Felony Murder [Paperback]

The felony murder doctrine is one of the most widely criticized features of American criminal law. Legal scholars almost unanimously condemn it as irrational, concluding that it imposes punishment without fault and presumes guilt without proof. Despite this, the law persists in almost every U.S. jurisdiction.Felony Murderis the first book on this controversial legal doctrine. It shows that felony murder liability rests on a simple and powerful idea: that the guilt incurred in attacking or endangering others depends on one's reasons for doing so. Inflicting harm is wrong, and doing so for a bad motivesuch as robbery, rape, or arsonaggravates that wrong. In presenting this idea, Guyora Binder criticizes prevailing academic theories of criminal intent for trying to purge criminal law of moral judgment. Ultimately, Binder shows that felony murder law has been and should remain limited by its justifying aims.Guyora Binder is SUNY Distinguished Professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. He is the coauthor ofCriminal Law: Cases and Materials(2008, Sixth Edition) andLiterary Criticisms of Law(2000).This book identifies a principle distinguishing justified from unjustified applications of the felony murder doctrine and shows how felony murder law should be reformed in light of that principle. Guyora Binder's exploration of the historical and doctrinal subtleties of the felony murder rule is lucid and brightly illuminating. He defends an arresting but largely persuasive thesis: The rule, while inconsistent with a cognitive conception of culpability, is consistent with an expressive conception, so long as the rule is sensibly confined to its most convincing rationales. Any serious discussion of the felony murder doctrine must henceforth confront Binder's penetrating arguments. Given the practical importance of the felony murder doctrine, Binder's careful consideration of how the rule might be best reformed and administered is lһ