Cause does not mean responsibility

There are lots of accidents, conflicts, and tragedies in the world.
When an unpleasant event occurred, an investigation is performed to identify the cause of the result. The cause may be human error, structural problem, or just hard luck.
Identification of the cause will be very important to avoid recurrence of the same failure in the future.

However, it is a critical point about this.
The fact a certain person is the cause of the event does not mean that he/she is responsible for the event itself directly.
It is far different from the cause to the responsibility.

For example, imagine a case of child abuse by their parents.
Child abuse is an evil behavior. It cannot be acceptable regardless to the reason.

On the other hand, children with some developmental disabilities are likely to be abused. They cannot make a smile well. It is tough for them to make a claim with proper tone and expression. Therefore, most parents tend to feel some difficulties to nurture their children. Discommunication between the parents and their children makes their relationship worse. As a result, some parents show the force to their children to make them calm. It can be a beginning of physical punishment, or abuse.
In these cases, a developmental disability is one of the causes of child abuse, isn't it?

If so, is the child with developmental disability responsible for the abuse? Of course not!

It must be avoided to misunderstand the relation between cause and responsibility.
The parents should not abuse their children, no matter how they have difficulty.
On the other hand, to avoid the abuse, it is necessary to deal with the disability properly. It means that aid for the parents is essential.

A person who committed a crime is often blamed. He/she is responsible to face their crime. However, dealing with the true cause of the crime is indispensable for the prevention of recidivism.

In contrast, some people criticize the opinion that the victim has the cause of the crime to some extent. According to them, it is cruel to blame the victims after the accident.
Their opinion is ethical, but not rational.
When a woman was raped at midnight, the woman is completely innocent. She must not be blamed. Nonetheless, we should advise her, not to walk alone at midnight.

Which is the matter you mention, cause or responsibility? It is crucial.