|
Tel: 215.898.1017
Email: phr@law.upenn.edu
Expertise
- Criminal Law
- Criminal Law Theory
- Criminal Code Reform
- Criminal Sentencing
- Global Human Rights
Bio
Paul Robinson is one of the world’s leading criminal law scholars.
[More]
Paul Robinson is one of the world’s leading criminal law scholars. A former federal prosecutor and counsel for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures, he was the lone dissenter when the U.S. Sentencing Commission promulgated the current federal sentencing guidelines. Among his books are the standard lawyer’s reference on criminal law defenses, two Oxford monographs on criminal law theory, a highly regarded criminal law treatise, and an innovative case studies course book. A prolific scholar, Robinson has published articles in virtually all of the top law reviews.
He is the lead editor of Criminal Law Conversations (Oxford, 2009), based on a 10-month online debate by more than 100 scholars from around the world, and author of Distributive Principles of Criminal Law: Who Should Be Punished How Much? (Oxford, 2008; also appearing in Spanish and Chinese). Robinson recently completed two criminal code reform projects in the United States and the first modern Islamic penal code under the auspices of the U.N. Development Program. He also writes for general audiences, including popular books such as Would You Convict? Seventeen Cases that Challenged the Law (NYU, 1999) and Law without Justice: Why Criminal Law Doesn’t Give People What They Deserve (Oxford, 2005).
[Hide]
Representative Professional Positions
Penn Law - Colin S. Diver Professor of Law (2003- )
Northwestern - Edna & Ednyfed Williams Professor (1998-2002); Professor (1993-98); Visiting Professor (1992-93)
Georgetown - Adjunct Professor (1986-88)
University of Michigan - Visiting Professor (1998-99)
Rutgers - Acting Dean (1989-90); Distinguished Professor (1985-93); Professor (1980-85); Assistant Professor (1977-80)
Representative Publications
Realism, Punishment & Reform, 77 U. CHI. L. REV. 1611 (2010) (with Robert Kurzban, Penn Psych, and Owen Jones, Vanderbilt Law).
[View Document]
Are We Responsible for Who We Are? The Challenges for Criminal Law Theory in the Defenses of Coercive Indoctrination and "Rotten Social Background," 2 ALA. C.R. & C.L. L. REV. 53 (2012).
[View Document]
Abnormal Mental State Mitigations of Murder – the U.S. Perspective, in LOSS OF CONTROL AND DIMINISHED RESPONSIBILITY: DOMESTIC, COMPARATIVE & INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE CORONERS AND JUSTICE ACT 2009 (Alan Reed & Michael Bohlander, eds., Hart 2012).
[View Document]
Criminalization Tensions: Doing Justice, Empirical Desert & Changing Norms, in THE STRUCTURES OF THE CRIMINAL LAW 186 (Duff, Farmer, Marshall, Renzo, & Tadros, eds., 2011).
[View Document]
CRIMINAL LAW (2d ed. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business 2012) (with Michael T. Cahill) (1st ed. Aspen 1997).
The Modern Irrationalities of American Criminal Codes: An Empirical Study of Offense Grading, 100 J. CRIM. L. & CRIMINOLOGY 709 (2010) (with Thomas Gaeta, Matthew Majarian, Megan Schultz, & Douglas Weck).
[View Document]
Competing Theories of Blackmail: An Empirical Research Critique of Criminal Law Theory, 89 TEX. L. REV. 291 (2010) (with Michael Cahill &
Dan Bartels).
[View Document]
The Disutility of Injustice, 85 N.Y.U. L. REV. 1940 (2010) (with Geoff Goodwin, Penn Psych, and Michael Reisig, ASU Criminology).
[View Document]
United States, in STANFORD HANDBOOK OF COMPARATIVE CRIMINAL LAW (Markus D. Dubber & Kevin Jon Heller, eds., Stanford Univ. Press 2010).
CRIMINAL LAW CONVERSATIONS (editor, with Steve Garvey & Kim Ferzan) (Oxford 2009)
The Ongoing Revolution in Punishment Theory: Doing Justice as Controlling Crime, 42 ARIZ. ST. L.J. 1089 (2010) (followed by scholarly commentaries).
[View Document]
FINAL REPORT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CRIMINAL CODE GRADING STUDY (December 2009) (with University of Pennsylvania Law School's Criminal Law Research Group).
