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Articles 1 - 20 of 20
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Origins Of Shared Intuitions Of Justice, Paul H. Robinson, Robert O. Kurzban, Owen D. Jones
The Origins Of Shared Intuitions Of Justice, Paul H. Robinson, Robert O. Kurzban, Owen D. Jones
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Contrary to the common wisdom among criminal law scholars, the empirical evidence reveals that people's intuitions of justice are often specific, nuanced, and widely shared. Indeed, with regard to the core harms and evils to which criminal law addresses itself – physical aggression, takings without consent, and deception in transactions – the shared intuitions are stunningly consistent, across cultures as well as demographics. It is puzzling that judgments of moral blameworthiness, which seem so complex and subjective, reflect such a remarkable consensus. What could explain this striking result? The authors theorize that one explanation may be an evolved predisposition toward …
Rita V. United States Leaves More Open Than It Answers, Stephanos Bibas
Rita V. United States Leaves More Open Than It Answers, Stephanos Bibas
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This essay surveys the sentencing issues left open by Rita v. United States and considers how the presumption of reasonableness is likely to operate in practice and how rebutable it is, the roles of safe harbors and individual judges' policy disagreements, and the importance of Justices Stevens and Ginsburg as the swing Justices in this area. This line of cases has drifted far from its roots in a Sixth Amendment concern for juries. Though the resulting sentencing policies may be substantively desirable, the Court cannot articulate how they are rooted in the Sixth Amendment's concern for juries.
The Luck Of The Draw: Using Random Case Assignment To Investigate Attorney Ability, David S. Abrams, Albert H. Yoon
The Luck Of The Draw: Using Random Case Assignment To Investigate Attorney Ability, David S. Abrams, Albert H. Yoon
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One of the most challenging problems in legal scholarship is the measurement of attorney ability. Measuring attorney ability presents inherent challenges because the nonrandom pairing of attorney and client in most cases makes it difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between attorney ability and case selection. Las Vegas felony case data, provided by the Clark County Office of the Public Defender in Nevada, offer a unique opportunity to compare attorney performance. The office assigns its incoming felony cases randomly among its pool of attorneys, thereby creating a natural experiment free from selection bias. We find substantial heterogeneity in attorney performance …
The American Model Penal Code: A Brief Overview, Paul H. Robinson, Markus D. Dubber
The American Model Penal Code: A Brief Overview, Paul H. Robinson, Markus D. Dubber
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If there can be said to be an "American criminal code," the Model Penal Code is it. Nonetheless, there remains an enormous diversity among the fifty-two American penal codes, including some that have never adopted a modern code format or structure. Yet, even within the minority of states without a modern code, the Model Penal Code has great influence, as courts regularly rely upon it to fashion the law that the state's criminal code fails to provide. In this essay we provide a brief introduction to this historic document, its history and its content. Available for download at http://ssrn.com/abstract=661165
Without Limitation: 'Groundhog Day' For Incompetent Defendants, J. Amy Dillard
Without Limitation: 'Groundhog Day' For Incompetent Defendants, J. Amy Dillard
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This Article offers a brief overview of the standards for determining competency to stand trial. After examining the seminal case of Jackson v. Indiana, which held that the indefinite pre-trial detention of incompetent defendants violates due process, this Article argues that Virginia Code § 19.2-169.3, like statutes in twenty other states, violates a defendant's right to substantive due process, including the right to be free from forcible medication. This Article proposes legislation that will make the process constitutional, while addressing the concerns about the release of dangerous individuals held by the prosecutors and the community.
At His Discretion (N.): "To Be Disposed Of As He Thinks Fit; At His Disposal, At His Mercy; Unconditionally", J. Amy Dillard
At His Discretion (N.): "To Be Disposed Of As He Thinks Fit; At His Disposal, At His Mercy; Unconditionally", J. Amy Dillard
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Review of ANGELA J. DAVIS, ARBITRARY JUSTICE (Oxford University Press, Inc. 2007) 264 pp.
Concordance & Conflict In Intuitions Of Justice, Paul H. Robinson, Robert O. Kurzban
Concordance & Conflict In Intuitions Of Justice, Paul H. Robinson, Robert O. Kurzban
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The common wisdom among criminal law theorists and policy makers is that the notion of desert is vague and the subject to wide disagreement. Yet the empirical evidence in available studies, including new studies reported here, paints a dramatically different picture. While moral philosophers may disagree on some aspects of moral blameworthiness, people's intuitions of justice are commonly specific, nuanced, and widely shared. Indeed, with regard to the core harms and evils to which criminal law addresses itself – physical aggression, takings without consent, and deception in transactions – people's shared intuitions cut across demographics and cultures. The findings raise …
Of Neocolonialism, Common Law And Uncodifiable Shari’A: A Reply To Professor An-Na’Im, Paul H. Robinson, Adnan Zulfiqar
Of Neocolonialism, Common Law And Uncodifiable Shari’A: A Reply To Professor An-Na’Im, Paul H. Robinson, Adnan Zulfiqar
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In an earlier article -- Robinson et al., Codifying Shari'a: International Norms, Legality & the Freedom to Invent New Forms, http://ssrn.com/abstract=941443 -- the authors report the challenges and opportunities that arose during their commission by the United Nations Development Programme and the Government of the Maldives to produce the first modern comprehensive criminal code based upon Shari'a. In this brief essay they respond to published criticisms of that project, which asserted, among other things, that Shari'a cannot be codified, that it should not be codified, that the project was a shameful exercise in neocolonialism, that the project was an act …
The Role Of Moral Philosophers In The Competition Between Deontological And Empirical Desert, Paul H. Robinson
The Role Of Moral Philosophers In The Competition Between Deontological And Empirical Desert, Paul H. Robinson
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Desert appears to be in ascendence as a distributive principle for criminal liability and punishment but there is confusion as to whether it is a deontological or an empirical conception of desert that is or should be promoted. Each offers a distinct advantage over the other. Deontological desert can transcend community, situation, and time to give a conception of justice that can be relied upon to reveal errors in popular notions of justice. On the other hand, empirical desert can be more easily operationalized than can deontological desert because, contrary to common wisdom, there is a good deal of agreement …
The Non-Problem Of Free Will In Forensic Psychiatry And Psychology, Stephen J. Morse
The Non-Problem Of Free Will In Forensic Psychiatry And Psychology, Stephen J. Morse
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This article demonstrates that there is no free will problem in forensic psychiatry by showing that free will or its lack is not a criterion for any legal doctrine and it is not an underlying general foundation for legal responsibility doctrines and practices. There is a genuine metaphysical free will problem, but the article explains why it is not relevant to forensic practice. Forensic practitioners are urged to avoid all usage of free will in their forensic thinking and work product because it is irrelevant and spawns confusion.
