An Introduction to the Model Penal Code

In this second edition of his introductory overview of the Model Penal Code (now titled: An Introduction to the Model Penal Code), Markus Dubber retains the book's original goal, approach, and structure as a companion to the Code. He reflects the Code's aim to present an accessible, comprehensive, and systematic account of American criminal law. This book unlocks the Code's potential as a key to the study of American criminal law for law students and teachers, and for anyone else with an interest in getting a sense of the basic contours of American criminal law. The content of the original edition has been thoroughly revised with citations to primary and secondary materials checked, updated, and supplemented where appropriate. The American Law Institute's ongoing revision of the Code's sentencing and sexual offense provisions has been taken into account. Also, the comparative analysis found sporadically throughout the original version of the book has been expanded in places to provide additional context. As one of the world's most sophisticated criminal codes, the Model Penal Code also serves as an excellent platform for comparative analysis, particularly with code-based civil law systems that are often difficult to place alongside opinion-based common law systems.

Preface ; Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; 1 A Key to the Model Penal Code and to American Criminal Law ; 2 Origins: The ALI, Legal Process, and Treatmentism ; 2.1 Criminal Propensities ; 2.2 The Model Penal and Correctional Code ; 2.3 The Structure of the Model Penal Code ; 3 The Model Penal Code in a Nutshell: Section 1.02 ; 3.1 The Prerequisites of Criminal Liability: Of Crimes and Criminals ; 3.2 The Analysis of Criminal Liability: Three Levels of Inquiry ; Chapter 1: Criminal Conduct ; 4 "Conduct" ; 4.1 Actus Reus ; (A) Act ; (B) Voluntariness ; (C) Omission ; (D) Possession ; 4.2 Mens Rea and Offense Elements ; (A) Element Types ; (B) The Mens Rea Requirement ; (C) Rules of Interpretation ; (D) Modes of Culpability ; (E) Matching Conduct to Offense ; 4.3 Intoxication and Mistake ; (A) Intoxication ; (B) Mistake ; 4.4 Liability for Another's Conduct ; (A) Instruments ; (B) Complicity ; (C) Corporations ; 5 "That Inflicts or Threatens" ; 5.1 Causation ; 5.2 Inchoate Offenses ; (A) Attempt ; (B) Conspiracy ; (C) Solicitation ; (D) Renunciation ; 6 "Substantial Harm to Individual or Public Interests" ; 6.1 Substantial Harm ; 6.2 Individual or Public Interests ; Chapter 2: Justification ; 7 Defenses in General ; 8 Necessity ; 9 Defense of Persons (Self and Others) and of Property ; 9.1 Self-Defense ; (A) Use of Force Upon or Toward Another Person ; (B) Belief ; (C) Necessity ; (D) Unlawfulness ; (E) Immediacy and Protection ; (F) Self- and Other-Defense ; 9.2 Defense of Property ; 9.3 Deadly Force ; 10 Law Enforcement ; 11 Consent ; Chapter 3: Excuse ; 12 Excuses in the Model Penal Code ; 13 Duress ; 14 Entrapment ; 15 Ignorance of Law ; 16 Provocation and Diminished Capacity ; 17 Insanity and Infancy ; Conclusion ; 18 Analysis of Criminal Liability ; Table of Cases ; Table of Model Penal Code Sections and Statutes ; Index