The Philosophy of Criminal Law

• Collects in one volume the most influential essays by a major figure in contemporary criminal law theory
• Presents Husak's original and provocative views on the central topics in the philosophy of criminal law, from the justification of punishment to the nature of criminal liability
• Includes a new introduction from the author drawing together his views on criminal law theory, and two previously unpublished essays

Readership: Academics and advanced students in criminal law, jurisprudence and moral and political philosophy

Douglas Husak, Professor of Philosophy and Law at Rutgers University

"I recommend a wide readership of this invaluable book among those interested in the foundational issues of criminal law." - Muhammad Mahbubur Rahman, New Criminal Law Review

Introduction: Reflections On Criminal Theory
I Criminal Liability
1: Does Criminal Liability Require an Act?
2: Motive and Criminal Liability
3: The Costs to Criminal Theory of Supposing that Intentions are Irrelevant to Permissibility
4: Transferred Intent
5: The Nature and Justifiability of Nonconsummate Offenses
6: Strict Liability, Justice, and Proportionality
II Degrees of Culpability
7: The Sequential Principle of Relative Culpability
8: Wilful Ignorance, Knowledge, and the 'Equal Culpability' Thesis: A Study of the Deeper Significance of the Principle of Legality
9: Rapes Without Rapists: Consent and Reasonable Mistake
10: Mistake of Law and Culpability
III Defences
11: On the Supposed Priority of Justification to Excuse
12: Partial Defenses
13: The 'But Everybody Does That!' Defense
14: The De Minimis 'Defense' to Criminal Liability
IV Punishment and Its Justification
15: Why Punish the Deserving?
16: Malum Prohibitum and Retributivism
17: 'Already Punished Enough'