“Moral Order” and The Criminal Law

I: Crime, the Criminal law, and the Ethics of Criminalization.- A. The Extent of the Problem of Crime and Making the Criminal Law.- B. Individual Freedom and Social Order.- C. “The Right-Minded” and “The Reasonable Man”.- D. “The Community” and “The People”.- E. Legal Obligation and Moral Obligation.- Criminal Law and Reform in the United States.- II: Historical and Theoretical Problems.- A. What is a Crime?.- (1) The Social Context of an Offense and the Extent of Criminalization.- (2) Actus Reus and Mens Rea: The Criminal Act and the Measure of Guilt.- (3) The Defense of Insanity and the Problems of Limited Responsibility.- (4) The Defense of Mistake of Fact and Mistake of Law.- B. Individual Rights during Enforement of the Law.- (1) Search and Seizure.- (2) Rights of the Arrested Party.- (3) Bail and Pre-Trial Detention.- C. Approaches to Criminal Law Reform.- (1) The Theory and the Form of Correction.- (2) Sentencing and Grading of Punishment.- (3) Full-scale Reform vs.Piecemeal Revision: American Attempts at Recodification.- III: Current issues and Selected Substantive Reforms.- A. Abortion: When Does Human Life Begin?.- B. Drug Abuse and Marijuana: Moral Responsibility vs. Control of Morals.- C. The Offense of Obscenity and The Problem of Consorship.- D. Homosexuality: Controlling Personal Morality Through the Criminal Law.- Criminal Law and Reform in West Germany.- IV: Historical and Theoretical Problems: issues in the “General Part” of the Code.- A. Full-scale Recodification: The Background of the German Criminal Law Reform.- (1) Passage of the German Criminal Law Reform Acts.- (2) Origins of the German Criminal Code and of the Present Reform: Contending Versions of Social Ethics in the Federal Republic.- B. What is a Crime?.- (1) The Gravity of an Offense and the Constituent Elements of an Offense.- (2) The Concepts of Guilt and Mitigation.- C. Approaches to Criminal Law Reform.- (1) The Theory and Form of Correction.- (2) The Grading of Punishment.- V: Current issues and the Reform of the “Special Part” of the Code.- A. Political Offenses.- (1) Constitutional Questions.- (2) Treason, Betrayal, and State Secrets.- B. Offenses against Religious Sensibilities.- C. Offenses against Public Morality.- (1) Abortion and Birth Control.- (2) Homosexuality and Varieties of Sexual Offenses.- (3) Adultery.- VI: Conclusions on the Role of Function and Ideal in Making the Law.- A. Social Ethics in the Law.- B. Politics in the Formation of the Law.- C. Public Conscience: Reason and Rhetoric.- A Brief Bibliography of Sources on the German Criminal Law in English.- A Note on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Decisions on Abortion.- Index of Persons.