![]() Judges must interpret criminal statutes to instruct the jury, assess the relevance of evidence, and impose a sentence within the lawfully authorized range. Defendants, by contrast, will mine statutes to identify every burden the prosecutor must prove and what, if any, defenses the law affords. Prosecutors, first, must identify the statutory provision an individual allegedly violated and determine under that statute which facts must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to the factfinder. Criminal procedure is largely a matter of constitutional interpretation, but the meat and potatoes of the criminal law is statutory interpretation.Īs Justice Scalia once noted, “We live in an age of legislation, and most new law is statutory law.” Every actor in a criminal case-whether the prosecutor, the defendant, or the judge-must engage in statutory interpretation. Criminal law is, of course, distinct from criminal procedure, which regulates the machinery by which the government can apprehend alleged violators of the criminal law and initiate a prosecution. Substantive criminal law refers to the set of laws within a jurisdiction that define and punish the acts and mental states that together constitute crimes. To begin, I should clarify what I mean (and what I do not mean) by “criminal law.” When I say criminal law, what I really mean is substantive criminal law. Justice Alito’s criminal-law jurisprudence reflects his aversion to reasoning that will leave the Supreme Court (or the police, citizens, and lower courts) out on a limb, in a place that threatens to undo social understandings and order. This chapter concerns itself with the corner of Justice Alito’s jurisprudence dedicated to the criminal law. ![]() Department of Justice and in the federal judiciary-has been defined, in part, by ethical norms and standards of straightforward and honest lawyering. Indeed, Alito’s entire career as a lawyer-both within the U.S. What do I mean by a “natural judge”? It is difficult to conceive of Justice Alito accepting a legal position where he would have to perform as a pure advocate, which he knows may require mincing words, shading nuance, and hiding the ball. Alito is a natural judge-by temperament, character, disposition, and experience. Download PDF Justice Alito on Criminal Law
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