Virtue and Criminal Negligence

Abstract

This article addresses the contention of some prominent criminal law scholars – notably Jerome Hall and Glanville Williams – that negligence is an improper basis for the imposition of criminal punishment. An Aristotelian, virtue-ethics theory of punishment treats the inculcation of sound practical judgment as a function of punishment. The assessment of reasonable conduct implicit in negligence as a criterion of criminal fault fits comfortably within such a theory.