In our next post, this Friday, Mark Dsouza (he/him) argues against recent suggestions that the criminal law should consider treating AI entities as autonomous agents, capable of being criminal defendants in their own rights. Look out for that!

This is imminent!

Here is Mark Dsouza (he/him)'s post on why AI entities can never be treated as responsible agents anything that is recognisably a system of criminal laws. …iminaljusticetheoryblog.wordpress.com/2024/11/29/why… Comments/reactions welcome!

In our next post, coming Friday, Valerij Zisman (of MPI-CSL, Freiburg) discusses the use of empirical research in human psychology on punishment theory. He say that it can be a very important yardstick to assess ethical and legal theories, but we must use it more carefully. Watch for that!

Tagging Valerij Zisman now. Apologies for the omission!

This post is imminent!

In our next post, Alex Sarch 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 …iminaljusticetheoryblog.wordpress.com!

And here it is: Alex Sarch's post on whether actions can manifest traits or attitudes that are not actually present: …iminaljusticetheoryblog.wordpress.com/2025/01/17/can… Enjoy!

Blog post for the four of us on here that are passionate about human agency. Legal theory has a complicated relationship w/ psych. This argument pits actualism v. non-actualism. The former reminds me of drift. The latter asks a provocative question: can action precipitate

We're now on the place with the blue skies, with the same profile name. For updates and news about new posts, follow us there! This place was starting to smell funny... has a certain odd musk to it.

This Friday, Adam 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): …iminaljusticetheoryblog.wordpress.com

This is imminent!

And here is Adam Kolber's post: …iminaljusticetheoryblog.wordpress.com/2025/01/31/kol…

The collection on 'Rights in Criminal Law' edited by Philipp-Alexander Hirsch and Elias Moser is now out and free to download at bloomsburycollections.com/monograph?doci…. In my contribution, Ch 7, I argue that victims' rights should make no difference to whether someone can plead a justification.

This Friday, Chloë Kennedy outlines the argument in her recent book, Inducing Intimacy: we should consult the genealogy of legal responses to deceptively induced sexual and romantic relationships when evaluating how the law regulates such conduct: …iminaljusticetheoryblog.wordpress.com

This is imminent!

And here it is! …iminaljusticetheoryblog.wordpress.com/2025/02/14/ken… Comments/engagement welcome through the blog.

Last autumn, I interviewed Andrew Simester (Dean, NUS Faculty of Law, and leading Criminal Law academic) for The Art of Crime magazine. Here it is, out in print and free to read for all: theartofcrime.gr/interview-of-p…

No post today, but we wanted to draw your attention to the opportunity to apply for the Barbara Huber Scholarship at the Max Planck Institute for Crime, Security and Law Freiburg. Details here: csl.mpg.de/en/barbara-hub…