Forgiveness In Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas
Forgiveness In Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas
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Though forgiveness and mercy matter greatly in social life, they play fairly small roles in criminal procedure. Criminal procedure is dominated by the state, whose interests in deterring, incapacitating, and inflicting retribution leave little room for mercy. An alternative system, however, would focus more on the needs of human participants. Victim-offender mediation, sentencing discounts, and other mechanisms could encourage offenders to express remorse, victims to forgive, and communities to reintegrate and employ offenders. All of these actors could then better heal, reconcile, and get on with their lives. Forgiveness and mercy are not panaceas: not all offenders and victims would …
On The Moral Structure Of White-Collar Crime, Mitchell N. Berman
On The Moral Structure Of White-Collar Crime, Mitchell N. Berman
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No abstract provided.
Criminal Responsibility And The Disappearing Person, Stephen J. Morse
Criminal Responsibility And The Disappearing Person, Stephen J. Morse
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A contribution to a symposium on George Fletcher, The Grammar of Criminal Law: American, Comparative, International (Oxford 2007).
Criminalization Of Corporate Law: The Impact On Shareholders And Other Constituents, Jill E. Fisch
Criminalization Of Corporate Law: The Impact On Shareholders And Other Constituents, Jill E. Fisch
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No abstract provided.
Intuitions Of Justice: Implications For Criminal Law And Justice Policy, Paul H. Robinson, John M. Darley
Intuitions Of Justice: Implications For Criminal Law And Justice Policy, Paul H. Robinson, John M. Darley
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Recent social science research suggests that many if not most judgements about criminal liability and punishment for serious wrongdoing are intuitional rather than reasoned. Further, such intuitions of justice are nuanced and widely shared, even though they concern matters that seem quite complex and subjective. While people may debate the source of these intuitions, it seems clear that, whatever their source, it must be one that is insulated from the influence of much of human experience because, if it were not, one would see differences in intuitions reflecting the vast differences in human existence across demographics and societies. This article …
Plea-Bargaining, Negotiating Confessions And Consensual Resolution Of Criminal Cases, Stephen C. Thaman
Plea-Bargaining, Negotiating Confessions And Consensual Resolution Of Criminal Cases, Stephen C. Thaman
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This report explores the various types of consensual procedures that make up the procedural arsenals of modern criminal justice systems and if and how they have contributed to procedural economy in the respective country. It discusses whether or not important procedural principles have been compromised, undermining the legitimacy of the criminal justice system.
Penal Court Procedures: Doctrinal Issues, Stephen C. Thaman
Penal Court Procedures: Doctrinal Issues, Stephen C. Thaman
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Volume III: This is an encyclopedia entry on doctrinal issues in penal court procedures.
Consensual Penal Resolution, Stephen C. Thaman
Consensual Penal Resolution, Stephen C. Thaman
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Volume I: This is an encyclopedia entry on consensual penal resolution.
Holistic Culpability, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Holistic Culpability, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
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There are two competing conceptions of mens rea. The first conception is descriptive. We look to a person's mental state to determine if the mental state element is satisfied. This is a question of fact. Alternatively, there is the normative conception of mens rea. This is the question of whether the defendant is blameworthy. The term, mens rea, or "culpability," can therefore refer to the descriptive usage (did the defendant have the requisite mental state, i.e, purpose or knowledge?) or to the normative usage (is the defendant blameworthy, wicked, indifferent?). The tension between descriptive and normative terminology was first identified …
The Uneasy Entente Between Legal Insanity And Mens Rea: Beyond Clark V. Arizona, Stephen J. Morse, Morris B. Hoffman
The Uneasy Entente Between Legal Insanity And Mens Rea: Beyond Clark V. Arizona, Stephen J. Morse, Morris B. Hoffman
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There is uneasy tension in the criminal law between the doctrines of mens rea and the defense of legal insanity. Last term, the Supreme Court addressed both these issues, but failed to clarify the relation between them. Using a wide range of interdisciplinary materials, this article discusses the broad doctrinal, theoretical, and normative issues concerning responsibility that arise in this context. We clarify the meaning of mental disorder, mens rea and legal insanity, the justification for and the relation between the latter two, and the relation among all three. Next we consider the reasoning in Clark, and for the most …