The American Criminal Code: General Defenses

114 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2014 Last revised: 26 Aug 2015

See all articles by Paul H. Robinson

Paul H. Robinson

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Matthew Kussmaul

Ballard Spahr LLP

Camber Stoddard

White & Case LLP

Ilya Rudyak

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School - Student/Alumni/Adjunct

Andreas Kuersten

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: March 15, 2015

Abstract

There are fifty-two different bodies of criminal law at work in the United States, as diverse as they are many. Each one stakes out seemingly innumerable positions on a range of highly contested issues. So, how is one to know what the “American rule” is on any given matter of criminal law? This article takes the first step towards answering this question by presenting the first installment of the “American Criminal Code.”

This article is the result of an exhaustive research project that examined every contested issue relating to the general defenses to criminal liability, including all justification, excuse, and non-exculpatory defenses. With this foundation, the article determines the majority American position among the fifty-two jurisdictions, and formulates statutory language for each defense that reflects the majority American rule in all respects. The article also compares and contrasts the majority position on each issue to all significant minority positions, the Model Penal Code, and the National Commission’s proposed code.

Finally, using the results of these analyses, the article compares patterns among the states for issues within the most controversial justification defense, the Defense of Persons, to a wide range of other variables — such as state population, racial characteristics, violent crime rates, and gun ownership — and highlights many interesting correlations. While applying this kind of doctrinal correlation analysis to all of the project’s existing data would be a major undertaking many times larger than the present project, the article illustrates how such analysis can be done, and how interesting the revealed patterns can be.

Keywords: justification, excuse, non-exculpatory defense, Model Penal Code, National Commission, majority view, lesser evils, execution of public duty, self-defense, defense of persons, defense of property, defense of habitation, deadly force, law enforcement authority, persons with special responsibility

Suggested Citation

Robinson, Paul H. and Kussmaul, Matthew and Stoddard, Camber and Rudyak, Ilya and Kuersten, Andreas, The American Criminal Code: General Defenses (March 15, 2015). The Journal of Legal Analysis, Vol. 7, P. 37, 2015, U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 14-28, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2495028 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2495028

Paul H. Robinson (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School ( email )

3501 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

Matthew Kussmaul

Ballard Spahr LLP ( email )

Baltimore Office
19th Floor 300 East Lombard
Baltimore, MD 21202-3268
United States

Camber Stoddard

White & Case LLP

United States

Ilya Rudyak

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School - Student/Alumni/Adjunct ( email )

Philadelphia, PA
United States

Andreas Kuersten

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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