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The Shadow Criminal Law Of Municipal Governance, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

Although it often escapes attention, municipal governments possess significant authority to enact criminal laws consistent with their expansive home rule and police powers. In this article, Professor Logan explores the numerous ways in which this authority manifests, and reflects upon, several of the main concerns presented by the "shadow criminal law" thereby created. These concerns include the negative practical consequences for individuals and entire communities associated with the proliferation of criminal laws, in which municipalities play a significant part; the specter that such governments will indulge punitive or parochial tendencies; and the pitfalls associated with intra-state diversification of the criminal …