Analyzing intent is important to differentiate between people who have likely already learned from their mistake, and those who are likely to exploit others in the future. Punishment is only necessary in the latter case.

It's been an important part of law for a long time, although there's a tendency to explicitly avoid it in legislative efforts in the US since the '60s and the advent of MPC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_Penal_Code)