The Historical Analysis of Criminal Codes

2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 433-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Dirk Dubber
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Model Penal Code ◽  
The Face ◽  
Anglo American

Students of Anglo-American criminal law, historians included, have traditionally had very little to say about criminal codes. This omission is startling in the face of ongoing efforts to codify criminal law since the late eighteenth century, not only in England and the United States, but also in Canada and India. The only historical study of criminal codification in the United States is a survey article that is, strictly speaking, not about codification at all, but about the great men who made codification possible, in particular the forefathers of Herbert Wechsler, the main drafter of the Model Penal Code. The Model Penal Code itself gave no clues as to its historical antecedents, if any. It is regarded, and portrayed itself, as having invented the wheel by starting from scratch, the raw material of the common law.

Crimes against Humanity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Van Schaack
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
The United States ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Superior Responsibility

This chapter identifies three unfortunate gaps in the United States’ federal penal code: The United States lacks a crimes against humanity statute, the war crimes statute has a limited jurisdictional reach and does not conform to US obligations under the Geneva Conventions, and the code lacks express mention of superior responsibility. These gaps significantly hinder the reach of the United States’ prosecutorial authorities and have led to instances of impunity, and incomplete accountability, where perpetrators within US jurisdiction cannot be prosecuted for their substantive crimes and must be dealt with through immigration and other remedies. The chapter then evaluates various proposed amendments to Title 18, drawing upon previous bills, international criminal law, and other federal statutes. It closes by arguing that discrete statutory amendments would enable the United States to exercise leadership in atrocities prevention and response without increasing the risk that US personnel will be subjected to litigation overseas.

UNTYING THE GORDIAN KNOT OF MENS REA REQUIREMENTS FOR ACCOMPLICES

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-183
Author(s):  
Heidi M. Hurd ◽  
Michael S. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Mens Rea ◽  
Model Penal Code ◽  
American Law ◽  
General Part ◽  
The Common ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Responsibility Model

Abstract:This essay undertakes two tasks: first, to describe the differing mens rea requirements for accomplice liability of both Anglo-American common law and the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code; and second, to recommend how the mens rea requirements of both of these two sources of criminal law in America should be amended so as to satisfy the goals of clarity and consistency and so as to more closely conform the criminal law to the requirements of moral blameworthiness. Three "pure models" of the mens rea requirements for complicity are distinguished, based on the three theories of liability conventionally distinguished in the general part of Anglo-American criminal law. One of these, the vicarious responsibility model, is put aside initially because of both its descriptive inaccuracy and its normative undesirability. The analysis proceeds using the other two models: that of the mens rea requirements for principal liability for completed crimes, and that of the mens rea requirements for attempt liability. Both the common law and the Model Penal Code are seen as complicated admixtures of these two models, the common law being too narrow in the scope of its threatened liability and the Model Penal Code being both too broad and too opaque in its demands for accomplice liability. The normative recommendation of the paper is to adopt the model for the mens rea of complicity that treats it as a form of principal liability, recognizing that the overbreadth of liability resulting from adoption of that model would have to be redressed by adopting a "shopkeeper's privilege" as an affirmative defense separate from any mens rea requirement.

Introduction and Overview

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
R. Barry Ruback
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Sanctions ◽  
The United States ◽  
Penal Code ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Model Penal Code ◽  
Criminal Convictions ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Past

In the past 30 years, economic sanctions following criminal convictions have been more frequently imposed. This trend toward increasing the use of economic sanctions is likely to continue because of increased costs, increased retribution, a desire for intermediate punishment, and concern for the losses incurred by victims and their families. The first chapter provides a brief historical introduction to the concept of economic sanctions and an overview of the current status of economic sanctions in the United States. An overview of the advantages and disadvantages of economic sanctions, from both economists and lawyers, follows. There is then a brief discussion of the purposes of sentencing and reference to the economic sanctions section of the Model Penal Code: Sentencing The chapter ends with an overview of the book.

Verán ustedes las chozas más humildes. El discurso de pobreza en la diplomacia pública cardenista dirigida a Estados Unidos

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-281
Author(s):  
Sylvia Dümmer Scheel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
Lazaro Cardenas ◽  
The New Deal

El artículo analiza la diplomacia pública del gobierno de Lázaro Cárdenas centrándose en su opción por publicitar la pobreza nacional en el extranjero, especialmente en Estados Unidos. Se plantea que se trató de una estrategia inédita, que accedió a poner en riesgo el “prestigio nacional” con el fin de justificar ante la opinión pública estadounidense la necesidad de implementar las reformas contenidas en el Plan Sexenal. Aprovechando la inusual empatía hacia los pobres en tiempos del New Deal, se construyó una imagen específica de pobreza que fuera higiénica y redimible. Ésta, sin embargo, no generó consenso entre los mexicanos. This article analyzes the public diplomacy of the government of Lázaro Cárdenas, focusing on the administration’s decision to publicize the nation’s poverty internationally, especially in the United States. This study suggests that this was an unprecedented strategy, putting “national prestige” at risk in order to explain the importance of implementing the reforms contained in the Six Year Plan, in the face of public opinion in the United States. Taking advantage of the increased empathy felt towards the poor during the New Deal, a specific image of hygienic and redeemable poverty was constructed. However, this strategy did not generate agreement among Mexicans.

A HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF DEPRECIATION ACCOUNTING — THE UNITED STATES STEEL EXPERIENCE

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Auman Reed
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
Cost Accounting ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reporting Bias ◽  
Productive Capacity ◽  
Replacement Cost ◽  
Historical Cost ◽  
Steel Corporation

This paper examines the magnitude of the reporting bias inherent in the historical cost accounting of a firm's physical capital. Reported depreciation data pertaining to U.S. Steel Corporation (currently USX) between 1939 and 1987 are compared with standardized historical cost figures and replacement cost estimates. The findings suggest that replacement cost depreciation would have provided more information about U.S. Steel's ability to maintain its productive capacity than historical cost depreciation did. Thus, this analysis provides an illustration of one of the primary arguments for replacement cost accounting.

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