LEGAL THEORY WORKSHOP SERIES
presents
Christopher Kutz
C. William Maxeiner Distinguished Professor of Law
University of California, Berkeley Law School
The Privilege of Criminality and the Pale Criminal
Friday, October 21, 2016
12:30 – 2:00
Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen’s Park
The paper takes up two ways in which there is, in our modern state, a privilege of criminality: a privilege claimed by the state to engage in criminal behavior, by way of crime suppression; and a privilege enjoyed by Whites, typically, to be free of interference and violence from that policing activity. While both of these points are familiar, I try to make an argument that may surprise in two ways. The first is to make use of some surprising claims by Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche about the urge towards criminality in the state, as a better way of understanding its pathology – to shift their discussion from moral psychology to politics. The second is to make a tentative argument about the need for a liberal (freedom-valuing) state to comprehend a “right to do wrong” – a privilege of criminality that is universalized among its citizens, not restricted to a dominant group.
Christopher Kutz joined the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program at Boalt Hall in 1998. Before joining the Berkeley faculty, he clerked for Judge Stephen F. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Since his appointment at Berkeley, he has been a Visiting Professor at Columbia and Stanford law schools, as well as at Sciences Po University in Paris, France. Kutz’s work focuses on moral, political and legal philosophy, and he has particular interest in the foundations of criminal, international and constitutional law. His book, Complicity: Ethics and Law for a Collective Age, addressed the question of individual moral and legal responsibility for harms brought about through collective and corporate activity. His book, On War and Democracy, addresses the collision between democratic values and the ethics and laws of war; it addresses both questions of when democratic states can engage in war, such as for purposes of humanitarian intervention, and what limits democratic commitments place on their means, such as torture and drone strikes. In addition, he has written on issues of the metaphysics of criminal responsibility, social welfare obligations, national responsibilities to mitigate climate change, humanitarian ethics, and political legitimacy. He teaches courses in criminal law, and moral, political and legal philosophy.
A light lunch will be served.
To be added to the paper distribution list, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca. For further information, please contact Professor Larissa Katz (larissa.katz@utoronto.ca) and Professor Sophia Moreau (sr.moreau@utoronto.ca).