[View Document]
Competing Conceptions of Modern Desert: Vengeful, Deontological, and Empirical, 67 CAMBRIDGE L.J. 145 (2008).
[View Document]
DISTRIBUTIVE PRINCIPLES OF CRIMINAL LAW: WHO SHOULD BE PUNISHED HOW
MUCH? (Oxford 2008), also appearing in Spanish and Chinese.
Intuitions of Justice: Implications for Criminal Law and Justice Policy, 81 S. CAL. L. REV. 1 (2007) (with John Darley).
[View Document]
The Origins of Shared Intuitions of Justice (with Robert Kurzban and Owen Jones), 60 VAND. L. REV. 1633 (2007).
[View Document]
Concordance & Conflict in Intuitions of Justice, 91 MINN. L. REV. 1829 (2007) (with Robert Kurzban).
[View Document]
Codifying Shari'a: International Norms, Legality & the Freedom to Invent New Forms, 2 J. COMP. L. (British) 1 (2007) (with 11 present and former students in my Criminal Law Research Group, regarding our work in drafting an Islamic Penal Code for the Maldives under U.N.D.P. sponsorship).
[View Document]
FINAL REPORT OF THE MALDIVES PENAL LAW & SENTENCING CODIFICATION PROJECT (Republic of Maldives 2006) (two volumes) (with University of Pennsylvania Law School's Criminal Law Research Group).
[View Document]
LAW WITHOUT JUSTICE: WHY CRIMINAL LAW DOESN’T GIVE PEOPLE WHAT THEY DESERVE
(with Michael Cahill) (Oxford Univ. Press 2005).
[View Document]
Does Criminal Law Deter? A Behavioral Science Investigation, 24 OXFORD J. LEGAL STUD. 173 (2004) (with John Darley). [Appendix]
[View Document]
The Role of Deterrence in the Formulation of Criminal Law Rules: At Its Worst When Doing Its Best, 91 GEO. L.J. 949 (2003) (with John Darley).
[View Document]
FINAL REPORT OF THE ILLINOIS CRIMINAL CODE REWRITE AND REFORM COMMISSION (State of Illinois 2003) (two volumes) (with staff).
[View Document]
WOULD YOU CONVICT? 17 CASES THAT CHALLENGED THE LAW (NYU Press 1999).
[View Document]
STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN CRIMINAL LAW (Clarendon, Oxford 1997), Chinese translation, China Procuratorial Press (2005).
For additional publications, please consult
Current & Recent Research
Current Working Papers
Life Without Parole Under Modern Theories of Punishment, in LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE: AMERICA'S NEW DEATH PENALTY? (Austin Sarat & Charles Ogletree eds., NYU Press 2012). (forthcoming)
Natural Law and Lawlessness: Modern Lessons from Pirates, Lepers, Eskimos, and Survivors, __ U. ILL. L. REV. __, (forthcoming 2013). (forthcoming)
[View Document]
Four Distinctions that Glanville Williams Did Not Make: The Practical Benefits of Examining the Interrelation Among Criminal Law Doctrines, in THE SANCTITY OF LIFE AND THE CRIMINAL LAW: ESSAYS IN HONOR OF GLANVILLE WILLIAMS (Dennis Baker ed., Cambridge University Press 2012). (forthcoming)
Comments on [Israeli] Proposal for Structuring Judicial Discretion in Sentencing, HUKIM – Israeli Journal on Legislation. (forthcoming 2010)
Lawlessness, a study of situations of lawlessness, how people and law respond to them, and what that tells us about what our current criminal law rules should be (forthcoming)
Extralegal Punishment Factors: Mercy, Forgiveness, Hardship, Good-Deeds, Apology, Remorse and Lay Intuitions of Justice (an empirical study). (forthcoming)
Advantaging Aggressors: Justice & Deterrence in International Law, __ HARV. NAT'L SECURITY J. __ (2012) (with Adil Haque). (forthcoming)
[View Document]
Perceptions of Injustice: The Shared Aims & Occasional Conflicts of Legitimacy and Moral Credibility (draft available Fall 2010) (forthcoming)
Representative Professional Activities
Director, University of Pennsylvania Law School Criminal Law Research Group.
Director, Maldivian Penal Code Reform Project.
Director, Illinois Criminal Code Rewrite & Reform Commission.
Director, Kentucky Penal Code Revision Project.
Co-Editor, SSRN Legal Scholarship Network (1996-present)
|
