The Proper Role of Community in Determining Criminal Liability and Punishment

in Popular Punishment: On the Normative Significance of Public Opinion (Jesper Ryberg and Julian A. Roberts eds., Oxford University Press 2014).

12 Pages Posted: 7 Dec 2012 Last revised: 6 Dec 2017

See all articles by Paul H. Robinson

Paul H. Robinson

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Date Written: 2014

Abstract

This essay argues that community views ought to have a central role in constructing criminal law and punishment rules, for both democratic and crime-control reasons, but ought not to have a role in the adjudication of individual cases. The differences in the American and Chinese debates on these issues are examined and discussed.

Keywords: Empirical desert, moral credibility, stigmatize, vigilantism, social norms, utility of desert, disutility of injustice, community views, retributivism, three-strikes, drug penalties, felony-murder rule, insanity defense, strict liability offenses, American and Chinese debates

Suggested Citation

Robinson, Paul H., The Proper Role of Community in Determining Criminal Liability and Punishment (2014). in Popular Punishment: On the Normative Significance of Public Opinion (Jesper Ryberg and Julian A. Roberts eds., Oxford University Press 2014)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2186148 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2186148

Paul H. Robinson (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School ( email )

3501 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

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