Dan Markel

Daniel Eric Markel (October 9, 1972 – July 19, 2014) was a Canadian-born attorney and law professor who wrote various works on retribution in criminal law and sentencing with a focus on the role of punishment in the criminal justice system. Quotes Against Mercy (2004) "Against Mercy", Minnesota Law Review, vol. 88 (2004), pp. 1421–80 In a liberal democracy, punishment serves under equality's flag. When I steal, rape, or murder, I am arrogating a license to act in ways that the polity has officially proscribed. I lord this license over my victim and those around me. It is a claim of superiority — namely, that I am a law unto myself, that society's laws do not bind me. On this view, it does not matter that not everyone, if given the chance, would similarly seek to steal, rape, or murder. All that matters is that I am defecting from a legal order to which I have good reason to give my allegiance, and I am defecting in such a way that I am taking license to which others are not entitled. pp. 1446–7 [One] good that justifies retribution is the achievement of a form of democratic self-defense. . . . . Each time an offense occurs, the offender is trying to shift where the rules of property, liability, and inalienability lie; in doing so, the criminal is revolting against the democratic determinations of where those rules lie. . . . Hence, the offense is not merely against the victim but also against the people and their agent, the state, whose charter mandates the protection not only of the persons constituting the political order, but also of the decision-making authority of the regime itself. pp. 1448–9 External links Category:Lawyers from Canada Category:Academics from Canada Category:1972 births Category:2014 deaths