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Full-Text Articles in Law
Mens Rea Reform And Its Discontents, Benjamin Levin
Mens Rea Reform And Its Discontents, Benjamin Levin
Publications
This Article examines the debates over recent proposals for “mens rea reform.” The substantive criminal law has expanded dramatically, and legislators have criminalized a great deal of common conduct. Often, new criminal laws do not require that defendants know they are acting unlawfully. Mens rea reform proposals seek to address the problems of overcriminalization and unintentional offending by increasing the burden on prosecutors to prove a defendant’s culpable mental state. These proposals have been a staple of conservative-backed bills on criminal justice reform. Many on the left remain skeptical of mens rea reform and view it as a deregulatory vehicle …
A Brief Summary And Critique Of Criminal Liability Rules For Intoxicated Conduct, Paul H. Robinson
A Brief Summary And Critique Of Criminal Liability Rules For Intoxicated Conduct, Paul H. Robinson
All Faculty Scholarship
This essay provides an overview of the legal issues relating to intoxication, including the effect of voluntary intoxication in imputing to an offender a required offense culpable state of mind that he may not actually have had at the time of the offense; the effect of involuntary intoxication in providing a defense by negating a required offense culpability element or by satisfying the conditions of a general excuse; the legal effect of alcoholism or addiction in rendering intoxication involuntary; and the limitation on using alcoholism or addiction in this way if the offender can be judged to be reasonably responsible …
Restructuring The Debate Over Fetal Homicide Laws, Carolyn B. Ramsey
Restructuring The Debate Over Fetal Homicide Laws, Carolyn B. Ramsey
Publications
The worst problems with the fetal homicide laws that have proliferated around the nation are quite different than the existing scholarship suggests. Critics often argue that the statutes, which criminalize the killing of a fetus by a third party other than an abortion provider, undermine a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy. This concern is overstated. Although supported by anti-abortionists, many of the fetal homicide laws embody the perspective of the so-called "abortion grays," who eschew the absolutism of the doctrinaire pro-choice and anti-abortion camps. This Article explores how a contextual view of life-taking allows us to reconcile legal abortion …
Twisting The Tourniquet Around The Pulse Of Conventional Legal Wisdom: Jurisprudence And Law Reform In The Work Of Robert A. Samek, Richard F. Devlin
Twisting The Tourniquet Around The Pulse Of Conventional Legal Wisdom: Jurisprudence And Law Reform In The Work Of Robert A. Samek, Richard F. Devlin
Dalhousie Law Journal
The name Robert Samek first came to my attention in the summer of 1985 as part of a research project carried out under the auspices of the Law Reform Commission of Canada. I was struck by what at the time seemed to be a complete contrast in two of his publications; his book, The Legal Point of View and an article, "A Case for Social Law Reform". Although only a few years apart, it seemed impossible that the two works could have come from the pen of the same author: the former was traditional, opaque, dull, pedantic and repetitive; the …
Imputed Criminal Liability, Paul H. Robinson
Imputed Criminal Liability, Paul H. Robinson
All Faculty Scholarship
Typically, the set of elements defining a crime comprise what may be called the paradigm of liability for that offense: An actor is criminally liable if and only if the state proves all these elements. The paradigm of an offense, however, does not always determine criminal liability. Even where all the elements of the paradigm are proven, rules and doctrines create exceptions that affect criminal liability. Some exceptions, such as insanity, duress, and law enforcement authority, can exculpate an actor even though his conduct and state of mind satisfy the paradigm for the offense charged. Such exculpating exceptions are grouped …