Justice, Liability, and Blame Community Views and the Criminal Law

This book examines shared intuitive notions of justice among laypersons and compares the discovered principles to those instantiated in American criminal codes. It reports eighteen original studies on a wide range of issues that are central to criminal law formulation.

Preface -- Community Standards and the Criminal Law -- Doctrines of Criminalization: What Conduct Should Be Criminal? -- Doctrines of Justification: When Should It Be Lawful for One to Engage in Conduct That Normally Would Constitute a Violation? -- Doctrines of Culpability: When Is One’s Violation of a Legal Rule Blameworthy? -- Doctrines of Excuse: When Is One’s Rule Violation Blameless? -- Doctrines of Grading: What Degree of Punishment Is Deserved for One’s Blameworthy Violation? -- Conflict Between Community Views and Criminal Codes -- Research Methodology -- Text of Stimulus Instrument Scenarios -- Liability Score/Imprisonment Term Translation Table