The primary teaching and research areas for Murphy, Regents' Professor of Law, Philosophy & Religious Studies, are philosophy of law and jurisprudence, criminal law, ethics and religion, moral philosophy (including moral psychology), philosophy in literature/law and literature, and Kant's moral, political and legal philosophy. He is the author of numerous books and articles on the theory of punishment, forgiveness and mercy, and the moral emotions. Most recently, he has written the book, Getting Even-Forgiveness and its Limits (Oxford University Press), and the article, "Remorse, Apology, and Mercy" (Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law), which was included in the Criminal Law Conversations book recently published by Oxford University Press.