Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher from the 18th and early 19th century is argues for his idea of punishment, retributivism, through arguments that aim to prove that the only way to truly right the wrong of the crime is through a punishment equal to the crime itself (142). Not only…

There are a few ideas regarding punishment, including what it entails, when it should occur, and other similar debates. First of all, according to some theories, an act has to follow at least five criteria to be considered a punishment, first, involve pain or uncomfortable consequence, second, for an action…

Something that I am personally very passionate about is criminal justice reform, and the case of Louisiana v Bryant and similar laws that have led to decisions in similar cases is one of the reasons I feel so passionately that a major reform needs to happen. Justice Johnson makes several…

Paulina Sliwa writes about excuses and the theories behind them before arguing her own thoughts called the “Good Intention Account,” the basis of which states that “excuses point to the presence of a morally adequate motive, rather than the absence of a reprehensible one. Second, I suggest that it’s a…

“Moral Luck and the Law” by Enoch examines how moral luck should play in the law. The best way of explaining moral luck is by looking at an example: Should two men who wished to commit murder, but only one being successful, be charged the same? What if two separate…

In the Hi Phi podcast titled “Criminal Minds”, the idea of a mens rea, Latin for “guilty mind”, and various requirements and application in law. First, it is most important to understand the different levels of mens rea requirements, each deserving of a different degree of criminalization because there are…

Simester von Hirsch begins the second chapter of “Crimes, Harms, and Wrongs” asking the all-important question — “when should the criminal law be invoked” (19). The first section skims over the fact that people have the right to not be labeled as a miscreant if they do not commit any…

In 2018, David Brink published a writing exploring the relationship between culpability and punishment in criminal law. According to Brink, there are a few types of culpability — narrow, broad, inclusive. First, narrow culpability, defined as a “whether she intended the wrong, foresaw it, was reckless with respect to causing…

The first reading by Edwards called “Laws that are made to be broken” proposes the identification principle as a way to justify means to criminalize an action. Edwards examines different types of laws and how different people in the system should act according to their position to ensure that the…