Model Penal Code:

Sentencing

This project revisits the sentencing provisions of the Model Penal Code in light of the many changes in sentencing philosophy and practice that have taken place in the more than 50 years since the Code was first developed.

Status Details

Drafting of this project is completed; the official text is expected to be published in 2022. This project was approved at the 2017 Annual Meeting.

For an in-depth look at the history of this project, please visit the Sentencing page of The ALI Adviser.

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On October 23, 2009, the ALI Council voted overwhelmingly, with some abstentions, to accept the resolution of the capital punishment matter as approved by the Institute’s membership at the 2009 Annual Meeting. The resolution adopted at the Annual Meeting and now accepted by the Council reads as follows: “For reasons stated in Part V of the Council’s report to the membership, the Institute withdraws Section 210.6 of the Model Penal Code in light of the current intractable institutional and structural obstacles to ensuring a minimally adequate system for administering capital punishment.”

Having achieved the consensus of the membership at the Annual Meeting and now of the Council, this resolution is the official position of the Institute. Efforts will be made to communicate this position wherever the Model Penal Code is published or otherwise available and to the public generally.

Report of the Council to the Membership of The American Law Institute On the Matter of the Death Penalty (April 2009)

Information from the 2018 ALI & NCSL Roundtable Conference

Reporter

Kevin R. Reitz University of Minnesota Law School
Minneapolis, MN

Associate Reporter

Cecelia M. Klingele University of Wisconsin Law School
Madison, WI

Advisers

David Boerner Seattle University School of Law
Seattle, WA

Ronald P. Corbett, Jr. Melrose, MA

Beverly Winslow Cutler Alaska Superior Court, Third Judicial District
Palmer, AK

Richard S. Frase University of Minnesota Law School
Minneapolis, MN

Michael J. Kramer Noble Circuit Court
Albion, IN

Miriam A. Krinsky Fair and Just Prosecution
Los Angeles, CA

Margaret Colgate Love Law Office of Margaret Love
Washington, DC

Benjamin C. McMurray Utah Federal Defender Office
Salt Lake City, UT

Stuart Rabner Supreme Court of New Jersey
Trenton, NJ

Jed S. Rakoff U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
New York, NY

Edward E. Rhine Ohio State University
Columbus, OH

Julian Roberts Oxford University School of Law, Centre for Criminology
Oxford, England

Virginia E. Sloan Washington, DC

Carolyn Engel Temin District Attorney's Office
Philadelphia, PA

Michael A. Wolff Saint Louis University School of Law
Saint Louis, MO

Liaison

Steven L. Chanenson Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Villanova, PA

Inimai M. Chettiar Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
New York, NY

Kara Dansky One Thousand Arms
New York, NY

James E. Felman Kynes, Markman & Felman, PA
Tampa, FL

Peter Goldberger National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
Ardmore, PA

Harvey J. Sepler Hollywood, FL

Laura C. Tharney New Jersey Law Revision Commission
Newark, NJ

Members Consultative Group

Charles W. Adams University of Tulsa College of Law
Tulsa, OK

Mark David Agrast American Society of International Law
Washington, DC

Elizabeth K. Ainslie Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP
Philadelphia, PA

Elizabeth Alexander Law Offices of Elizabeth Alexander
Washington, DC

Peter C. Alexander Carbondale, IL

Ronald J. Allen Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
Chicago, IL

Diane Marie Amann University of Georgia School of Law
Atlanta, GA

Melissa Aubin U.S. District Court
Eugene, OR

Joseph R. Bankoff Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA

Rachel E. Barkow New York University School of Law
New York, NY

Jürgen Basedow Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
Hamburg, Germany

Michael M. Baylson U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

Judith Mitchell Billings Utah Court of Appeals
Salt Lake City, UT

Richard C. Bosson New Mexico Supreme Court (Retired)
Santa Fe, NM

Steven M. Bradford HNI Corporation
Muscatine, IA

Samuel W. Buell Duke University School of Law
Durham, NC

Jean-Jacques Cabou Perkins Coie LLP
Phoenix, AZ

Elena A. Cappella Philadelphia, PA

Catherine L. Carpenter Southwestern Law School
Los Angeles, CA

Catherine C. Carr University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Philadelphia, PA

William B. Carr, Jr. Greenbrae, CA

Peter H. Carson Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
San Francisco, CA

R. Michael Cassidy Boston College Law School
Boston, MA

Kami Chavis William & Mary Law School
Williamsburg, VA

Dane S. Ciolino Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
Metairie, LA

Roger S. Clark Rutgers Law School
Camden, NJ

Neil Howard Cogan Whittier Law School
Costa Mesa, CA

William S. Cooper Supreme Court of Kentucky (Retired)
Elizabethtown, KY

John C. Cratsley JAMS
Concord, MA

Dennis E. Curtis Yale Law School
New Haven, CT

Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar Carnegie Endowment for Int'l Peace
Menlo Park, CA

