ABSTRACT
The points made by Duff, Lacey, and Ristroph as well as others make it clear that normative aspects of responsibility need to be thought through very carefully in conjunction with the empirical situation regarding different levels and aspects of responsibility in the criminal justice sphere. We tend to focus on those who violate the law but the understanding of crime and its normative significance requires a more textured, multi-dimensional treatment. Decisions about what to criminalize, how to punish, and how to actually apply the law in ways that reflect a concern with the justice of who is arrested and charged, prosecutorial discretion, plea-bargaining, and sentence-bargaining are all aspects of taking responsibility for the rule of law. The rule of law is not just an abstract notion of legality; in its actualization it involves practices and decisions, and real impacts on people's lives.
