ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with a few typical accounts of the concept of responsibility, primarily in relation to the criminal law. The idea of a morality of form underlies the distinction between responsibility and the criteria of culpability, and the material content of the criminal law. Alan Norrie examines a variety of criminal law theorists. Norrie describes himself as sympathetic to "postmodern" approaches to criminal justice theory. Norrie presents a so-called relational theory of responsibility, which is based on the rejection of the abstract, nonsocial individual of Kantian morality. The background of Hart's approach is the problem of the justification of punishment. Hart criticizes the "economy of threats" explanation of excuses proffered by Jeremy Ben-tham, a utilitarian theorist. The chapter examines some of the main issues involved in criminal responsibility and has looked at some of the approaches to it.
