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84 Iowa L. Rev. 275 (1998-1999)
A Utilitarian Theory of Duress

handle is hein.journals/ilr84 and id is 289 raw text is: A Utilitarian Theory of Duress John Lawrence Hill* INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 276 I. A THEORY OF THEORIES ..................................................................... 278 II. THE TRADITIONAL ARISTOTELIAN ACCOUNT OF DURESS .................... 282 A. THE TWO-PRONGED THEORY OF EXCUSE ....................................... 282 B. THE PROBLEM OF VOL UNTARINESS ............................................... 286 C. FAILED EXPLANATIONS ................................................................. 288 1. The Internal/External Dichotomy ...................................... 288 2. Threats and Offers ................................292 3. Moral Principles and Voluntariness ................................... 296 III. MORALIZED THEORIES OF DURESS ...................................................... 300 A PARTIALLYMORALIZED THEORIES ................................................ 301 B RADICALLYMORALIZED THEORIES ............................................... 303 IV. THE UTILITARIAN THEORY OF DURESS IN THE CRIMINAL LAW ............ 310 A THE UTILITARIANEXCULPATORYPARADIGM ................................. 313 B. ACTAND RULE UTILITARIANISM, OR WHYDURESS IS NOTA JUSTIFICATION ............................................................................. 315 C. THE UTILITARIAN CASE FOR DURESS ............................................. 318 D. ABSOLUTEAND CONDITIONAL UNDETERRABILIY .......................... 321 E. APPLICATIONS TO THE LAW OFDURESS .......................................... 323 1. The Nature and Sufficiency of the Threat ......................... 323 2. Causation: Subjective or Objective? ................................... 325 3. The Nature of the Offense ................................................. 327 F. SUMMARY OF THE THEORY ........................................................... 329 V. OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED ................................................................... 330 A. DETERMINACYAND THE PROBLEM OF QUANTIFICATION .................. 331 B RETRIBUTIVISMAND THE RIGHT TO PUNISH ............................. 333 C. THE PROBLEM OFJUSTICE ............................................................ 335 D. THE UTILITARIAN THEORY OF DURESS AS AN EXCUSE .................... 336 VI. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 338 * Professor of Law, St. Thomas University School of Law. J.D., Georgetown University 1988; Ph.D., Georgetown University 1989. I would like to thank Lydia Chamberlain and Alex Nolte for their research assistance in writing this article.

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