There is no honor among thieves. But what about murderers? Seattle homicide prosecutor David Brunelle faces a prosecutorial nightmare. A drug addict-turned-police informant is found murdered, his body dumped publicly as a warning to others. The prime suspect is the drug lord the dead man was snitching out. And the only witnesses to the murder were also accomplices to it. Decisions have to be made, and deals have to be cut. Brunelle struggles through a maze of coconspirators and defense attorneys to answer the questions at the core of his dilemma: Who deserves a break? And who deserves the full punishment of the law? Will a collection of scared drug addicts and loyal hangers-on be willing to testify against a man who already killed one police informant? And even if they are, will the jury believe anyone whose testimony was purchased with a plea bargain? Brunelle encounters new friends and past opponents as he tries to hold a killer responsible, both aided and hindered by the doctrine of ACCOMPLICE LIABILITY.

The concept of causation is fundamental to ascribing moral and legal responsibility for events. Yet the relationship between causation and responsibility remains unclear. What precisely is the connection between the concept of causation used in attributing responsibility and the accounts of causal relations offered in the philosophy of science and metaphysics? How much of what we call causal responsibility is in truth defined by non-causal factors? This book argues that much of thelegal doctrine on these questions is confused and incoherent, and offers the first comprehensive attempt since Hart and Honoré to clarify the philosophical background to the legal and moral debates.The book first sets out the place of causation in criminal and tort law and outlines the metaphysics presupposed by the legal doctrine. It then analyses the best theoretical accounts of causation in the philosophy of science and metaphysics, and using these accounts criticises many of the core legal concepts surrounding causation - such as intervening causation, forseeability of harm and complicity. It considers and rejects the radical proposals to eliminate the notion of causation from law byusing risk analysis to attribute responsibility. The result of the analysis is a powerful argument for revising our understanding of the role played by causation in the attribution of legal and moral responsibility.

In this long-awaited book, Antony Duff offers a new perspective on the structures of criminal law and criminal liability. His starting point is a distinction between responsibility (understood as answerability) and liability, and a conception of responsibility as relational and practice-based. This focus on responsibility, as a matter of being answerable to those who have the standing to call one to account, throws new light on a range of questions in criminal law theory: on the question of criminalisation, which can now be cast as the question of what we should have to answer for, and to whom, under the threat of criminal conviction and punishment; on questions about the criminal trial, as a process through which defendants are called to answer, and about the conditions (bars to trial) given which a trial would be illegitimate; on questions about the structure of offences, the distinction between offences and defences, and the phenomena of strict liability and strict responsibility; and on questions about the structures of criminal defences. The net result is not a theory of criminal law; but it is an account of the structure of criminal law as an institution through which a liberal polity defines a realm of public wrongdoing, and calls those who perpetrate (or are accused of perpetrating) such wrongs to account.

This is a comprehensive, introductory criminal law textbook that expands upon traditional concepts and cases by coverage of the most contemporary topics and issues. Contemporary material, including terrorism, computer crimes, and hate crimes, serves to illuminate the ever-evolving relationship between criminal law, society and the criminal justice system's role in balancing competing interests. The case method is used throughout the book as an effective and creative learning tool.Features include:" vignettes, core concepts, 'Cases and Concepts', 'You Decides, excerpts from state statutes, 'legal equations' and Crime in the News boxes" fully developed end-of-chapter pedagogy includes review questions, legal terminology and 'Criminal Law on the Web' resources" instructor resources (including PowerPoint slides, a computerized testbank and classroom activities) and a Student Study Site accompany this text

This book explores the philosophical underpinnings of the law's major doctrines concerning actus reus, mens rea, and defences, showing that they are not always driven by culpability but are grounded also in principles of moral responsibility, ascriptive responsibility, and wrongdoing.

Analysing the nature of complicity in international criminal law, this book provides an account of the growing attention being paid to the issue. Exploring the responsibilities of individuals, states, and non-state actors in their obligations, the changing status of complicity in international law is demonstrated.

And its relation to causation. Philosophers studying the metaphysics of causation.

Presently, many of the greatest debates and controversies in international criminal law concern modes of liability for international crimes. The state of the law is unclear, to the detriment of accountability for major crimes and of the uniformity of international criminal law. The present book aims at clarifying the state of the law and provides a thorough analysis of the jurisprudence of international courts and tribunals, as well as of the debates and the questions these debates have left open. Renowned international criminal law scholars analyze, in discrete chapters, the modes of liability one by one; for each mode they identify the main trends in the jurisprudence and the main points of controversy. An introduction addresses the cross-cutting issues, and a conclusion anticipates possible evolutions that we may see in the future. The research on which this book is based was undertaken with the Geneva Academy.

Written across the disciplines of law, literature, philosophy, and theology, this volume represents wide-ranging approaches to and understandings of evil and wickedness. Consisting of three sections - Grappling with Evil, Justice, Responsibility, and War and Blame, Murder, and Retributivism, - all the essays are inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary in focus.