Document Type
Note
Publication Date
2024
Publication Citation
99 Indiana Law Journal Supplement 79 (2024)
Abstract
Many first-year criminal law courses begin with a discussion of the nineteenth-century English case Regina v. Dudley & Stephens. In this case, a ship was caught in a storm, and while stranded at sea, two men decided to kill and eat a younger man in order to survive. The case considers whether these two men should be punished for killing the third man, and if so, how severe should that punishment be. For many law students, this is one of the rare occasions when they are asked whether punishment is justified. Soon, they will instead be asked which of the four justifications for criminal punishment—retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, or rehabilitation—should be applied to each case through the semester.
By relying on these “four horsemen of the carceral state” to presume punishment is justified in a given case, first-year criminal law courses often neglect a growing area of legal scholarship regarding decarceration and prison abolition. Because the four justifications of punishment are outdated and often have little verifiable support, in this Note I propose a new criminal response framework to analyze moral responses to crime as well as proactive and reactive utilitarian tools to decrease criminal activity.
This Note proceeds in four parts. Part I provides a background on abolitionist tools and concepts and how current first-year criminal law courses neglect to consider them. Part II discusses the four theories of punishment taught in criminal law courses today, the history of each, and some of the shortcomings of using each theory as a justification for punishment. In Part III, I propose a new criminal response framework that uses some familiar theories from the old justifications of punishment and adds abolitionist concepts that give a more holistic approach to criminal justice. Finally, Part IV considers how using my proposed framework will impact criminal education, legal scholarship, and future lawyers.
Recommended Citation
Glass, George
(2024)
"A New Criminal Response Framework: Rejecting the "Four Horsemen of the Carceral State","
Indiana Law Journal: Vol. 99:
Iss.
5, Article 5.
Available at:
https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol99/iss5/5