  In light of the resources it consumes, and the damage it does to people’s lives, it is far from clear that we are justified in having criminal law. If we should not be abolitionists, criminal law must be capable of realizing some value that gives us sufficient reason to retain it. To offer an account of this value is to offer a general justification of criminal law. Obviously enough, the functions of criminal law tell us something about what this might be. If the punitive view is correct, criminal law’s value consists in delivering justified punishment. If the curial view is correct, that value consists (in part) in people offering answers that they have reason to offer. If the preventive view is correct, it consists in preventing criminal wrongs. So stated, however, these views do not tell us what the value of fulfilling each function actually is. The punitive view tells us nothing about what justifies criminal punishment. The curial view tells us nothing about the value of calling people to account in criminal courts. The preventive view tells us nothing about the value of preventing crime. A general justification of criminal law fills this explanatory gap.