Expanding Responsibility: Criminal Doctrines

This chapter discusses criminal doctrines that shift liability, in whole or in part, to individuals who were not the actual cause of the harm. Topics include the felony murder rule, preventive enforcement of the law, and collective responsibility for harm (group punishment). Although the latter is generally associated with ancient legal practices, some forms of it persist in modern law. The chapter offers economic reasons for this and concludes by relating collective responsibility to insurance.