choose to intoxicate themselves and then be in a position to do harm, but at some point the intoxication causes some people to do crazy things that they would never choose to do while sober. It seems to me that a society would be wise to develop practices where someone remains sober and responsible for the drunk people, in a way that is functional. The US has made some attempts at this with the roles of bartenders, hosts and designated drivers, but I imagine it could be developed further.

@Zaku in Japan, if you’re drunk and ride a bicycle or drive a car and injure someone, they’ll throw the book at you. So, saying, “Sorry, I was drunk,” would not work in that case.

@snowberry Hmm, my mistake. The situation actually seems to have reversed in Japan. A brief scan of current views on DUI indeed suggests they’ll nail a drunk driver AND any passengers. I haven’t lived in Japan, but I have studied their culture and read several accounts that there has been a distinct difference in the attitudes towards the responsibility of drunken people, even extending to drunkenness as a defense for driving accidents, but checking the details, I see that was back circa 1950. (And 50–60 years or more in the past, DUI wasn’t considered so terrible in the USA either.)

I don’t think it is ever a excuse.

How it is dealt with is up to the victim. I have done some fucked up shit when drunk and faced it. But never a bomb threat.

I’m probably the biggest drinker here and also (was) a huge fan of T.J Miller until a few hours ago. This is not his first legal trouble. He is kinda a bag of shit. Five years is bonkers. 15 days seems right.

While being drunk does not change your character and sense of right and wrong, it does diminish your discrimination and judgment freeing you to be more forthright and uninhibited than usual. If you say you hate or love someone while drunk, it is likely true, but you might have never said it sober. This is from reading. I don’t drink alcohol at all. I used to have a drink occasionally but the only drinking I’ve done in the last 27 years was at my daughter’s wedding. I don’t think it’s evil, I just don’t enjoy it and take a medication that can’t be mixed.

Hlep! Hlep! I am being endrunkinated! thanks @canidmajor. now I am stuck with that in me ‘ead

Thanks for noticing, @rojo, I was starting to despair…