Updated “Consent” Definition

The Model Penal Code’s definition of “Consent” has been reviewed and approved by ALI’s Council. The approved text, posted below, includes slight edits to the previous black letter suggested by Council or by ALI member Kate Stith, who presented the motion at the 2016...

No Second Thoughts about Second Look Sentencing

The ALI’s Model Penal Code: Sentencing project may become a part of policy discussions about federal sentencing reform even before it is finally approved next May.  Specifically, the MPC’s “second look” proposal and other sentence reduction provisions, tentatively...

The Development of U.S. Sentencing Reform

Our nation is truly at a crossroads when it comes to sentencing policy. Since the adoption of the original Model Penal Code in 1962, America’s prison, jail, probation, and parole populations have exploded.  During the same period, the types and severity of both the...

MPC: Sentencing Figures in Federal Sentence Reform

The provisions on sentence reduction in the Model Penal Code: Sentencing project have recently played a key role in federal sentencing reform efforts.  In one case a federal task force on corrections credited the ALI for one of its recommendations; in another. the...