Criminal Law Conversations Invitation

Criminal Law Conversations

 Leading Scholars Debate the Fundamental Questions of Modern Criminal Law

 http://www.law.upenn.edu/phr/conversations/status/ 

    *  Peer-engaged B community of scholars nominates works on which to comment

    *  Short comments (800 words) by those interested, with author response

    *  Direct engagement allows debating scholars to "join issue"

    *  Website makes submissions publicly and immediately available

    *  Process designed to promote thoughtful responses and efficient time management 

Kin Ferzan and Paul Robinson invite criminal law scholars from around the world to contribute to an exciting peer-engaged project of criminal law "conversations" to be published collectively as a book. Concise "core" papers not to exceed 5000 words (approximately ten single-spaced pages) presenting a theory or position will each be followed by a number of short comments (normally no more than 800 words B approximately two pages or less), with a final reply to the comments by the original core paper author.

The goal of Criminal Law Conversations CLC is to promote thoughtful critiques of important issues. Too often opposing advocates talk past each other. CLC's web-based virtual "conversations" are designed to help opponents join issue. The website is not a blog but rather a vehicle for nominating and organizing the project's topics and contributors.

Strong emphasis is placed on well written, accessible presentations about enduring ideas, without requiring elaborate documentation or intricate analysis. Our hope is to produce a final volume that will have an audience beyond the community of criminal law scholars

The selection of core texts will be made by the criminal law scholarly community at large, as people express interest in the topics on which they would like to comment. All scholars are invited to submit nominations for the subject of a "core text" based on either previously published articles or new material. All are also invited to submit comments on any one or more of the nominated core texts.

Because not all contributions will be included in the published volume (although they may be permanently available on the website, the process by which CLC is assembled is designed to shape a contributor's investment of time according to the likelihood of publication. An initial contribution may be simply a short note, with more demanding submissions required only after it appears that the core paper and its responses are developing into a collection likely to be included in the final published volume.

Through a process, the book collection will be assembled by late 2009. Oxford University Press has expressed an interest in publishing the volume. In addition, there will be a permanent CLC website that contains core texts and commentaries not included in the published volume. The permanent website also will allow the future submission of comments on the published volumes contents, and may be used to produce subsequent collections.

Fro More Information, please contact CLCeditors@law.upenn.edu [Mark Godsey]