Model Penal Code
The Model Penal Code (MPC) is a 1952 to 1962 by the American Law Institute elaborate patterns criminal code for the individual states of the USA . In contrast to laws passed by democratically legitimized constitutional organs , the model penal code created by a committee of experts under the direction of the American lawyer Herbert Wechsler has no legally binding effect. Therefore, neither party to the proceedings can invoke the MPC, nor can it be used directly by American criminal courts.
meaning
The code is significant, however, as it has now prompted almost 40 of the 50 individual states to redesign their penal laws in accordance with the modern system and the goals of the MPC. While the majority of these forty states only incorporated portions of the code into existing laws, New Jersey , New York , Pennsylvania , and Oregon have adopted nearly all of the MPC regulations.
Even if the MPC had a great influence on the criminal law of most of the individual states, it still differs so much today (2008) that the existence of a uniform US criminal law cannot simply be assumed. Federal criminal law, which is only marginally significant in relation to the law of the individual states, and which is mainly contained in Chapter 18 of the United States Code , has not yet been reformed despite the recognized advantages of the Model Penal Code. The laws of California were also unaffected .
Furthermore, the code has indirect effects in all 51 legal systems in the USA, because US courts, when interpreting criminal offenses, fall back on the principles and case law developed for the Model Penal Code, even if it has not even been partially adopted in the state concerned. The multi-volume commentary on the MPC in particular serves as an aid to interpreting individual elements of the offense.
construction
The MPC consists of four parts: The first two contain the core criminal law in the form of a general (I.) and a special part (II.), While the last two (III. And IV.) Are devoted to penal law (Model Correctional Code) . This results in the following structure:
- Model Penal Code in the narrower sense
- Part I. General Provisions
- Part II. Definition of Specific Offenses (individual offenses)
- Model Correctional Code
- Part III. Treatment and Correction
- Part IV. Organization of Correction
main features
A major innovation of the MPC is the systematic elaboration of general crime characteristics in a section preceding the catalog of criminal offenses. In this general part, the code not only formulates its purposes and goals, but also defines terms such as action (§ 2.01), causality (§ 2.03), intent (§ 2.05), factual error (§ 2.04 (1)) and participation (§ 2.06 ). Furthermore, justification reasons such as self-defense (§ 3.04) and state of emergency (§ 3.02) as well as excuses such as incapacity for guilt due to mental disorder (§ 4.01) or immaturity (§ 4.10) are standardized.
The special section contains a catalog of criminal offenses, which - for the first time in the USA - not only lists crimes and offenses in alphabetical order, but also classifies them systematically according to their protected legal interests as follows:
- Offenses against the existence or stability of the state (offenses against the existence or against the stability of the state)
- Offenses involving danger to the person
- Offenses against property (offenses against property)
- Offenses against the family (offenses against the family)
- Offenses against public administration (offenses against public administration)
- Offenses against public order and decency (offenses against public order and against decency)
- Miscellaneous offenses (various offenses)
- Narcotics (drugs)
- Alcoholic beverages
- Gambling
- Offenses against tax and trade laws (tax and commercial criminal law)
literature
- Markus D. Dubber: Introduction to US criminal law . Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-406-53042-7 .
Web links
- An Introduction To the Model Penal Code
- Can a Model Penal Code Second Save the States From Themselves?