The American Model Penal Code: A Brief Overview

Authors

Paul H. Robinson, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law SchoolFollow
Markus D. Dubber, University at Buffalo Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-27-2007

Abstract

If there can be said to be an "American criminal code," the Model Penal Code is it. Nonetheless, there remains an enormous diversity among the fifty-two American penal codes, including some that have never adopted a modern code format or structure. Yet, even within the minority of states without a modern code, the Model Penal Code has great influence, as courts regularly rely upon it to fashion the law that the state's criminal code fails to provide. In this essay we provide a brief introduction to this historic document, its history and its content. Available for download at http://ssrn.com/abstract=661165

Keywords

model penal code

Publication Title

New Criminal Law Review

Publication Citation

10 New Crim. L. Rev. 319 (2007).

Repository Citation

Robinson, Paul H. and Dubber, Markus D., "The American Model Penal Code: A Brief Overview" (2007). All Faculty Scholarship. 131.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/131