Punishment and Responsibility: Essays in the Philosophy of Law

by H.L.A. Hart

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.

Genres: Philosophy, Law, Nonfiction, Legal

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart was a legal philosopher of the 20th century. He was Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford University and the Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford. He authored The Concept of Law and made contributions to political philosophy.

Reviews

[Juls · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sí, los libros que me leí para el TFG irán a mi goodreads. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

H.L.A Heart... estuve misgendereandote durante todo el trabajo hasta la última draft, cuando me di cuenta de que no eras una mujer pese a todo (dissapointing).

I disagree with your take on punishment and retributivism deeply, you stand on the grey sidelines, barely pick a side, and then sustain a negative retributive approach... that either doesn't really hold up, or I simply could not understand.

Long live positive retributivism and a strong sense of proportionality and morality in justice <3

[Diana Tsui · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic!

[Mai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely better suited for people who understand the philosophy behind law more, however, for me it did the job of sparking an interest in the subject.

[Rachel Loren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for class, but provoked a deeper thinking into the philosophy behind law.