Document Type
Essay
Publication Date
2024
Publication Information
102 Tex. L. Rev. 1473 (2024).
Abstract
From the Article
This Essay proposes a path toward the systematic consideration of mercy in American sentencing. America does not have to choose between retributive blame on the one hand and nonjudgmental mercy on the other. Inspired by Whitman's description of the European "presumption of mercy," America can implement a presumption of its own-one that opens the door to the nonarbitrary exercise of mercy, while retaining a clear focus on retributive desert. Such a presumption, tailored to American political realities and moral norms, might be called a "presumption of retribution"-and this presumption could be codified in law while explicitly made rebuttable in favor of mercy to the extent consistent with the state's duties to the safety of its citizens.
Recommended Citation
Marah S. McLeod,
Showing Mercy Through a Presumption of Retribution,
102 Tex. L. Rev. 1473 (2024)..
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1704
Comments
University of Texas School of Law Symposium on Mercy