Homicide and the politics of law reform
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Homicide and the politics of law reform
Oxford University Press, 2012
Available at 3 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [256]-268) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
What makes murder, murder? How should we understand the difference between intentional and reckless killing? Should offenders be punished differently according to the perceived severity of their crime and when should they be excused?
These questions are the topic of intense debate within legal circles and beyond in the UK, the US, and the rest of world. Jeremy Horder's role as the Law Commissioner for England and Wales on criminal law has given him unique insight into these questions and the debates surrounding them. Here he analyses the recent political and legal reform movements, offering a political history of homicide law reform from the 19th century to the modern era.
Using homicide as a starting point, Horder raises deeper questions of who is and should be responsible for making and changing the law. What role should there be for expert bodies, judges, and politicians? What role should there be for the general public? These questions invoke strong emotional responses. Horder argues that comprehensive research into, and a degree of difference to, public opinion on the scope of homicide is essential to the reform process. It is essential principally as a
means of conferring true legitimacy on homicide reform in a democracy. Elite or expert opinion alone will never authentically secure such legitimacy. Offering an insider's view into the processes of achieving law reform, Horder expresses criticism of a system that excludes the vast majority of people
from consultation on reform of the laws that govern them.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- PART ONE: HOMICIDE LAW REFORM AND LAW REFORMERS: THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE
- 1. Safe in Whose Hands? Judges, Experts, and Public Opinion in the Homicide Reform Process
- 2. The Rise of Regulation and the Fate of the Common Law
- PART TWO: HOMICIDE OFFENCES: DISPUTING THE BOUNDARIES
- 3. On Being Morally and Legally Speaking, a 'Murderer'
- 4. Corporate Manslaughter and Public Authorities
- 5. Violating Physical Integrity: Manslaughter by Intentional Attack
- 6. Joint Criminal Ventures and Murder
- 7. Transferred Malice and the Remoteness of Outcomes from Intentions
- PART THREE: DEFENCES TO MURDER
- 8. Wrong Turnings on Defences to Murder
- Bibliography
by "Nielsen BookData"