Territoriality in American Criminal Law

Author:

Kaufman Emma1

Affiliation:

1. New York University School of Law

Abstract

It is a bedrock principle of American criminal law that the authority to try and punish someone for a crime arises from the crime’s connection to a particular place. Thus, we assume that a person who commits a crime in some location— say, Philadelphia—can be arrested by Philadelphia police for conduct deemed criminal by the Pennsylvania legislature, prosecuted in a Philadelphia court, and punished in a Pennsylvania prison. The idea that criminal law is tied to geography in this way is called the territoriality principle. This idea is so familiar that it usually goes unstated. This Article foregrounds and questions the territoriality principle. Drawing on a broad and eclectic set of sources, it argues that domestic criminal law is less territorial than conventional wisdom holds. Although the territoriality principle is central to criminal law ideology, territorialism is a norm in decline. In reality, over the past century, new doctrines and enforcement practices have unmoored criminal law from geographic boundaries. The result is a criminal legal system in which borders are negotiable and honored in the breach. Scholars have largely overlooked the deterritorialization of domestic criminal law, but the decline of the territoriality principle has striking implications. It undermines constitutional doctrines and academic theories built on the classic account of criminal law. It upsets foundational conceptual distinctions that structure public law. And it raises normative questions about just how far criminal laws should reach. This Article grapples with those questions and argues that borders are an underenforced constraint on the police power.

Publisher

University of Michigan Law Library

Subject

Law

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3