Would You Convict?: Seventeen Cases That Challenged the Law

Would You Convict?: Seventeen Cases That Challenged the Law

by Paul H. Robinson
Would You Convict?: Seventeen Cases That Challenged the Law

Would You Convict?: Seventeen Cases That Challenged the Law

by Paul H. Robinson

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Overview

An illuminating exercise that challenges the reader's beliefs about the justice system

A police trooper inspects a car during a routine traffic stop and finds a vast cache of weapons, complete with automatic rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and black ski masks-a veritable bank robber's kit. Should the men in the car be charged? If so, with what?

A son neglects to care for his elderly mother, whose emaciated form is discovered shortly before she dies a painful death. Is the son's neglect punishable, and if so how?

A career con man writes one bad check too many and is sentenced to life in prison-for a check in the amount of $129.75. Is this just?

A thief steals a backpack, only to find it contains a terrorist bomb. He alerts the police and saves lives, transforming himself from petty criminal to national hero.

These are just a few of the many provocative cases that Paul Robinson presents and unravels in Would You Convict?
Judging crimes and meting out punishment has long been an informal national pasttime. High-profile crimes or particularly brutal ones invariably prompt endless debate, in newspapers, on television, in coffee shops, and on front porches. Our very nature inclines us to be armchair judges, freely waving our metaphorical gavels and opining as to the innocence or guilt-and suitable punishment-of alleged criminals.

Confronting this impulse, Paul Robinson here presents a series of unusual episodes that not only challenged the law, but that defy a facile or knee-jerk verdict. Narrating the facts in compelling, but detached detail, Robinson invites readers to sentence the transgressor (or not), before revealing the final outcome of the case.

