Between 1960 and 1975, the United States underwent a veritable revolution in criminal law reform. Most of the States reformed their criminal laws by using as a yardstick a set of proposals drafted by an elite law reform group known as the American Law Institute. The goal of the penal code reform movement was to reform the laws comprehensively at one time. This movement was opposed to the piecemeal amendment process, because it often resulted in a long, complex document filled with internal contradictions. The ALI had drafted a comprehensive set of criminal law reform proposals entitled the Model Penal Code (MPC). The ALI is an east coast law reform think tank financed by grants from blue chip corporations. The MPC was a reflection of the ideological outlook of the old American fortunes accumulated at the end of the 19th century. Unlike other States, penal code reform in California became an aspect of the struggle between economic elites based on the east coast and the newer fortunes based in the south and southwest. Since California was the base of the latter, the ideology of the old east coast fortunes, manifested in the MPC, was rejected in California. The peak of this struggle occurred in 1969 when a group of professors from leading law schools in the State was purged from the penal code reform process by the conservatives. Several of the professors had participated in the drafting of the MPC. After the purge, political conservatives dominated the movement for comprehensive penal code reform in the State. Liberals, who controlled the lower house of the Assembly, opted for the old pattern of piecemeal reform, fearing that comprehensive reform proposals were too repressive. Comprehensive reform thus failed. The appendixes examine crime in California for 1960-75 and describe the study methodology. About 250 bibliographic entries and a subject index are provided.
Crime and Criminal Law - The California Experience 1960-1975
NCJ Number
90102
Date Published
1981
Length
171 pages
Annotation
This book explains why California failed to pass comprehensive reform legislation from 1960 to 1975, while many other States were doing so, with attention to a review of the history of the California penal code, the American Law Institute (ALI), the political events in the State, and basic changes in the California Legislature.
Abstract