Limited Responsibilities explores the interaction between the criminal justice system and the wider concerns of political and social institutions, including the welfare state, social work and forensic psychiatry. Using the key concept of 'responsibility', Tamar Pitch critiques the classical theories of Anglo-American and Italian criminologies, examining the allocation of responsibilities to individuals and society. Looking at the shifting political relationship between criminal justice and the welfare system, Pitch considers the problems which arise in our understandings of responsibility, particularly in relation to the young and the mentally disabled. She also documents the centrality of responsiblity as an issue in women's struggles for legislation on sexual violence, as a paradigm of the politicisation of notions of crime, victimization and criminal responsibility. Limited Responsiblities will be of interest to lecturers, students and professionals in criminology, social policy and women's studies.