Law without Justice
Why Criminal Law Doesn't Give People What They Deserve
1st Edition
Published on 1. December 2005
332 pages
978-0-19-803631-9 (ISBN)
Description
If an innocent person is sent to prison or if a killer walks free, we are outraged. The legal system assures us, and we expect and demand, that it will seek to "do justice" in criminal cases. So why, for some cases, does the criminal law deliberately and routinely sacrifice justice? In this unflinching look at American criminal law, Paul Robinson and Michael Cahill demonstrate that cases with unjust outcomes are not always irregular or unpredictable. Rather, the criminal law sometimes chooses not to give defendants what they deserve: that is, unsatisfying results occur even when the system works as it is designed to work. The authors find that while some justice-sacrificing doctrines serve their intended purpose, many others do not, or could be replaced by other, better rules that would serve the purpose without abandoning a just result. With a panoramic view of the overlapping and often competing goals that our legal institutions must balance on a daily basis, Law without Justice challenges us to restore justice to the criminal justice system.
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Paul H. Robinson | Michael T. Cahill
Law without Justice
Why Criminal Law Doesn't Give People What They Deserve
Book
01/2006
Oxford University Press Inc
€93.90
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Persons
Paul Robinson, the Colin S. Diver Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, is one of the world's leading experts on criminal law. His non-academic work includes service as a federal prosecutor, as counsel for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures, and as one of the original Commissioners of the United States Sentencing Commission.
Michael Cahill is Assistant Professor at Brooklyn Law School. Prior to his academic career, he served as Staff Director for the Illinois Criminal Code Rewrite and Reform Commission and was a consultant for the Kentucky Penal Code Revision Project.
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Introduction
- Objectives and Organization
- The Relevance of the Project
- Chapter 1: Doing Justice and the Distractions from It
- Why Focus on Doing Justice?
- A Further Word on What We Mean by "Doing Justice"
- The Utility of Desert: The Practical Costs of Deviations from Doing Justice
- PART I: PROMOTING JUSTICE IN A COMPLEX WORLD
- Chapter 2: Fear of Manipulation and Abuse
- Is a Federal Prison Guard a "Peace Officer"?
- Rejecting a Defense for Reasonable Mistake of Law (or for Necessity or Immaturity)
- "Whoosh, Whoosh, Push"
- Improperly Narrowing or Rejecting Legitimate Excuses
- Sodomized and Taunted, the Pot Boils Over
- Relying upon a Purely Objective Standard
- Preventing Over-Individualization of an Objective Standard
- Chapter 3: Advancing Reliability
- Too Late for Justice
- Statutes of Limitation
- Howard Aftermath
- Mistakes of Youth
- Strict Liability
- Excluding Coerced Confessions and Uncounseled Lineups
- Chapter 4: Making the Most of Limited Resources
- A Bargain on Contract Killings?
- Plea Bargaining and Witness Immunity
- Gravano Aftermath
- PART II: SACRIFICING JUSTICE TO PROMOTE OTHER INTERESTS
- Chapter 5: Living by Rules
- Three Hundred Bodies in the Backyard
- Legality
- Marsh Aftermath
- Cannibalism at Sea
- Denying Legitimate Excuses (for the Sake of Clarity)
- Dudley Aftermath
- Setting Boundaries: Legality and Changing Norms
- Chapter 6: Controlling Crime and Criminals
- Fleeing as Murder
- Deterrence
- Rehabilitation
- TV Violence
- Incapacitation
- Chapter 7: Controlling Police and Prosecutors
- Released to Kill
- Exclusionary Rules
- Speedy Trial
- Eyler Aftermath
- Pictures in the Heating Duct
- Double Jeopardy
- Ignatow Aftermath
- Incompetency
- A Winged Car Powered by Cocaine
- Entrapment
- Moral Credibility "versus" Legitimacy: Evaluating the Tradeoffs
- Chapter 8: Promoting Interests Unrelated to Criminal Justice
- Criminal Camping
- Criminalization of Regulatory Violations
- Lindsey Aftermath
- Corporate Criminality
- The Diplomatic Rapist
- Diplomatic and Official Immunity
- PART III: REGAINING MORAL CREDIBILITY
- Chapter 9: Criminal Justice Reforms
- Shifting Evidentiary Burdens
- Revamping the Verdict System
- Using Alternative Punishment Methods
- Chapter 10: Employing Civil Rather Than Criminal Processes
- Using Administrative, Instead of Criminal, Sanctions for Regulatory Violations
- Controlling Police and Prosecutor Misconduct without Letting the Criminal Go Free
- Distinguishing Dangerousness from Blameworthiness
- Conclusion: Doing Justice in a Complex World
- Notes
- Index
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- T
- U
- V
- W
