  A second reason to make the familiar distinction invokes the idea that criminal trials call defendants to account. On this view, trials are in one way continuous with life outside the law—they institutionalize our ordinary moral practice of making and replying to accusations (Gardner 2007, 177–200; Duff, 2010c; 2011; 2013a). When accused of wrongdoing in our everyday lives, most of us do not only care about whether we end up being blamed. Where we did nothing wrong, we try to convince our accusers that this is the case: it matters to us that others not add wrongs to the story of our lives, even if we know that they will otherwise conclude that we acted blamelessly. There is no reason to think that things are different in criminal courts: that those accused of crime should, or do, care only about getting off the hook. By retaining distinct justificatory and excusatory defences, the criminal law gives effect to our interests in presenting ourselves—to our accusers and to others—in the best available rational light (Gardner 2007, 133).