(DOWNLOAD) "Reconsidering the Felony Murder Rule in Light of Modern Criticisms: Doesn't the Conclusion Depend Upon the Particular Rule at Issue?" by Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Reconsidering the Felony Murder Rule in Light of Modern Criticisms: Doesn't the Conclusion Depend Upon the Particular Rule at Issue?
- Author : Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
- Release Date : January 22, 2009
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 339 KB
Description
The felony murder doctrine has long been a target for detractors. (1) In some instances, the criticisms have had merit, or at least they have had merit when aimed at certain ill-considered formulations of the rule. (2) In other cases, however, the critics have articulated poorly reasoned arguments. Surprisingly, this group includes the drafters of the Model Penal Code (MPC) (3) and the Michigan Supreme Court, (4) which saw no arguments whatsoever for the rule. There was a time when virtually no commentator could find anything to say in favor of retaining the rule, even though it had proven extraordinarily durable over time and almost every state had chosen to retain it. (5) That history ought to have prompted scholars to consider whether there might be valid reasons for the near-universal retention of the felony murder doctrine, but for most of the rule's existence, few scholars did so. In 1985, my co-author and I attempted to do what had been neglected up until that time: describe the policies that are arguably served by the felony murder rule. (6) The resulting article, In Defense of the Felony Murder Rule, appeared in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, has been cited by a wide variety of courts, and appears in almost every criminal law casebook. (7) Our conclusion was that the question whether to retain the felony murder rule could be argued either way, but that the decision should not be made with a blind eye toward the reasons for retaining the rule. Since that time, the debate has changed. Opponents of the rule still exist, and they should. But with relatively few exceptions, academics no longer argue that the felony murder rule is without any support. (8)