Law 798:  Seminar on Advanced Topics in Criminal Law Theory

This is a seminar offered jointly by the University of Illinois and the University of Pennsylvania. It will be co-taught by Leo Katz (Penn) and Michael Moore (Illinois). Students from both universities will be enrolled in the seminar. It is also expected that auditing students/post-docs/faculty from other schools will also be auditing the seminar in whole or in part.

 The subject matter of the seminar will be contemporary criminal law theory. The seminar will together read and discuss 14 articles/book chapters/book excerpts by leading criminal law theorists in America, the UK, Germany, and elsewhere. Because the authors of these readings will often be invited in from remote locations to join the seminar discussion, and because this is a joint seminar involving students from at least three different universities, each of the sessions will be conducted on Zoom. There will be no in person classroom component.

 Each student at the University of Illinois will be expected to team up (by Zoom) with at least one student from one or other of the other two universities to prepare questions and comments for the authors on one of the papers to be read and discussed in one of the fourteen sessions of the seminar. In addition, Illinois students will be expected to prepare a 5-10 page paper exploring in greater depth one of the topics discussed during the semester. There will no exam or other formal requirements other than regular attendance.

Sequence and Prerequisites: Criminal Law is a prerequisite.

Evaluation:  Each student at the University of Illinois will be expected to team up (by Zoom) with at least one student from one or other of the other two universities to prepare questions and comments for the authors on one of the papers to be read and discussed in one of the fourteen sessions of the seminar. In addition, Illinois students will be expected to prepare a 5-10 page paper exploring in greater depth one of the topics discussed during the semester. There will no exam or other formal requirements other than regular attendance.