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1911 Triangle Factory Fire — Building Safety Codes, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah M. Robinson
1911 Triangle Factory Fire — Building Safety Codes, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah M. Robinson
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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. As it turns out, it is often the outrageousness itself that does the work. Ordinary crimes are accepted as the background noise of our everyday existence but some crimes make people stop and take notice – because they are so outrageous, or so curious, or so heart-wrenching. These “trigger crimes” are the cases that this book is about.
They offer some incredible stories about how people, good and bad, change the world around …
Statutory Rape, Paul H. Robinson, Tyler Scot Williams
Statutory Rape, Paul H. Robinson, Tyler Scot Williams
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It is common for criminal law scholars from outside the United States to discuss the “American rule” and compare it to the rule of other countries. As this volume makes clear, however, there is no such thing as an “American rule.” Because each of the states, plus the District of Columbia and the federal system, have their own criminal law, there are fifty-two American criminal codes.
American criminal law scholars know this, of course, but they too commonly speak of the “general rule” as if it reflects some consensus or near consensus position among the states. But the truth is …
Distributive Principles Of Criminal Law, Paul H. Robinson, Tyler Scot Williams
Distributive Principles Of Criminal Law, Paul H. Robinson, Tyler Scot Williams
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This first chapter from the recently published book Mapping American Criminal Law: Variations across the 50 States documents the alternative distributive principles for criminal liability and punishment — desert, deterrence, incapacitation of the dangerous — that are officially recognized by law in each of the American states. The chapter contains two maps visually coded to display important differences: the first map shows which states have adopted desert, deterrence, or incapacitation as a distributive principle, while the second map shows which form of desert is adopted in those jurisdictions that recognize desert. Like all 38 chapters in the book, which covers …
Crimes That Changed Our World: Tragedy, Outrage, And Reform: Chapter One: 1911 Triangle Factory Fire: Building Safety Codes, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah M. Robinson
Crimes That Changed Our World: Tragedy, Outrage, And Reform: Chapter One: 1911 Triangle Factory Fire: Building Safety Codes, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah M. Robinson
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This first chapter of the recently published book Crimes That Changed Our World: Tragedy, Outrage, and Reform, examines the process by which the tragic 1911 Triangle Factory Fire provoked enormous outrage that in turn created a local then national movement for workplace and building safety that ultimately became the foundation for today’s building safety codes. What is particularly interesting, however, is that the Triangle Fire was not the worst such tragedy in its day. Why should it be the one that ultimately triggers social progress?
The book has 21 chapters, each of which traces the tragedy-outrage-reform dynamic in a …
Felony Murder, Paul H. Robinson, Tyler Scot Williams
Felony Murder, Paul H. Robinson, Tyler Scot Williams
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It is common for criminal law scholars from outside the United States to discuss the “American rule” and compare it to the rule of other countries. As this volume makes clear, however, there is no such thing as an “American rule.” Because each of the states, plus the District of Columbia and the federal system, have their own criminal law, there are fifty-two American criminal codes.
American criminal law scholars know this, of course, but they too commonly speak of the “general rule” as if it reflects some consensus or near consensus position among the states. But the truth is …
Conclusion: Trigger Crimes & Social Progress, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah M. Robinson
Conclusion: Trigger Crimes & Social Progress, Paul H. Robinson, Sarah M. Robinson
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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
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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 …
Rationing Criminal Justice, Richard A. Bierschbach, Stephanos Bibas
Rationing Criminal Justice, Richard A. Bierschbach, Stephanos Bibas
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Of the many diagnoses of American criminal justice’s ills, few focus on externalities. Yet American criminal justice systematically overpunishes in large part because few mechanisms exist to force consideration of the full social costs of criminal justice interventions. Actors often lack good information or incentives to minimize the harms they impose. Part of the problem is structural: criminal justice is fragmented vertically among governments, horizontally among agencies, and individually among self-interested actors. Part is a matter of focus: doctrinally and pragmatically, actors overwhelmingly view each case as an isolated, short-term transaction to the exclusion of broader, long-term, and aggregate effects. …
What's Wrong With Sentencing Equality?, Richard A. Bierschbach, Stephanos Bibas
What's Wrong With Sentencing Equality?, Richard A. Bierschbach, Stephanos Bibas
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Equality in criminal sentencing often translates into equalizing outcomes and stamping out variations, whether race-based, geographic, or random. This approach conflates the concept of equality with one contestable conception focused on outputs and numbers, not inputs and processes. Racial equality is crucial, but a concern with eliminating racism has hypertrophied well beyond race. Equalizing outcomes seems appealing as a neutral way to dodge contentious substantive policy debates about the purposes of punishment. But it actually privileges deterrence and incapacitation over rehabilitation, subjective elements of retribution, and procedural justice, and it provides little normative guidance for punishment. It also has unintended …
The Rise And Fall And Resurrection Of American Criminal Codes, Paul H. Robinson
The Rise And Fall And Resurrection Of American Criminal Codes, Paul H. Robinson
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This brief essay summarizes the virtues of the modern American codification movement of the 1960s and 70s, putting it in a larger global context, then describes how these once-enviable codes have been systematically degraded with thoughtless amendments, a process of degradation that is accelerating each year. After exploring the political dynamics that promote such degradation, the essay suggests the principles and procedures for fixing the current codes and, more importantly, structural changes to the process that could avoid the restart of degradation in the future.
Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction Under The Antitrust Laws, Herbert J. Hovenkamp
Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction Under The Antitrust Laws, Herbert J. Hovenkamp
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The Ninth Circuit may soon consider whether challenges to antitrust activity that occurs abroad must invariably be addressed under the rule of reason, which will make criminal prosecution difficult or impossible.
When antitrust cases involve foreign conduct, the courts customarily appraise its substantive antitrust significance only after deciding whether the Sherman Act reaches the activity. Nevertheless, "jurisdictional" and "substantive" inquiries are not wholly independent. Both reflect two sound propositions: that Congress did not intend American antitrust law to rule the entire commercial world and that Congress knew that domestic economic circumstances often differ from those abroad where mechanical application of …
Advantaging Aggressors: Justice & Deterrence In International Law, Paul H. Robinson, Adil Ahmad Haque
Advantaging Aggressors: Justice & Deterrence In International Law, Paul H. Robinson, Adil Ahmad Haque
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Current international law imposes limitations on the use of force to defend against unlawful aggression that improperly advantage unlawful aggressors and disadvantage their victims. The Article gives examples of such rules, governing a variety of situations, showing how clearly unjust they can be. No domestic criminal law system would tolerate their use.
There are good practical reasons why international law should care that its rules are perceived as unjust. Given the lack of an effective international law enforcement mechanism, compliance depends to a large degree upon the moral authority with which international law speaks. Compliance is less likely when its …
Self-Defense And The State, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Self-Defense And The State, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
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This article is a contribution to a symposium honoring Sandy Kadish. This article seeks to explore whether and to what extent our understanding of self-defense depends upon a citizen's relationship with the state. Part II begins by setting forth Professor Kadish's claim that self-defense is "a right to resist aggression" that is held by a citizen against the state. After contending that such an account is insufficient to justify self-defense, the remainder of the article seeks to explore the relationship between the state and self-defense. Part III argues that self-defense is a pre-political moral right, as opposed to a political …
Final Report Of The Illinois Criminal Code Rewrite And Reform Commission, Paul H. Robinson, Michael T. Cahill
Final Report Of The Illinois Criminal Code Rewrite And Reform Commission, Paul H. Robinson, Michael T. Cahill
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The Governor of Illinois created a commission to examine the problems with Illinois criminal law and to rewrite the Illinois criminal code. This two-volume Final Report of the Illinois Criminal Code Rewrite and Reform Commission proposes a new criminal code, in volume 1, together with an official commentary, in volume 2, that explains each provision and how and why it differs from existing law. The introduction to the Report summarizes the reasons for and the importance of criminal code reform, and describes the techniques used in this rewrite project, including both the project’s drafting principles and the methods by which …
Final Report Of The Kentucky Penal Code Revision Project, Paul H. Robinson, Kentucky Criminal Justice Council Staff
Final Report Of The Kentucky Penal Code Revision Project, Paul H. Robinson, Kentucky Criminal Justice Council Staff
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The Kentucky Criminal Justice Council, a constitutional body in Kentucky, undertook this project to examine the problems with Kentucky criminal law and to rewrite the Kentucky criminal code. This two-volume Final Report of the Kentucky Penal Code Revision Project proposes a new criminal code, in volume 1, together with an official commentary, in volume 2, that explains each provision and how and why it differs from existing law. The introduction to the Report summarizes the reasons for and the importance of criminal code reform, and describes the techniques used in this rewrite project, including both the project’s drafting principles and …