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Journal Article Link 1.1: Kadish, S. H. (1967).The Crisis of Overcriminalization. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Journal, 374(1): 157-170.

Excessive reliance upon the criminal law to perform tasks for which it is ill-suited has created acute problems for the administration of criminal justice. The use of criminal law to enforce morals, to provide social services, and to avoid legal restraints on law enforcement, to take just three examples, has tended both to be inefficient and to produce grave handicaps for enforcement of the criminal law against genuinely threatening conduct. In the case of moral offenses, it has served to reduce the criminal law's essential claim to legitimacy by inducing offensive and degrading police conduct, particularly against the poor and the subcultural, and by generating cynicism and indifference to the criminal law. It has also fostered organized criminality and has produced, possibly, more crime than it has suppressed. Used as an alternative to social services, it has diverted enormous law- enforcement resources from protecting the public against serious crime. Finally, its use to circumvent restrictions on police conduct has undermined the principle of legality and exposed the law to plausible charges of hypocrisy. Pressures to criminalize persistently block practical assessments of what the criminal law is good for and what it is not. Studies of the sociology of overcriminalization offer a means of understanding, and perhaps, to some degree, of controlling, this unfortunate phenomenon.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?

Journal Article Link 1.2: Voelz, S. J. (1971). Expulsion Laws Confront Due Process in Federal Courts. NASSP Bulletin, 55(352): 28-36.

The courts are becoming more definitive in their application of due process to public school dismissal procedures; existing state laws are being superseded. Here is a summary of present state law and legal precedent on the subject, with recommendations of use to school authorities where state law and precedent are inadequate or absent.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?

Journal Article Link 1.3: Kaufman, W. R. P. (2003). Motive, Intention, and Morality in the Criminal Law. Criminal Justice Review, 28(2):317-335.

A remarkably persistent dispute in the criminal law concerns the relevance of a defendant's motive to his or her criminal liability. Specifically, the issue is whether a good or permissible motive should exculpate someone who has committed a criminal act. According to the orthodox rule, the defendant's motive is strictly irrelevant to liability. Recently, though, there has been a barrage of criticism aimed at this doctrine. Critics charge that the doctrine is not only false—judges do regularly consider motive—but also morally inexcusable, because a permissible motive ought to lessen the blameworthiness of the defendant. The present article defends the orthodox doctrine. It is argued both that it is factually accurate as a description of how judges behave but also, more importantly, that there is a sound moral basis for the doctrine that motives are irrelevant with respect to criminal liability. Critics have mischaracterized the role that motive plays in moral theory and practice, and careful attention to the significance of motive demonstrates that the orthodox criminal law doctrine is quite in line with our moral practices.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?