The American Model Penal Code: A Brief Overview
New Criminal Law Review, Vol. 10, pg. 319, 2007
23 Pages Posted: 4 Feb 2005 Last revised: 28 Sep 2009
Date Written: 2007
Abstract
If there can be said to be an "American criminal code," the Model Penal Code is it. Nonetheless, there remains an enormous diversity among the fifty-two American penal codes, including some that have never adopted a modern code format or structure. Yet, even within the minority of states without a modern code, the Model Penal Code has great influence, as courts regularly rely upon it to fashion the law that the state's criminal code fails to provide. In this essay we provide a brief introduction to this historic document, its history and its content.
Keywords: model penal code, criminal
JEL Classification: K14
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation