Criminal Liability

This chapter distinguishes torts from crimes in terms of the moral costs created by crimes, discusses the nature and incidence of these costs and the problems of assigning liability prices to compensate for them, and describes criminal liability as organized vengeance, a means of inflicting visible, proportioned suffering on offenders as compensation for the moral costs imposed by crimes. The ideas of retribution and deterrence are illustrated in the case of competitive market prices, which also separate efficient from inefficient cost imposition through retribution. Criminal entitlements are defined and distinguished from tortious entitlements, and the differences and connections between tort and criminal liability are explored. In seeking punishment that fits the crime in every case, criminal liability also seeks corrective justice, in this context called proportional punishment, rather than absolute deterrence, and through retributive liability pricing effectively encourages crimes whose value to the perpetrator exceeds the moral costs they impose.