George A. Davidson Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
New York, NY

Gordon L. Doerfer JAMS (Retired)
Needham, MA

William C. Donnino Supreme Court of New York (Retired)
Mineola, NY

Tobias A. Dorsey Office of Administration, Executive Office of the President at the White House
Silver Spring, MD

William F. Downes JAMS
Denver, CO

Michael R. Dreeben O'Melveny & Myers LLP
Washington, DC

Jean Nicolas Druey University of St. Gallen
Basel, Switzerland

Guy Du Pont Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
Montreal, Canada

Meredith J. Duncan University of Houston Law Center
Houston, TX

Christine M. Durham Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Salt Lake City, UT

Ilana H. Eisenstein DLA Piper US LLP
Philadelphia, PA

Anne S. Emanuel Georgia State University College of Law (Retired)
Atlanta, GA

JoAnne A. Epps Temple University Beasley School of Law
Philadelphia, PA

Anthony C. Epstein Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Washington, DC

Roger A. Fairfax, Jr. American University, Washington College of Law
Washington, DC

Mary D. Fan University of Washington School of Law
Seattle, WA

Nita A. Farahany Duke University School of Law
Durham, NC

James E. Felman Kynes, Markman & Felman, PA
Tampa, FL

Steven I. Friedland Elon University School of Law
Greensboro, NC

Royal Furgeson, Jr. Furgeson Malouf Law PLLC
Dallas, TX

Jesse M. Furman U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
New York, NY

Alfredo P. Garcia St. Thomas University School of Law
Miami Gardens, FL

Anne Gardner Texas Second Court of Appeals (Retired)
Fort Worth, TX

E. Susan Garsh Superior Court of Massachusetts (Retired)
Boston, MA

Henry L. Garza Bell County District Attorney's Office
Belton, TX

Faith E. Gay Selendy Gay Elsberg PLLC
New York, NY

John Gleeson Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
New York, NY

Mitchell S. Goldberg U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Oakland, CA

Hervé Gouraige Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.
Newark, NJ

Jane Cutler Greenspan Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (Retired)
Philadelphia, PA

Michael Greenwald Philadelphia, PA

Charles E. Griffin Butler Snow LLP
Ridgeland, MS

John J. Grogan Langer, Grogan & Diver, P.C.
Philadelphia, PA

David A. Hardy Second Judicial Court, Washoe County
Reno, NV

Zachary J. Harmon FBI
Washington, DC

Nathan L. Hecht Supreme Court of Texas
Austin, TX

Lawrence K. Hellman Oklahoma City University School of Law
Oklahoma City, OK

Virginia Ellen Hench University of Hawaii at Manoa, William S. Richardson School of Law
Honolulu, HI

Ronald K. Henry Arnold & Porter(Retired)
Washington, DC

Randy Hertz New York University School of Law
New York, NY

Barbara Parker Hervey Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Austin, TX

Tracy D. Hester University of Houston Law Center
Houston, TX

Ernest R. Higginbotham UNT Dallas College of Law
Dallas, TX

Lonny Hoffman University of Houston Law Center
Houston, TX

Andrew M. Horton Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
Portland, ME

Beryl A. Howell U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Washington, DC

Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court of the United States
Washington, DC

Laurence M. Johnson Law Office of Laurence M. Johnson
Wrentham, MA

Liza Ilona Karsai Chicago, IL

Kathryn M. Kase Office of Harris County Judge Lina Hildalgo
Houston, TX

Cynthia S. Kent Attorney at Law
Tyler, TX

Janine Marie Kern Supreme Court of South Dakota
Pierre, SD

Nancy J. King Vanderbilt University Law School
Nashville, TN

Rufus G. King, III Superior Court of the District of Columbia
Washington, DC

Laird C. Kirkpatrick George Washington University Law School
Washington, DC

Susan R. Klein University of Texas School of Law
Austin, TX

Daniel J. Krisch Halloran & Sage
Hartford, CT

Larry Kupers Washington, DC

Iris Lan U.S. Department of Justice
Washington, DC

Sybil H. Landau New York, NY

Cynthia K. Lee George Washington University Law School
Washington, DC

Evan Tsen Lee University of California, Hastings College of the Law
San Francisco, CA

Stephen E. Lee Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, PLC (Retired)
Phoenix, AZ

George W. Liebmann Liebmann & Shively, P.A.
Baltimore, MD

Wayne A. Logan Florida State University College of Law
Tallahassee, FL

Erik Luna Arizona State University, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
Phoenix, AZ

William Cullen MacDonald Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP
Bethesda, MD

Petra Jimenez Maes New Mexico Supreme Court (Retired)
Santa Fe, NM

Linda A. Malone William & Mary Law School
Williamsburg, VA

C. Scott Maravilla U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
Washington, DC

Melissa H. Maxman Cohen & Gresser LLP
Washington, DC

David McCord Drake University Law School
Des Moines, IA

Robert L. McCurley, Jr. Alabama Law Institute
Tuscaloosa, AL

M. Isabel Medina Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
New Orleans, LA

Donald M. Middlebrooks U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
West Palm Beach, FL

