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100 Mich. L. Rev. 505 (2001-2002)
The Pathological Politics of Criminal Law

handle is hein.journals/mlr100 and id is 525 raw text is: THE PATHOLOGICAL POLITICS OF CRIMINAL LAW William J. Stuntz* INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................506 I. CRIMINAL LAW'S BREADTH ....................................................... 512 A. Breadth and Depth ................................................................ 512 B. The Consequences of Breadth and Depth........................... 519 II. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CRIME DEFINITION.................523 A. Surface Politics and Deep Politics ....................................... 523 B. Lawmakers' Incentives ......................................................... 529 1. Legislators........................................................................529 2. Prosecutors (and the Police) .......................................... 533 3. Appellate Judges.............................................................. 540 4. A Special Case: Federal Prosecutors and Congress .... 542 C. Lawmakers' Relationships ................................................... 546 1. Legislators and Prosecutors ........................................... 546 a. The Political Imbalance ...........................................547 b. Agency Costs..........................549 c. Interest G roups.........................................................552 2. Legislators and Judges ....................................................557 a. Vagueness Doctrine .................................................559 b. The Rule of Lenity ...................................................561 3. Prosecutors and Judges................................................... 565 D. The Consequences of Criminal Law's Breadth (R ep rise)................................................................................. 569 1. Sorting .............................................................................. 569 2. Crim inalizing Vice .......................................................... 572 E. Conclusion: Legislated Crimes and Common Law Crimes .................................................................................... 576 III. SO LU TIO N S ....................................................................................579 A. Abolishing Discretion ........................................................... 579 B. Abolishing Legislative Supremacy ...................................... 582 * Professor, Harvard Law School. I thank a long list of colleagues and friends for help- ful comments: Barbara Armacost, Sam Bagenstos, John Coates, Anne Coughlin, Philip Frickey, Elizabeth Garrett, John Jeffries, Michael Klarman, Daryl Levinson, Debra Livingston, Elizabeth Magill, Dan Meltzer, Mark Ramseyer, Dan Richman, Jim Ryan, Margo Schlanger, Stephen Schulhofer, Elizabeth Scott, Mike Seidman, and Carol Steiker. I also received many useful comments, for which I am grateful, from participants in work- shops at the Boston University, University of California at Berkeley, Harvard, University of Michigan, Stanford, and University of Virginia Law Schools. Last but not least, I thank Dave Barker, Brent Bickley, Jeff Ernst, Matt Iverson, and Gina Paik for excellent research assis- tance. 505

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