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Conclusion: Trigger Crimes & Social Progress, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah M. Robinson
Conclusion: Trigger Crimes & Social Progress, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah M. Robinson
All Faculty Scholarship
Can a crime make our world better? Crimes are the worst of humanity’s wrongs but, oddly, they sometimes do more than anything else to improve our lives. It is often the outrageousness itself that does the work. Ordinary crimes are accepted as the background noise of everyday existence but some crimes make people stop and take notice – because they are so outrageous or so heart-wrenching.
This brief essay explores the dynamic of tragedy, outrage, and reform, illustrating how certain kinds of crimes can trigger real social progress. Several dozen such “trigger crimes” are identified but four in particular are …
Democratizing Criminal Law: Feasibility, Utility, And The Challenge Of Social Change, Paul H. Robinson
Democratizing Criminal Law: Feasibility, Utility, And The Challenge Of Social Change, Paul H. Robinson
All Faculty Scholarship
The notion of “democratizing criminal law” has an initial appeal because, after all, we believe in the importance of democracy and because criminal law is so important – it protects us from the most egregious wrongs and is the vehicle by which we allow the most serious governmental intrusions in the lives of individuals. Given criminal law’s special status, isn’t it appropriate that this most important and most intrusive governmental power be subject to the constraints of democratic determination?
But perhaps the initial appeal of this grand principle must give way to practical realities. As much as we are devoted …