Overcriminalization. The Limits of the Criminal Law

* Surprisingly, no legal theorist, living or dead, has produced a detailed theory of when the criminal law may or may not be used.
* In addition, new, controversial criminal laws are enacted nearly every day: hate crimes, drug offenses, proscriptions on offensive and unhealthy behaviors, gun bans, and the like. Husak's book defends a theory to assess the justifiability of these criminal laws.

Husak's primary goal is to defend a set of constraints to limit the authority of states to enact and enforce criminal offenses. In addition, Husak situates this endeavor in criminal theory as traditionally construed. This book urges the importance of this topic in the real world, while most Anglo-American legal philosophers have neglected it.