Punishment and Responsibility Essays in the Philosophy of Law, 2nd Edition

A classic work, widely influential and still frequently cited, essential reading for all scholars and students of criminal law, criminal justice and legal theory

Accessibly written in H.L.A. Hart's clear style, providing a rich source of insight on problems of criminal justice and penal policy, accessible to a very wide range of readers beyond legal specialists

Pagination of the main text is unaltered from the original edition, allowing citations to be left unchanged

New to this edition

A new introduction by John Gardner provides a critical engagement with the book's main arguments and discusses its continued influence on contemporary criminal law theory

This classic collection of essays, first published in 1968, has had an enduring impact on academic and public debates about criminal responsibility and criminal punishment. Forty years on, its arguments are as powerful as ever. H.L.A. Hart offers an alternative to retributive thinking about criminal punishment that nevertheless preserves the central distinction between guilt and innocence. He also provides an account of criminal responsibility that links the distinction between guilt and innocence closely to the ideal of the rule of law, and thereby attempts to by-pass unnerving debates about free will and determinism. Always engaged with live issues of law and public policy, Hart makes difficult philosophical puzzles accessible and immediate to a wide range of readers.

For this new edition, otherwise a reproduction of the original, John Gardner adds an introduction engaging critically with Hart's arguments, and explaining the continuing importance of Hart's ideas in spite of the intervening revival of retributive thinking in both academic and policy circles.

Unavailable for ten years, the new edition of Punishment and Responsibility makes available again the central text in the field for a new generation of academics, students and professionals engaged in criminal justice and penal policy.

Readership: Scholars of moral and political philosophy, criminal law, criminology and penology; Students on undergraduate and graduate courses in philosophy, law and criminal justice studies; General readers, including some criminal justice professionals and policymakers.