When someone commits a crime, what are the limits on a state's authority to define them as worthy of blame, and thus liable to punishment? This book answers that question, building on two ideas familiar to criminal lawyers:
actus reus and
mens rea, usually translated as "guilty act" and "guilty mind."
In
Guilty Acts, Guilty Minds, Stephen P. Garvey proposes an understanding of
actus reus and
mens rea as limits on the authority of a state, and in particular the authority of a democratic state, to ascribe guilt to those accused of crime. Garvey argues that
actus reus and
mens rea are necessary conditions for legitimate state punishment. Drawing on the work of political philosophers, moral philosophers, and criminal law theorists, Garvey provides clear explanations of how these concepts apply to a wide variety of cases. The book charges readers to consider practical examples and ask: whatever you believe regarding the justice of the rules, did the state act within the scope of its legitimate authority when it enacted those rules into law?
Based on extensive research, this book presents a new theory in which the concepts of
actus reus and
mens rea mark the limits of state power rather than simply describe the elements of a crime. Making the compelling distinction between legitimacy and justice,
Guilty Acts, Guilty Minds provides an important perspective on the limits of state authority.
Industry Reviews
"Garvey's book is filled with profound insights, and rather ingenious and thought-provoking tests for determining a person's culpability ... People who want to think deeply about the criminal law's doctrinal categories, and ways to creatively move outside of them (while still hanging onto them) are going to like and benefit from Garvey's book." -- Chad Flanders , Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books
"This book might be the first of its kind: a criminal law theory page-turner. Full of witty thought experiments and lively case examples, Garvey's account of the limits of legitimate criminal law entertains and illuminates in equal measure. This is a fun and accessible introduction to the subject, but also a bold and ambitious contribution to criminal law theory in the grand tradition of Jerome Hall. A must-read."-Malcolm Thorburn, Faculty of Law, University of
Toronto
"Our much-maligned institutions of criminal law have gained a powerful new ally. Against its many critics, Stephen Garvey ably defends the limited authority of the state to punish persons who commit guilty acts with a guilty mind. Drawing from his impressive command of the leading cases in U.S. criminal law, Garvey helps non-specialists understand the complexities of doctrines governing insanity, ignorance of law, addiction, social deprivation, and a host of
additional topics."-Douglas Husak, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Law, Rutgers University
"In Guilty Acts, Guilty Minds, Stephen Garvey provides a powerful, provocative, and important contribution to the philosophy of criminal law. In conversation with philosophical anarchists, Garvey demonstrates how criminal law's heartland - actus reus and mens rea - are shaped by a respect for democratic legitimacy and, conversely, the occasions in which political legitimacy requires openness to the political process. Guilty Acts, Guilty Minds is a
first-rate work of legal theory."-Vincent Chiao, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto and author of Criminal Law in the Age of the Administrative State
"One great virtue of Garvey's approach is that it raises a deep question about why meeting these culpability conditions is central to liability to punishment...he has given us valuable light for the journey." -- Christopher Bennett, Criminal Law and Philosophy