Judith A. Miller Chevy Chase, MD

Natasha Minsker Minsker Consulting
Sacramento, CA

Paul Mogin Williams & Connolly LLP
Washington, DC

Jennifer M. Moore New York State Department of Health
Albany, NY

Alan B. Morrison George Washington University Law School
Washington, DC

H. Geoffrey Moulton Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts
Oreland, PA

Kimberly J. Mueller U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
Sacramento, CA

Richard L. Neumeier Morrison Mahoney LLP
Boston, MA

Kevin C. Newsom U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Birmingham, AL

John B. Oakley University of California, Davis School of Law
Davis, CA

Stephen M. Orlofsky Blank Rome LLP
Princeton, NJ

María Mercedes Pabón Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
New Orleans, LA

Sir Geoffrey Palmer Harbour Chambers
Wellington, New Zealand

John T. Parry Lewis & Clark Law School
Portland, OR

David E. Patton Federal Defenders of New York
New York, NY

Mary Margaret Penrose Texas A&M University School of Law
Fort Worth, TX

Jack W. Pirozzolo Sidley Austin LLP
Boston, MA

Ellen S. Pryor UNT Dallas College of Law
Dallas, TX

Gerald S. Reamey St. Mary's University School of Law
San Antonio, TX

Judith Resnik Yale Law School
New Haven, CT

Henry duPont Ridgely DLA Piper US LLP (Retired)
Wilmington, DE

Ira P. Robbins American University, Washington College of Law
Bethesda, MD

James L. Robertson Wise Carter Child & Caraway, P.A.
Jackson, MS

Margaret Casey Rodgers U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
Pensacola, FL

Ronald S. Rolfe Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP (Retired)
New York, NY

Jonathan C. Rose Jones Day (Retired)
Washington, DC

Robin S. Rosenbaum U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Fort Lauderdale, FL

Michael D. Rubenstein Liskow & Lewis
Houston, TX

Joseph P. Russoniello Browne George Ross LLP (Retired)
San Francisco, CA

Leila Nadya Sadat Washington University School of Law
Saint Louis, MO

Jon M. Sands District of Arizona
Phoenix, AZ

Patti B. Saris U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
Boston, MA

Felicia Sarner Philadelphia District Attorney Office, Conviction Integrity/Special Invest. Unit
Philadelphia, PA

James E. Scarboro Arnold & Porter (Retired)
Denver, CO

Elliot H. Scherker Greenberg Traurig, LLP
Miami, FL

David A. Schlueter St. Mary's University School of Law
San Antonio, TX

Mary M. Schroeder U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
Phoenix, AZ

Alan R. Schwartz Florida Court of Appeal, Third District
Miami, FL

Samuel W. Seymour Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
New York, NY

Eric A. Shumsky Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
Arlington, VA

Kenneth W. Simons University of California, Irvine School of Law
Irvine, CA

Virginia E. Sloan Washington, DC

Robert D. Sloane Boston University School of Law
Boston, MA

George Prescott Slover Center for Democracy & Technology
Washington, DC

Frederic N. Smalkin University of Baltimore School of Law
Baltimore, MD

Douglas G. Smith Aurelius Law Group LLC
Chicago, IL

Margaret Poles Spencer Circuit Court of City of Richmond (Retired)
Richmond, VA

Jeffrey S. Sutton U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
Columbus, OH

Michele Taruffo Universita Di Pavia, Facolta Di Giurisprudenza
Pavia, Italy

Elizabeth G. Taylor National Health Law Program
Washington, DC

Cindy G. Thyer Second Judicial District of Arkansas
Jonesboro, AR

Jon S. Tigar U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Oakland, CA

Victor D. Vital Barnes & Thornburg LLP
Dallas, TX

Ronald Frederick Waterman Gough, Shanahan, Johnson & Waterman (Retired)
Helena, MT

William Woodward Webb Edmisten & Webb Law
Raleigh, NC

Sarah N. Welling University of Kentucky, J. David Rosenberg College of Law
Lexington, KY

Lesley Brooks Wells U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
Cleveland, OH

Kathleen M. Williams U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
Miami, FL

Samuel Brown Witt, III Bryan Brothers, Inc. (Retired)
Richmond, VA

John A. Woodcock, Jr. U.S. District Court, District of Maine
Portland, ME

Douglas P. Woodlock U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
Boston, MA

Robin E. Wosje The Justice Management Institute
Arlington, VA

Wilhelmina M. Wright U.S. District Court of Minnesota
Saint Paul, MN

Melvyn Zarr University of Maine School of Law
Portland, ME

Sentencing

This project revisits the sentencing provisions of the Model Penal Code in light of the many changes in sentencing philosophy and practice that have taken place in the more than 50 years since the Code was first developed.

Status Details

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