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"The Concept of Evil in American and German Criminal Punishment"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the title of this very interesting new article by Joshua Kleinfeld appearing on SSRN.  Here is the abstract: The gap in harshness between American and German criminal punishment represents a moral disagreement between the two societies: American criminal punishment expresses a belief in the concept of human evil, while German criminal punishment denies that belief.  This paper, after giving the concept of evil some philosophical definition, develops that thesis with six lines of argument. First, contrasting American and German responses to major crime, the paper argues that American criminal law routinely banishes its worst criminal offenders, while German criminal law almost never does.  Second, as to minor crime, American law treats misdemeanors as portents of worse things to come, while German law treats them as errors...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 13, 2010 (boomark / email).