This collection of 17 original essays is the first volume to provide an in-depth exploration of the potential of a rights-based approach to criminal law.

The book presents a comprehensive treatment of the role of rights in criminal law, ranging from a conceptual analysis and questions of justified criminalisation, to specific legal implications for substantive criminal law and criminal procedure.

The collection addresses the academic and practical questions that are related to individual entitlements protected by criminal law, including: - Who currently holds and who should hold a right not to be wronged by others? - Is it a violation of individual rights, rather than the infliction of harm, that constitutes a reason for criminalisation? - Does the idea of criminal law as regulating interpersonal legal relations contradict its public character?

Furthermore, the edited collection provides a theoretical framework for the study of consent and sexual offences, investigates the background of ideas of restorative justice, and explores both the victim's and the offender's rights in prosecution and trial.