Excusing Crime

When should someone who may have intentionally or knowingly committed criminal wrongdoing be excused? Excusing Crime examines what excusing conditions are, and why familiar excuses, such as duress, are thought to fulfil those conditions. Setting himself against the 'classical' view of excuses, which has a long heritage, and is enshrined in different forms in many of the world's criminal codes, both liberal and non-liberal; Jeremy Horder argues that it is now time to move forwards. He contends that a wider range of excuses--'diminished capacity', 'due diligence' and 'demands ofconscience'--should be recognised in law.

Jeremy Horder has been Fellow and Tutor in Law at Worcester College, Oxford, and a C.U.F. Lecturer in Law at Oxford, since 1989. He took up office as a Law Commissioner in January 2005.