Model Penal Code
The Model Penal Code (MPC) is a significant framework for modern criminal law in the United States, developed by the American Law Institute (ALI) and promulgated in 1962. Although it does not have official legal standing, the MPC serves as a benchmark for state legislatures aiming to reform and unify criminal law. The code was designed in response to the complexities and inconsistencies of common law, offering a clear structure for defining crimes and establishing liability. It categorizes offenses based on actions against individuals, property, and public order, and introduces a more systematic approach to mental states, differentiating between purpose, knowledge, recklessness, and negligence.
Additionally, the MPC redefined the standards for the insanity defense to reflect contemporary psychiatric insights. Despite its influence on legal practice and scholarship, recent discussions have highlighted the need for revisions to address evolving societal norms, particularly concerning sexual offenses and new challenges posed by technology and hate crimes. The Model Penal Code continues to play a pivotal role in shaping American criminal jurisprudence, as courts often reference it for guidance in legal decisions.
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Model Penal Code
IDENTIFICATION: Concise statement of modern criminal law written by the American Law Institute
SIGNIFICANCE: Although the Model Penal Code has no official legal standing, it has served as a guide for legislators and judges to reform and unify criminal law in the United States.
The Model Penal Code was promulgated in 1962 by the American Law Institute, a nongovernmental organization of judges, lawyers, and law professors. The institute crafted the code for the state legislatures to use as a model in drafting new criminal codes, because the common law of crimes was too chaotic to merit mere restatements of the law.
The code’s substantive criminal law provisions include a general section that contains the principles for imposing criminal liability, defenses to liability, inchoate offenses, and definitions of common terms. This part of the code adopts a system of offenses defined in terms of offenses against persons, property, and the public order. The code eliminated the common law’s confusion about the mental state (mens rea) of offenses and based each offense on one of four mental states: purpose, knowledge, recklessness, and negligence. The code also replaced the previously used standards for the insanity defense—the so-called M’Naghten rule, or right-wrong test, and the irresistible impulse rule—with a new standard that recognized advances in psychiatry.
Since its creation, the Model Penal Code has been a major force in American state criminal law reform. Court opinions frequently cite the code as persuasive authority, and the code itself has been the focus of substantial criminal law scholarship. However, the most recent scholarship has focused on the need to revise the code to address changes in social norms regarding sexual relations and new statutory crimes such as hate crimes. In addition, the code says nothing about drug offenses, computers, or the Internet.
Bibliography
American Law Institute. Model Penal Code and Commentaries. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Author, 1985. Print.
Devendorf, John. "What Is the Model Penal Code?" LawInfo, 12 Dec. 2023, www.lawinfo.com/resources/criminal-defense/what-is-the-model-penal-code.html. Accessed 8 July 2024.
Dubber, Markus D. An Introduction to the Model Penal Code. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2015. Print.
Fletcher, George P. “Dogmas of the Model Penal Code.” Buffalo Criminal Law Review 2.1 (1998): 3–24. New Criminal Law Review. Web. 27 May 2016.
Robinson, Paul H., and Markus D. Dubber. “The American Model Penal Code: A Brief Overview.” New Criminal Law Review 10.3 (2007): 319–41. Web. 27 May 2016.