`Who's Still Standing?' A Comment on Antony Duff's Preconditions of Criminal Liability

Author: Matravers, Matt

Source: Journal of Moral Philosophy, Volume 3, Number 3, 2006 , pp. 320-330(11)

Publisher: BRILL

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $35.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

Antony Duff has argued that an important precondition of criminal liability is that the state has the moral standing to call the offender to account. Conditions of severe social injustice, if allowed or perpetuated by the state, can undermine this standing. Duff's argument appeals to the ordinary idea that a person's own behaviour can sometimes negate his standing to call others to account. It is argued that this is an important issue, but that the analogy with individual standing is problematic. Moreover, Duff's account of standing needs to address two interconnected issues: first, when and in what way the state can lose its standing to call offenders to account, and second, over what range of offences.

Keywords: criminal liability; Duff; punishment; social injustice

Document Type: Journal article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1740468106072651

Affiliations: 1: Department of Politics University of York York, UK, Email: mdm3@york.ac.uk

Publication date: 2006-11-01