University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

In December 1930, the American Law Institute (ALI) began work on drafting an Act on Double Jeopardy, later known as the Administration of the Criminal Law project. William E. Mikell of the University of Pennsylvania Law School served as Reporter. The project culminated in the creation of an Official Draft, adopted by the ALI, with amendments, on August 15, 1935. The collection, 1930-1935, includes preliminary drafts, tentative drafts, a proposed final draft, and an official draft related to the subject of double jeopardy as outlined in the Administration of the Criminal Law project.

In March 1925, the American Law Institute (ALI) started the Code of Criminal Procedure project. The resulting volume attempted to provide a framework for effective administration of criminal law while maintaining protection for the rights of the accused. The collection, circa 1925-1959, includes drafts, correspondence, minutes, and other materials related to the drafting of the code, which outlined procedures for carrying out criminal law and defined the rights of the accused in areas such as arrest, bail, and execution.

In 1938, the American Law Institute (ALI) formed the Criminal Justice--Youth Committee to review the findings of a New York City study of criminal behavior among young people called "Youth in the Toils." The culmination of the committee's work was the Model Youth Correction Authority Act, a model act that favored the integration of a number of youth treatment processes already employed by various states. The committee also proposed the creation of a Youth Authority, a state-wide panel that would handle sentencing guidelines, with an emphasis on treatment and not punishment, for all underage criminal offenders. Following the Model Youth Corrections Authority Act's promulgation in 1940, the ALI appointed a special adviser, John R. Ellingston, to help states adopt Youth Authority legislation. This outreach effort was known as the Youth Authority Program. The Youth Authority Program lasted until 1951. The collection, 1935-1959, includes background information, correspondence, meeting minutes, drafts, comments, memoranda, reports, publications, and related material regarding the drafting of the Model Youth Correction Authority Act, adopted by the ALI in 1940, and the Youth Authority Program, an initiative that encouraged state adoption of the Youth Authority legislation.

Following the publication of the First Restatement of the Law, in 1936 the American Law Institute (ALI) held a series of meetings and published a series of reports that considered what additional areas of the law might be selected for future restatement projects. Work on the project continued into the mid-1940s. Many fields were considered, but only a few were actually selected for inclusion in future restatement projects. The collection, 1929-1968 and undated (bulk: 1929-1948), includes correspondence, reports, memoranda, and other records related to areas of the law up for consideration for future restatement projects, including business associations, industrial relations, and monopolies.

In 1964, the American Law Institute (ALI) secured funding to develop a model statute governing law enforcement and pre-arraignment procedures within criminal law. James Vorenberg served as Chief Reporter on the project. The resulting statute was the Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedure, adopted by the ALI in May 1975. The collection, 1965-1975, includes drafts, memoranda, and commentary concerning the drafting and adoption of the Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedure.

The Model Penal Code, first completed in 1962 and revised and expanded over the next 20 years, played an important role in the revision and codification of criminal law. The Chief Reporter on the project was Herbert Wechsler. A Criminal Law Advisory Committee was established to provide the reportorial staff with guidance in the drafting of the Code. A Proposed Official Draft was published in 1962. This version generated wide response among legislatures and courts, prompting a revision and expansion of the code's commentaries that began in 1976. A final version of the Model Penal Code, with revised commentaries, was published in 1985. The Code proved to be particularly influential in the areas of jurisdiction, double jeopardy, responsibility, criminal attempts, theft, abortion, obscenity, sentencing, and capital punishment. The collection, 1942-1985, includes correspondence, meeting materials, proceedings, drafts, reports, reference materials, published versions, citations, and related records regarding the drafting of the Model Penal Code, which consolidated and codified previous legislation and judicial opinions related to criminal law.

This project revisits the American Law Institute’s Model Penal Code sentencing provisions in light of the many changes in sentencing philosophy and practice that have taken place in the more than 40 years since the Code was first developed. The collection includes Preliminary Draft Nos. 1 and 2, 2002-2003.