Criminal Law

Guyora Binder is Distinguished Professor, Hodgson Russ Faculty Scholar, and Vice Dean for Research and Faculty Development at SUNY Buffalo Law School. He was previously a law clerk to federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein, Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor of Human Rights at Stanford, and a visiting professor at the law schools of the University of Michigan, Georgetown University, and Vanderbilt University. Professor Binder authored Treaty Conflict and Political Contradiction (1988), and Felony Murder (2012), and he was a co-author of Criminal Law (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016), and Literary Criticisms of Law (2000). His articles have appeared in the Yale Law Journal, University of Chicago Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Texas Law Review, Michigan Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Boston University Law Review, Notre Dame Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, University of Toronto Law Review, and the Yale Journal of Law and Humanities.

• Acknowledgments About the EditorAbout the Author Chapter 1 What is Criminal Law?I. IntroductionII. ProhibitionIII. PunishmentIV. State PunishmentV. Why Criminal Law MattersVI. ConclusionChapter 2 The American Criminal Justice SystemI. IntroductionII. The English Origins of Criminal LawIII. The Transformation of English Criminal Law During the Colonial PeriodIV. Colonial American Criminal JusticeV. Criminal Justice in the New RepublicVI. Crime as a National Political IssueVII. The Processing of Criminal Cases TodayVIII. ConclusionChapter 3 Why Punish?I. Why We Need Theories of PunishmentII. Corrective and Preventive TheoriesIII. Preventive PurposesIV. RetributionV. Proportional Punishment and Sentencing ProcessVI. ConclusionChapter 4 The Criminal ActI. OffensesII. LegalityIII. Wrongful ActsIV. OmissionsV. A Constitutional Requirement of ConductVI. A Constitutional Requirement of Voluntariness?VII. PossessionVIII. ConclusionChapter 5 The Criminal MindI. IntroductionII. The Idea of Mens Rea in Ancient and Medieval LawIII. Transferred and Presumed Intent in Early Modern English LawIV. The Idea of a Mental Element in 19th Century England and AmericaV. Public Welfare Offenses and the Question of Strict LiabilityVI. Strict Liability, Statutory Interpretation, and Due Process in the Supreme CourtVII. The Model Pebal Code's Culpability SchemeVIII. The Model Penal Code's Default RulesIX. Mistake of LawX. Incapacity for CulpabilityXI. ConclusionChapter 6 Homicide, From Killing to CausingI. IntroductionII. Origins of English Homicide LawIII. English Homicide Law in the Age of BlackstoneIV. American Codification of HomicideV. The Utilitarian Critique of Homicide LawVI. The Emergence of Causation as an Element of HomicideVII. Factual CausationVIII. Legal CausationIX. The Model Penal Code's Causation TestX. The Model Penal Code's Homicide SchemeXI. American Homicide Statutes After the CodeXII. Death Penalty Law After the CodeXIII. Conclusion: The Persistence of Normative JudgmentChapter 7 Rape and Theft, From Force to Non-consentI. Two Offenses Against ConsentII. Reflections on ConsentIII. The "Metamorphosis" of TheftIV. FraudsV. ExtortionVI. Robbery and BurglaryVII. The Emergence of Rape LiabilityVIII. The Requirement of ResistanceIX. Reform Standards: Force or Nonconsent?X. The Mental Element of RapeXI. Rape by Incapacity, Extortion and FraudXII. ConclusionChapter 8 Anticipatory and Participatory LiabilityI. IntroductionII. Punishment of AttemptIII. Mental Element of AttemptIV. The Act of AttemptingV. Impossible and Abandoned AttemptsVI. SolicitationVII. Punishing ConspiracyVIII. Conspiracy: Act and IntentIX. ComplicityX. Accomplice ConductXI. Accomplice CulpabilityXII. Innocent Agents, Relatively Innocent Agents, and Discrepant LiabilityXIII. Co-Conspirator and Accomplice Liability for Secondary CrimesXIV. Vicarious and Corporate LiabilityXV. ConclusionChapter 9 Justification and Excuse I. IntroductionII. Distinguishing and Comparing Justification and ExcuseIII. Law Enforcement (and other exercises of public authority)IV. Defensive ForceV. NecessityVI. DuressVII. InsanityConclusionIndex

This elegant work will revive interest in substantive criminal law. Binder covers all of the relevant issues and highlights the classic controversies of criminal law for a new generation. This impressive effort should be welcomed by students, lawyers, judges, and the general public."