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Leo Tolstoy, Ernest H. Crosby, and Shakespeare

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:50 AM PDT

José Calvo González, University of Malaga, has published Lev N. Tolstói & E. H. Crosby:Sobre la geografía de la recepcíon literaria y jurídico-social Tolstiana, con apunte acerca del reformista social norteamericano Ernest Howard Crosby (1856-1907). at 2 Revista Europea de Historia de las Ideas Políticas y de las Instituciones Públicas 87 (February 2012). Here is the abstract.

Geography of the receipt of the work and thought of Tolstoy, presenting his map in Europe, Asia and USA. Interspersed references to the reception among jurists. Particular care in the U.S. figure of Ernest Howard Crosby and his contribution to the spread of tolstoism, and about his criticism and social reform.

Recovery and analysis, in line Law and Literature, of one of the texts of Crosby (Shakespeare's attitude toward the working classes, 1903).

The full text is available at the link.

"Crime and Punishment" and False Confessions

Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:40 AM PDT

Rinat Kitai-Sangero, Academic Center of Law & Buriness, Ramat Gan, Israel, has published Can Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment Help Us Distinguish between True and False Confessions? at 9 Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law 231 (2011). Here is the abstract.

Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is also a story about confessions. Raskolnikov, who committed a double murder, and Nikolay, an innocent suspect, each confesses to the same crime. An analysis of Raskolnikov's and Nikolay's confession demonstrates the complexity of motives that drive the guilty and the innocent alike to confess and points to the distinction between true and false confessions. Finally this novel supports the conclusion that the accused should be required to provide significant details of the crime as a requirement for relying on his or her confession.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.