Victims' Rights and Victims' Wrongs: Comparative Liability in Criminal Law

Vera Bergelson

Stanford University Press, Aug 18, 2009 - Law - 248 pages

"Don't blame the victim" is a cornerstone maxim of Anglo-American jurisprudence, but should the law generally ignore a victim's behavior in determining a defendant's liability? Victims' Rights and Victims' Wrongs criticizes the current criminal law approach and outlines a more fair, coherent, and efficient set of rules to recognize that victims sometimes co-author their own losses or injuries.

Evaluating a number of controversial cases involving euthanasia, sadomasochism, date rape, battered wives, and "innocent" aggressors, Vera Bergelson builds a theoretical foundation for reform. Her approach to comparative criminal liability takes into account the actions of both the perpetrator and the victim and offers a unitary explanation for consent, self-defense, and provocation. This innovative book supplies a practical and coherent mechanism for evaluating the impact of a victim's conduct on a perpetrator's liability in a variety of circumstances, including those that are now artificially excluded from comparative analysis.

Contents

• CAN VICTIMS BE PARTLY RESPONSIBLE: 7
• Why Does Criminal Law Need a Generic Defense: 36
• CRIMINAL LIABILITY: 61
• The Principle of Conditionality of Rights: 91
• INCORPORATING THE PRINCIPLE OF CONDITIONALITY: 125
• The Defense of Comparative Criminal Liability: 141
• Conclusion: 161
• Bibliography: 213
• Index: 229

About the author

Vera Bergelson is Professor of Law and Robert E. Knowlton Scholar at Rutgers University.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Victims' Rights and Victims' Wrongs: Comparative Liability in Criminal Law; Critical Perspectives on Crime and Law
• Author: Vera Bergelson
• Publisher: Stanford University Press, 2009
• ISBN: 0804772436, 9780804772433
• Length: 248 pages
• Subjects: Law / Criminal Law / General