Sex as a crime?  Oh yes, in many different ways.  Perhaps, the criminal law goes too far?  Not far enough?

Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by Professor Stuart Green, of Rutgers Law, to discuss how the criminal law deals with sex in so many different ways, from the notion of consent, rape law, sexual harassment, and more. Professor Green’s new book on this topic, Criminalizing Sex: A Unified Liberal Theory, comes out today and explores how a liberal system of criminal law should adequately protect individuals in their right not to be subjected to sexual contact against their will, while also safeguarding their right to engage in private, consensual sexual conduct.

In today’s episode, Aaron and Stuart question the role of law, specifically in terms of consent, autonomy, and morality. What should we criminalize? Are we guilty of over criminalizing? Stuart and Aaron are talking about some of the most contentious legal, moral, and social issues of today – touching on feminist theory and the #MeToo movement, Brock Turner and Bill Cosby, the right to privacy, sexual assault, sexual harassment, voyeurism, coercive relationships, indecent exposure, among others. Stuart’s new book explores the moral and legal puzzles that arise out of real-world cases of alleged sexual misconduct, and examines theories of sexual offense in the current cultural context.

How does the law address these issues? And moreover, how doesn’t it?

Professor Green received a B.A. in philosophy from Tufts University and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a notes editor of the Yale Law Journal. After law school, Stuart clerked for Judge Pamela Ann Rymer of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles and then served as an associated with the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C. Professor Green is a founding co-editor of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice books, a former consultant to the Law Commission for England and Wales, and is a frequent media commentator on issues in criminal law and ethics.

Professor Green’s work seeks to explore the underlying moral content of the criminal law. He is especially concerned with the question of criminalization – what kinds of behavior are justifiably punished, and why. His books and articles have focused in particular on the moral limits of theft, white collar crime, and a wide range of sexual offenses.

To learn more about Professor Green, please visit his bio page here.

To learn more about Professor Green’s new book, Criminalizing Sex: A Unified Liberal Theory, please click here.  

Host: Aaron Freiwald

Guest: Stuart Green

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