Criminal Procedure Commons^™

Relational Criminal Liability, Steven R. Morrison

Florida State University Law Review

“Relational criminal liability,” or one person’s criminal liability for the actions of another by way of a group of which both individuals are a part, generates a fundamental tension between collectivist and individualist approaches to liability. The collectivist approach, which reifies the group qua group, enables individuals to be liable for the acts of the group and the group to be liable for the acts of individuals. The individualist approach treats ind-viduals qua individuals, holding them liable only for their own conduct.

This tension sounds both in moral philosophy and legal theory. As to philosophy, Michael Bratman, Margaret Gilbert, and …