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The Model Penal Code was created by the American Law Institute in 1962 to encourage the standardization of criminal law in the states. It advocates for the use of general concepts such as mens rea and offers guidelines for arrest. Its influence on state criminal law has been mixed, and some of its provisions have become obsolete. The ALI disavowed its suggestions for the implementation of capital punishment in 2009.
The Model Penal Code is a document designed as a model for state criminal law in the United States. This statutory text, published by the American Law Institute (ALI) in 1962, was an attempt to encourage the standardization of criminal law in the states. ALI, a nongovernmental professional association of judges, lawyers and scholars, produced its report after examining the criminal laws in several states. He developed his recommendations after recognizing that criminal law in many states was not based on a central guiding philosophy; it was developing spontaneously in response to various crimes as they were committed and attracted public attention.
Most criminal law in the United States is a matter of state law, not federal law. The Model Penal Code was released with the hope of influencing state legislators to take a cohesive approach to the establishment of criminal law. The code advocated the use of certain general concepts, such as a criminal’s mental state, or mens rea, in determining the legal status of a crime and the severity of punishment. Under this principle, crimes committed with intent are generally considered more serious than crimes resulting from negligence or accident. The punishment for a crime, therefore, would be different according to the perpetrator’s thinking, even if the outcome were the same.
The model penal code also offers guidelines for arrest. For example, the code proposes the principle that unless an act is actually prohibited by law, it should be considered legal. People should not be arrested and prosecuted for crimes that are not clearly defined in law as illegal.
The code’s influence on state criminal law has been mixed. State lawmakers adopted some aspects of the code and rejected others. For example, while the modern penal code opposes the principle that a death that occurs in the course of a crime should be considered murder, this so-called felony homicide rule remains the law in most of the United States.
It should also be noted that some models of the Criminal Code have become obsolete in its approach to certain crimes. The original code never mentioned drug offenses and did not criminalize marital rape. ALI also recognized that some provisions of the code may be unworkable. For example, in 2009, the ALI voted to disavow its suggestions for the implementation of capital punishment, noting that it is impossible to reconcile the death penalty with oppressive social systems that inhibit the fairness of punishment.
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