Failed and fragile governments often govern through the criminalization of otherwise inconsequential or tolerated acts. On the flipside, these weak states often use murder, kidnapping, and other violent or oppressive actions to maintain order and keep power. This volume provides an analysis of the path to state failure. Readers learn what it is to be a failed state and how failure impacts core freedoms, the criminal justice process, and mechanisms of punishment. Through a unique analysis, the book articulates a very specific method for assessing relative state failure.