Why Standing to Blame May Be Lost but Authority to Hold Accountable Retained: Criminal Law as a Regulative Public Institution

Abstract Moral and legal philosophy are too entangled: moral is prone to model interpersonal relationships on a juridical image, often proceeds as if the criminal law an institutional reflection of juridically imagined relationships. This article challenges this alignment in so doing argues that function lies not fundamentally blame, but regulation harmful conduct. The upshot that, contrast relationships, cannot lose its standing blame through analogues hypocrisy, complicity, meddling. Rather, certain forms structural severe historical contemporary injustice point question overall legitimacy state authority.