• Demonstrates how topical debates illustrate timeless issues of punishment and responsibility
• Collects in one accessible place the most important of Gardner's highly regarded and influential essays
• The concluding chapter provides an extensive reply to critics showing Gardner's thinking in response to criticisms of the chapters and providing an overview of his ideas on criminal responsibility

Readership: Scholars and students of moral philosophy, jurisprudence, political philosophy, criminal justice, and criminal law

John Gardner, Professor of Jurisprudence, University of Oxford

"This collection, of eleven of John Gardner's papers in philosophy of criminal law from the last fifteen years, makes clear how distinctive and incisive his contributions have been to our understanding of the structure and proper aims of criminal law, of how criminal offences should be analysed and defined, and of the character and significance of responsibility. It also shows how much criminal law theory depends on, and is enriched by, a serious engagement with deeper issues in moral and political philosophy (which is one reason why the collection should interest moral and political philosophers even if they are not directly interested in criminal law). The collection is made yet more valuable by the addition of a substantial 'Reply to Critics'." - Antony Duff, Professor of Philosophy, University of Stirling

"These essays touch upon virtually all of the most important and basic topics in the philosophy of criminal law: the nature of moral and penal responsibility; the contrast between offences and defences; the importance of distinctions between various kinds of defences; the justification of punishment; the nature of complicity; and the like. Every serious philosopher of law has already been challenged and stimulated by Gardner's exceedingly insightful work, and the availability of this impressive set of essays in a single volume can only add to his growing stature and influence... Criminal theory has taken a giant step forward with the publication of Offences and Defences. This magnificent collection demonstrates what can happen when an outstanding philosopher turns his attention to the criminal law." - Douglas Husak, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 29, No.1

"Without exception, each essay is finely written and distinctive in content." - Robert Sullivan, Law Quarterly Review, 2009

"The essays in this book invariably challenge and reward the reader each time she returns to them. This is an important volume that collects together what no doubt will be enduring pieces in the philosophy of criminal law." - Kimberley Brownlee, Ethics, 2009

"A remarkable rich, coherent, and thought-provoking set of arguments that will no doubt join Hart's among the classic starting-points for philosophical inquiry about the criminal law...the future of criminal law theory is only brighter for the fact that John Gardner's through-provoking compilation came so early in his career, and that he seems committed to continue to build on this impressive effort." - Francois Tanguay-Renaud, Res Publica, (15), 2009

Preface
Acknowledgements
1: The Wrongness of Rape
2: Rationality and the Rule of Law in Offences Against the Person
3: Complicity and Causality
4: In Defence of Defences
5: Justifications and Reasons
6: The Gist of Excuses
7: Fletcher on Offences and Defences
8: Provocation and Pluralism
9: The Mark of Responsibility
10: The Functions and Justifications of Criminal Law and Punishment
11: Crime: in Proportion and in Perspective
12: Reply to Critics
Index