Very happy to report that this is out today!
It's about how criminal law should handle willful ignorance in corporations--not just WI individuals but structures of WI that management knows will make the company less likely to discover risks of harm.
academic.oup.com/ojls/advanc…
ALT The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 expanded the identification doctrine in welcome ways, but, I argue, does not go far enough. Specifically, I contend that the Act’s reforms do not sufficiently respond to the threat of senior managers who culpably interfere in the proper flow of information within the company to orchestrate harmful or risky practices by others, all while seeking to avoid liability by preventing any individual from forming the full mens rea of any economic crime. How should the criminal law respond to this gap? I argue it would be problematic to respond by extending individual liability even further—say, by expanding the already ‘disturbingly wide’ inchoate offences in the Serious Crime Act 2007. Instead, the collective knowledge doctrine provides a tailor-made solution to these scenarios. This doctrine would permit courts (in narrow circumstances) to aggregate individuals’ mental states within the company to construct a distinct corporate mens rea.
This Friday, @Adam_J_Kolber argues: in our current non-ideal world, carceral punishment is better addressed through pure consequentialism (i.e. denying the value of deserved punishment) than standard retributivism (where moral desert justifies punishment): criminaljusticetheoryblog.wo…
Worth checking out this paper on competitive authoritarianism. A helpful concept for understanding what's at stake in our current political moment.
scholar.harvard.edu/levitsky…
There have been lots of great experimental studies about how people attribute the mental states relevant to criminal responsibility (purpose, knowledge, recklessness, negligence)
A thread of some interesting findings:
Wrote a post about the diff btw punishment for individual culpability and punishment based on fair notice. Should the law ever pretend you have traits we know you lack just because you were warned this would happen? Is that fair? Is it retributive justice?criminaljusticetheoryblog.wo…
In our next post, @should_b_workin argues that, to a limited extent, the criminal law can fairly take D’s actions to manifest traits or attitudes even when we know that D does not actually possess them! Under what conditions? Find out this Friday on criminaljusticetheoryblog.wo…!
In our next post, @should_b_workin argues that, to a limited extent, the criminal law can fairly take D’s actions to manifest traits or attitudes even when we know that D does not actually possess them! Under what conditions? Find out this Friday on criminaljusticetheoryblog.wo…!
Indiana Jones and the decision by university management to shut down the archaeology program bc it doesn't score well enough on their odd metric of impact/growth potential devised by some MBAs at PwC, even though the department is highest ranked on research quality in the country
Some good ideas here incl more funding at the top of the list.
Is it just me or does #3 sound like a very oblique suggestion of something like Ofstead ratings for different courts
theguardian.com/law/2024/dec…
@ValerijZisman's post on Empirical Research into the Psychology of Punishment is now live on our blog, Check it out at shorturl.at/jFS5B. Comments and questions welcome!
From Gov's own page: "statistics published today show the outstanding Crown Court caseload has now risen to 73,105 - nearly double the 38,000 seen before the pandemic. 1/2 gov.uk/government/news/court….
"This increase means more victims are facing unprecedented waits for justice, with some trials now being listed for 2027Victims wait around a year on average for their case to be resolved; for rape victims it’s over two years."
Fav paper rejection copes:
1. Remember it happens to absolutely everyone-even people whose work is way better than mine, even the very best in the field. Everyone's stuff gets dinged.
2. Don't read the comments right away, wait until you're in a good place to think strategically
5. Reminder you can take it. As an academic, there's actually a bit of pride in the fact that you've chosen a profession in which rejection is a routine part of it--and you're can handle it. Not necessarily gracefully (w/o swearing) but you made it this far & are still standing.