Defining Crimes

This collection of essays tackle a range of issues about the criminal law's 'special part' - the part that defines specific offences. Topics include the scope of the criminal law: to what extent should it include offences of possession, or endangerment? Regulatory offences and more specific offences such as murder, rape, domestic violence, bribery, theft and other property offences are also discussed. How crimes should be classified and the orthodox distinction between crimes of 'basic' and of 'general' intent are examined. Other issues concern the ways in which specific offences should be defined, and how far those definitions should identify distinctive types of wrong