Law without justice : why criminal law doesn't give people what they deserve
This book is a ... for thoughtful legislators and all the rest of us who seek justice for persons charged with crimes-proportional punishment of the guilty, and exculpation of the morally blameless. The authors demonstrate, with remarkable lucidity, how and why the criminal law sometimes deliberately sacrifices justice for other goals, and they provide thoughtful, controversial, and often persuasive suggestions on how we can redesign our legal system to give people their just deserts. [In the book, the authors offer an] account of how the American criminal justice system fails to give offenders their just deserts in a number of different contexts. From the refusal to allow partial exoneration for defenses like mistake of law and insanity to the practical limitations on detecting and prosecuting offenders, [they also] demonstrate through ... discussions of actual cases the many areas where criminal sentencing fails to do justice.-Dust jacket
1 online resource (xi, 319 pages) : illustrations
9780198036319, 9781280532566, 9781429403290, 9786610532568, 0198036310, 1280532564, 1429403292, 6610532567
71792708
Introduction
Objectives and organization
The relevance of the project
1. Doing justice and the distractions from it
Why focus on doing justice?
A further word on what we mean by "doing justice"
The utility of desert : the practical costs of deviations from doing justice
pt. I. Promoting justice in a complex world
2. Fear of manipulation and abuse
Is a federal prison guard a "peace officer"?
Rejecting a defense for reasonable mistake of law (or for necessity, or immaturity)
"Whoosh, whoosh, push"
Improperly narrowing or rejecting legitimate excuses
Sodomized and taunted, the pot boils over
Relying upon a purely objective standard
Preventing over-individualization of an objective standard
3. Advancing reliability
Too late for justice
Statutes of limitation
Howard aftermath
Mistakes of youth
Strict liability
Excluding coerced confessions and uncounseled lineups
4. Making the most of limited resources
A bargain on contract killings?
Plea bargaining and witness immunity
Gravano aftermath
pt. II. Sacrificing justice to promote other interests
5. Living by rules
Three hundred bodies in the backyard
Legality
Marsh aftermath
Cannibalism at sea
Denying legitimate excuses (for the sake of clarity)
Dudley aftermath
Setting boundaries : legality and changing norms. 6. Controlling crime and criminals
Fleeing as murder
Deterrence
Rehabilitation
TV violence
Incapacitation
7. Controlling police and prosecutors
Released to kill
Exclusionary rules
Speedy trial
Eyler aftermath
Pictures in the heating duct
Double jeopardy
Ignatow aftermath
Incompetency
A winged car powered by cocaine
Entrapment
Moral credibility "versus" legitimacy : evaluating the tradeoffs
8. Promoting interests unrelated to criminal justice
Criminal camping
Criminalization of regulatory violations
Lindsey aftermath
Corporate criminality
The diplomatic rapist
Diplomatic and official immunity
pt. III. Regaining moral credibility
9. Criminal justice reforms
Shifting evidentiary burdens
Revamping the verdict system
Using alternative punishment methods
10. Employing civil rather than criminal process
Using administrative, instead of criminal, sanctions for regulatory violations
Controlling police and prosecutor misconduct without letting the criminal go free
Distinguishing dangerousness from blameworthiness
Conclusion : doing justice in a complex world
Electronic reproduction, [Place of publication not identified], HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010
English
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