The Ups and Downs of U.S. State Criminal Codes

Paul H. Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Law School, has published The Rise and Fall and Resurrection of American Criminal Codes as University of Pennsylvania Law School Public Law Research Paper No. 14-38. Here is the abstract.

This brief essay summarizes the virtues of the modern American codification movement of the 1960s and 70s, putting it in a larger global context, then describes how these once-enviable codes have been systematically degraded with thoughtless amendments, a process of degradation that is accelerating each year. After exploring the political dynamics that promote such degradation, the essay suggests the principles and procedures for fixing the current codes and, more importantly, structural changes to the process that could avoid the restart of degradation in the future.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.