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Full-Text Articles in Law
Does Criminal Law Deter? A Behavioral Science Investigation, Paul H. Robinson
Does Criminal Law Deter? A Behavioral Science Investigation, Paul H. Robinson
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
Having a criminal justice system that imposes sanctions no doubt does deter criminal conduct. But available social science research suggests that manipulating criminal law rules within that system to achieve heightened deterrence effects generally will be ineffective. Potential offenders often do not know of the legal rules. Even if they do, they frequently are unable to bring this knowledge to bear in guiding their conduct, due to a variety of situational, social, or chemical factors. Even if they can, a rational analysis commonly puts the perceived benefits of crime greater than its perceived costs, due to a variety of criminal …
Plea Bargaining Outside The Shadow Of Trial, Stephanos Bibas
Plea Bargaining Outside The Shadow Of Trial, Stephanos Bibas
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
Plea-bargaining literature predicts that parties strike plea bargains in the shadow of expected trial outcomes. In other words, parties forecast the expected sentence after trial, discount it by the probability of acquittal, and offer some proportional discount. This oversimplified model ignores how structural distortions skew bargaining outcomes. Agency costs; attorney competence, compensation, and workloads; resources; sentencing and bail rules; and information deficits all skew bargaining. In addition, psychological biases and heuristics warp judgments: overconfidence, denial, discounting, risk preferences, loss aversion, framing, and anchoring all affect bargaining decisions. Skilled lawyers can partly counteract some of these problems but sometimes overcompensate. The …
Pleas' Progress, Stephanos Bibas
Pleas' Progress, Stephanos Bibas
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
No abstract provided.
Criminal Justice In The Information Age: A Punishment Theory Paradox, Paul H. Robinson
Criminal Justice In The Information Age: A Punishment Theory Paradox, Paul H. Robinson
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
This paper suggests how the information age might produce high capture and conviction rates and speculates on the effect of such developments on the criminal justice system's punishment theory. The low rate at which offenders presently are punished makes a deterrent threat of official sanction of limited effect. With a high punishment rate, however, a distribution of liability and punishment based upon a deterrence principle might, for the first time, make sense. On the other hand, the greater deterrent effect might eliminate crime as a serious social concern. And, without the pressure of a serious crime problem, the theory for …
The Psychology Of Hindsight And After-The-Fact Review Of Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, Stephanos Bibas
The Psychology Of Hindsight And After-The-Fact Review Of Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, Stephanos Bibas
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
No abstract provided.
Defending Imminence: From Battered Women To Iraq, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Defending Imminence: From Battered Women To Iraq, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
The war against Iraq and nonconfrontational killings by battered women are two recent examples of a more general theoretical problem. The underlying question is when may a defender act in self-defense. While some nineteenth century common law cases vested the rights in the defender, arguing that it was unfair to force her to live in fear, contemporary domestic and international law cast the balance decidedly on the side of the aggressor, by forcing the defender to wait until the aggressor's attack is imminent. The Bush Administration and the battered woman simply ask whether the pendulum swung too far in the …
The Virtues Of Uncertainty In Law: An Experimental Approach, Tom Baker, Alon Harel, Tamar Kugler
The Virtues Of Uncertainty In Law: An Experimental Approach, Tom Baker, Alon Harel, Tamar Kugler
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
No abstract provided.
"The Shame Of It All": Stigma And The Political Disenfranchisement Of Formerly Convicted And Incarcerated Persons, Regina Austin
"The Shame Of It All": Stigma And The Political Disenfranchisement Of Formerly Convicted And Incarcerated Persons, Regina Austin
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
No abstract provided.
Torture, Necessity, And The Union Of Law & Philosophy, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Torture, Necessity, And The Union Of Law & Philosophy, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
This brief essay critiques the torture memoranda's use of the necessity defense from the perspectives of criminal law doctrine, criminal law theory, and moral philosophy.
Reason, Results, And Criminal Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse
Reason, Results, And Criminal Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
No abstract provided.
The Feeney Amendment And The Continuing Rise Of Prosecutorial Power To Plea Bargain, Stephanos Bibas
The Feeney Amendment And The Continuing Rise Of Prosecutorial Power To Plea Bargain, Stephanos Bibas
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
No abstract provided.
Integrating Remorse And Apology Into Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas, Richard A. Bierschbach
Integrating Remorse And Apology Into Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas, Richard A. Bierschbach
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
No abstract provided.
The Social And Moral Cost Of Mass Incarceration In African American Communities, Dorothy E. Roberts
The Social And Moral Cost Of Mass Incarceration In African American Communities, Dorothy E. Roberts
Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law
No abstract provided.