Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 511 - 520 of 520

Full-Text Articles in Law

Causing The Conditions Of One's Own Defense: A Study In The Limits Of Theory In Criminal Law Doctrine, Paul H. Robinson Jan 1985

Causing The Conditions Of One's Own Defense: A Study In The Limits Of Theory In Criminal Law Doctrine, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

One widely-stated goal of criminal law theory is to create the set of rules that best implements our collective sense of justice. To reach this goal, the theorist continuously adjusts his theory so that it generates rules that better reflect our fundamental notions of justice. These rules, moreover, must function as workable doctrine, which in the context of criminal law means precise statutory provisions. It is this process of theoretical refinement and translation that is the topic of this article. Can good theory generate results that approximate our collective sense of justice? Can the theoretical refinements be translated into workable …


Evolutionary Models In Jurisprudence, Herbert J. Hovenkamp Jan 1985

Evolutionary Models In Jurisprudence, Herbert J. Hovenkamp

All Faculty Scholarship

Few ideas in intellectual history have been so captivating that they have overflowed the discipline from which they came and spilled over into everything else. The theory of evolution is unquestionably one of these. Evolution was an idea so powerful that it seemed obvious when Charles Darwin offered it. After all, there were prominent evolutionists a century before Darwin. Charles Darwin merely presented a model that made the theory plausible. It was a model, though, that infected everything, and one that appeared to answer every question worth asking, no matter what the subject. The model had the potential to lead …


Criminal Liability For Omissions: A Brief Summary And Critique Of The Law In The United States, Paul H. Robinson Jan 1984

Criminal Liability For Omissions: A Brief Summary And Critique Of The Law In The United States, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

Criminal liability for an omission is imposed in two distinct situations. First, such liability is often imposed explicitly in offense definitions that punish a failure to perform certain conduct. For example, it is an offense to fail to file a tax return. Second, it is also common for a general provision, apart from an offense definition, to create omission liability for an offense defined in commission terms. Parents, for example, are generally given the legal duty to care for their children. A parent may be held liable for criminal homicide, then, where death results from a failure to perform this …


Undiminished Confusion In Diminished Capacity, Stephen J. Morse Jan 1984

Undiminished Confusion In Diminished Capacity, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


Imputed Criminal Liability, Paul H. Robinson Jan 1984

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 …


Element Analysis In Defining Criminal Liability: The Model Penal Code And Beyond, Paul H. Robinson, Jane A. Grall Jan 1983

Element Analysis In Defining Criminal Liability: The Model Penal Code And Beyond, Paul H. Robinson, Jane A. Grall

All Faculty Scholarship

The pursuit of fairness and effectiveness has inspired and guided criminal code reformers of the past two decades. Because penal law protects the most important societal interests and authorizes the most serious sanctions the government may impose - the stigma of conviction, imprisonment, and even death - a criminal code, more than any other body of law, should be rational, clear, and internally consistent. Only a precise, principled code that sufficiently defines forbidden conduct can achieve its goals of condemnation and deterrence. Such a code gives citizens fair warning of what will constitute a crime, limits governmental discretion in determining …


Professor Brest On State Action And Liberal Theory, And A Postscript To Professor Stone, Frank Goodman Jan 1982

Professor Brest On State Action And Liberal Theory, And A Postscript To Professor Stone, Frank Goodman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


A Preference For Liberty: The Case Against Involuntary Commitment Of The Mentally Disordered, Stephen J. Morse Jan 1982

A Preference For Liberty: The Case Against Involuntary Commitment Of The Mentally Disordered, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


A Brief History Of Distinctions In Criminal Culpability, Paul H. Robinson Jan 1980

A Brief History Of Distinctions In Criminal Culpability, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

The Model Penal Code identifies five levels of culpable states of mind significant to criminal liability. Professor Robinson reviews the evolution and refinement of those distinctions and considers current and future implications of viewing the Model Penal Code scheme as one stage in a continuing development.


A Theory Of Justification: Societal Harm As A Prerequisite For Criminal Liability, Paul H. Robinson Jan 1975

A Theory Of Justification: Societal Harm As A Prerequisite For Criminal Liability, Paul H. Robinson

All Faculty Scholarship

All would agree that the criminal law seeks to prevent harmful results rather than to punish evil intent that produces no harm. If one views deterrence as the proper function of the criminal law, a harm requirement is appropriate. To the extent that the criminal law punishes nonharmful conduct, it weakens the stigma and deterrent effect of criminal conviction for harmful conduct. If a defendant who has caused no harm feels that he is punished unjustifiably, rehabilitative efforts will be hampered. Indeed, one may ask: If no harm has been caused, what harm will be deterred by punishment, and what …