Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2000
Rights
Abstract
The Model Penal Code's influential approach to culpability included default rules assigning a culpable mental state to every conduct, circumstance and result element of each offense. Such rules have been enacted in half of the American states. The Code's drafters also rejected what they understood to be the felony murder rule's imposition of "a form of strict liability for... homicide." Yet almost every state has retained some form of the felony murder rule and so repudiated the Model Penal Code's proposed reform. Because the Model Penal Code's disapproval of felony murder flows from its general disapproval of strict liability, the adoption of the default rules and the retention of felony murder liability are inconsistent at the level of principle. This article explores this tension by examining the applicability of culpability default rules to felony murder provisions in the jurisdictions with both. It concludes that in many of these jurisdictions, default rules should be understood to condition felony murder on negligence or recklessness.
Publication Title
Buffalo Criminal Law Review
First Page
399
Last Page
485
Required Text
Published as Guyora Binder, Felony Murder and Mens Rea Default Rules: A Study in Statutory Interpretation, 4 Buff. Crim. L. Rev. 399 (2000). © 2000 by the Regents of the University of California. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this
Recommended Citation
Guyora Binder,
Felony Murder and Mens Rea Default Rules: A Study in Statutory Interpretation,
4
Buff. Crim. L. Rev.
399
(2000).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/journal_articles/284
Comments
Published as Guyora Binder, Felony Murder and Mens Rea Default Rules: A Study in Statutory Interpretation, 4 Buff. Crim. L. Rev. 399 (2000). © 2000 by the Regents of the University of California. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the University of California for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center.