The cases described in Would You Convict? engage, shock, even repel. Without a doubt, they will challenge you and your belief system. And the way in which juries and judges have resolved them will almost certainly surprise you.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780814775318
Publisher: New York University Press
Publication date: 11/01/2001
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 329
Sales rank: 241,173
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Paul H. Robinson has written influential commentary for the New York Times (on the Unabomber case), the Wall Street Journal (on the beating of Reginald Denny after the O.J. verdict), and for Atlantic Monthly. The author of several books, he is currently the Edna B. and Ednyfed H. Williams Professor of Law at Northwestern University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgmentsxi
Prologue1
1Punishing Intent, Harm, or Dangerousness?3
Are Evil Intentions a Crime?3
People's Intuitions of Justice8
The Law's Rules9
Background9
The Aftermath11
Attempt versus the Complete Offense: The Significance of Resulting Harm19
Can Father and Daughter Kill the Same Man Twice?20
People's Intuitions of Justice21
More Facts22
People's Intuitions of Justice23
The Law's Rules25
The Aftermath25
Murder versus Attempted Murder: The Significance of Resulting Harm27
The Final Outcome28
The Requirements of Criminal Liability28
Life Imprisonment for Air Conditioning Fraud?28
People's Intuitions of Justice31
Trial and Sentence32
Punishing Dangerousness: Cloaking Preventive Detention as Criminal Justice32
The Appeal37
The Cost of Undercutting the Criminal Law's Moral Credibility37
The Final Outcome40
Segregating Preventive Detention from Criminal Justice41
2Knowing the Law's Commands44
The Congenial Cadaver44
People's Intuitions of Justice50
The Legality Principle and Its Rationales50
The Aftermath52
Today53
When Can an Officer Carry a Gun?54
People's Intuitions of Justice56
The Law57
At Trial73
At Trial Again: Ignorance or Mistake of Law Is No Excuse74
Acquitting the Bakers but Convicting the Marreros?74
Communicating the Criminal Law's Commands76
The Outcome76
Legality in Omission Offenses78
Neglecting Mom ... to Death78
People's Intuitions of Justice81
The Charge81
The Law's Reluctance to Impose Duties82
The Outcome83
Today84
Striking the Proper Balance between Legality and Justice84
Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers?85
The Law87
Ignorance of Law an Excuse?88
People's Intuitions of Justice89
The Aftermath90
The Problem of Discretion90
Same Facts, Different Perspective91
The Virtues of Legality95
Finishing the Story96
3Can Committing a Crime Be Doing the Right Thing?97
Escaping the Prisoners97
The Law's Rules103
The Trial and Sentence104
The Defense's Problems105
On Appeal106
People's Intuitions of Justice107
The Green Case under the Criminal Law of Other States107
The Final Outcome109
Killing for Apples110
The Law's Rule113
The Trial and Appeal114
People's Intuitions of Justice115
Another Look at Ignorance of the Law116
The Right Deed for the Wrong Reason123
Disagreement in the Law125
People's Intuitions of Justice127
The Outcome127
A Terrorist's Right to Resist the Thief?129
Today130
4Can Doing the Wrong Thing Ever Be Blameless?132
Loving, Killing Parents132
At Trial137
The Law's Challenge138
The Outcome140
People's Intuitions of Justice140
Adjudicating Blameworthiness versus Announcing Rules of Conduct141
The Sentence142
Killing a Sleeping Abuser142
The Law's Challenge, Again147
The Aftermath148
Battered Spouse Syndrome149
The Trial150
The Matters Relevant to Justice150
The Appeal151
The All-or-Nothing Disagreement152
On Remand153
People's Intuitions of Justice153
The Law's Unmet Challenge154
The Pedophile Within155
The Law's Rules159
People's Intuitions of Justice162
The Trial162
On Appeal163
The American View164
Today166
Picking Clean Drunks166
The Law's Rules170
People's Intuitions of Justice171
Legal Conflict over the Reno Decoy Operation171
The Peculiar Entrapment Defense173
The Outcome174
Legal Disagreements over Entrapment175
The Aftermath176
Who Will Explain to Kingston Why Hawkins Gets Off but He Goes to Jail?176
5Martyrs for Our Safety178
A Farm Boy's Treason?179
The Power of Coercive Indoctrination181
Richard's Return183
People's Intuitions of Justice185
The Law's Rules186
Finishing the Story189
Of Hippies and Bread Trucks: The Abused Learns to Abuse191
Alex Cabarga and Richard Tenneson196
People's Intuitions of Justice198
The Trial and Sentence199
The Problem of Discretion199
Desert versus Dangerousness201
Today204
Growing Up Gang: The Short, Violent Life of Robert Sandifer206
People's Intuitions of Justice209
Robert Sandifer and Alex Cabarga210
The Aftermath213
Desert versus Dangerousness, Again215
Epilogue217
AppendixGoverning Law, Then and Now219
Index321
About the Author328

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Paul Robinson, one of our most distinguished scholars for criminal law, has found a novel mode for both communicating the law to lay people and for integrating popular sentiments into the process of law reform. Everyone interested in the problems of moral and criminal responsibility should read this book, formulate a view about the issues, and discuss the problems with others. Make your view heard and the law will become more just!"

-George P. Fletcher,Cardozo Professor of Jurisprudence, Columbia University, and author of A Crime of Self-Defense: Bernhard Goetz and the Law on Trial

"Paul Robinson's writings have established him as the preeminent authority on what American criminal law is and on what the American public thinks of its criminal law. Would You Convict? Masterfully combines his two fields of expertise. Legal scholars, law students, and ordinary citizens will all benefit immensely from this work."

-Dan M. Kahan,Professor of Law, Yale University

"Fascinating reading."

-Library Journal,

"In this captivating book, Paul Robinson brings to life the central problems of the criminal law in a most unusual way. He confronts his readers with a cross-section of the most perplexing cases the law has to contend with (robbers armed to the hilt for a 'job', but arrested long before they have had a chance to decide what that 'job' is going to be; or a killer whose victim ends up dying in a way the killer never foresaw) and tries to get them to 'solve' the case before revealing how the law has actually dealt with it. Then, based on his earlier pioneering research into popular perceptions of justice, he is able to tell readers how their peers would have judged the same case. It's a book that should appeal to the academic, the student and the general reader alike."

-Leo Katz,author of Ill-Gotten Gains: Evasion, Fraud, and Kindred Puzzles of the Law

"Anyone interested in law will enjoy this book. . . . Highly recommended."

-Choice

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