The Model Penal Code Second: Might “Film Schools” Be in Need of a Remake?

In a galaxy far, far away—a typical law school classroom—the quality of discussion of criminal codes and doctrines might fairly be described as in disastrous condition. Indeed, it is probably overly generous to characterize the typical law school criminal law course as being about modern criminal codes and doctrines at all, at least if one assumes that, at a minimum, such a course should review the most frequently applied criminal offenses, discuss pressing modern controversies, and provide insights into the most fundamental doctrinal and practical issues facing criminal lawyers. By generally failing to discuss the modern dynamics of criminal law doctrine and practice—such as the centrality of drug and property crimes and the significance of plea bargaining and sentencing—what exists today in most law schools is, to paraphrase my co-Managing Editor’s quote from Sandy Kadish, a substantive criminal law course that is often archaic, incomplete and perhaps unjustifiable. Though it is unfair to blame the original drafters of the American Law Institute’s (ALI) Model Penal Code (MPC) for this state of affairs, I think it is fair to suggest that the failure of the ALI to revise the MPC significantly contributes to it. As Judge and Professor Gerard Lynch aptly highlights in this Commentary Symposium, the MPC still serves “three major functions”: “scholarly compendium of the best thinking of its era about criminal law, practical reform project, and criminal law textbook.” The original MPC retains important historical value as a compendium of post-war scholarly thinking about criminal law, and its impact as a practical reform project remains profound. However, because the fundamental issues and concerns of criminal law doctrine and practice have shifted so dramatically in the last 40 years, the original MPC’s continued use as a criminal law textbook operates, in my view, as a considerable disservice to criminal law academics and students, and ultimately to the entire field of criminal justice. My co-Managing Editor employs a lovely movie metaphor in his introduction, and I will happily carry on his technique to illuminate my concerns about the failure to revise the MPC, given its continued preeminence in criminal law classrooms. But, as my first six words were designed to foreshadow, I want to use Star Wars rather than