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Testing Lay Intuitions Of Justice: How And Why?, Paul H. Robinson
Testing Lay Intuitions Of Justice: How And Why?, Paul H. Robinson
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When John Darley and I wrote Justice, Liability, and Blame: Community Views and the Criminal Law, our goal was not to provide the definitive account of lay intuitions of justice but rather to stimulate interest in what we saw as an important but long-term project that would require the work of many people. Having this American Association of Law Schools program is itself something toward that end and for that we thank Christopher Slobogin and Cheryl Hanna. In this brief introduction to the Symposium, let me set the stage by doing four things. Part I of this Article summarizes the …
Some Doubts About Argument By Hypothetical, Paul H. Robinson
Some Doubts About Argument By Hypothetical, Paul H. Robinson
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In his paper, Why the Successful Assassin Is More Wicked than the Unsuccessful One, Leo Katz "pick[s] up the gauntlet [Sandy] Kadish throws down" to offer a nonconsequentialist justification for giving significance to resulting harm and, in particular, to justify the common practice of punishing attempts less than the completed offense. In one sense, I may not be the ideal person to serve as critic. I am not one of those who, like Kadish and others, does not believe in the significance of resulting harm in assessing blameworthiness (people whom Katz calls the "luck- skeptics" but to whom I will …
Structuring Criminal Codes To Perform Their Function, Paul H. Robinson
Structuring Criminal Codes To Perform Their Function, Paul H. Robinson
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This paper argues that criminal codes have two distinct functions. First, a code must ex ante announce the rules of conduct. Second, it must set out the principles of for adjudicating, ex post, violations of those rules. These two functions often are in tension with one another. Each calls for a different kind of code, addressed to a different audience, with different objectives: To be effective ex ante, the rules of conduct must be formulated in a way that they will be understood, remembered, and able to be applied in daily life by lay persons with a wide range of …
Why Does The Criminal Law Care What The Layperson Thinks Is Just? Coercive Versus Normative Crime Control, Paul H. Robinson
Why Does The Criminal Law Care What The Layperson Thinks Is Just? Coercive Versus Normative Crime Control, Paul H. Robinson
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THE criminal law codification movement of the 1960s and 70s was guided by instrumentalist principles designed to reduce crime, rather than by retributivist notions of giving offenders deserved punishment. The Model Penal Code, which served as a model for nearly all of the period's code reforms, was explicit on the point: The Code's "dominant theme is the prevention of offenses" and its "major goal is to forbid and prevent conduct that threatens substantial harm." Yet, as Part I of this Article will show, even from such a staunchly instrumentalist code came a criminal law that defers to laypersons' shared intuitions …
The Five Worst (And Five Best) American Criminal Codes, Paul H. Robinson, Michael T. Cahill, Usman Mohammad
The Five Worst (And Five Best) American Criminal Codes, Paul H. Robinson, Michael T. Cahill, Usman Mohammad
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Each American jurisdiction has a criminal code. Most jurisdictions have substantially restructured and improved their codes since 1962, when the American Law Institute first promulgated its Model Penal Code. Such reform efforts are worthwhile, especially in criminal law, because many advantages flow from the thoughtful codification of criminal law rules. By compiling all criminal rules in a single comprehensive source, codification makes access to these rules easier, increasing the chance that citizens will know what the criminal law commands. A codified rule has the advantage of increased precision, which is likely to increase the uniformity of its application. Uncodified rules--or, …
Positivism And The Notion Of An Offense, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
Positivism And The Notion Of An Offense, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
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While the United States Supreme Court has developed an elaborate constitutional jurisprudence of criminal procedure, it has articulated few constitutional doctrines of the substantive criminal law. The asymmetry between substance and procedure seems natural given the demise of Lochner and the minimalist stance towards due process outside the area of fundamental rights. This Article, however, argues that the "positivistic" approach to defining criminal offenses stands in some tension with other basic principles, both constitutional and moral. In particular, two important constitutional guarantees depend on the notion of an offense: the presumption of innocence and the ban on double jeopardy. Under …
When The Rule Swallows The Exception, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
When The Rule Swallows The Exception, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
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No abstract provided.
Creating And Solving The Problem Of Drug Use During Pregnancy, Dorothy E. Roberts
Creating And Solving The Problem Of Drug Use During Pregnancy, Dorothy E. Roberts
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No abstract provided.
Rationality And Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse
Rationality And Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse
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No abstract provided.
The Inefficiency Of Mens Rea, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
The Inefficiency Of Mens Rea, Claire Oakes Finkelstein
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No abstract provided.
Why The Successful Assassin Is More Wicked Than The Unseccessful One, Leo Katz
Why The Successful Assassin Is More Wicked Than The Unseccessful One, Leo Katz
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No abstract provided.
The Moral Metaphysics Of Causation And Results, Stephen J. Morse
The Moral Metaphysics Of Causation And Results, Stephen J. Morse
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No abstract provided.