Connor McDDermott (Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College) has published "Mess Rea" on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
The disarray of the law on criminal mental state is in need of clarification and reform. This Note proceeds in four parts. Section II lays out the historical foundations of the mens rea requirement in Anglo-American common law. Section III analyzes the MPC innovation of categorizing and defining mental states against this common law foundation. Section IV critiques Supreme Court jurisprudence on mens rea and suggests that a more structured approach is called for, even if it is not the MPC’s approach. Section V contends that the MPC mental state of knowingly best represents the common law concept of mens rea, and advocates for the adoption of that mental state in the absence of Congressional direction.
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