Jenkins On Your Desktop: Model Penal Code on HeinOnline

The Model Penal Code was adopted by the American Law Institute in 1962 and officially printed with Explanatory Notes in 1985. The Code is a compilation of model laws regarding the definition of crimes, treatment and correction, and the organization of correction facilities. Since that time, a number of states have used portions of the Code as a model for the individual state codes. When using the Model Penal Code it is important to check state statutes for relevancy and currentness.

The American Law Institute Library on HeinOnline contains a variety of materials related to the Model Penal Code, including various drafts and commentaries going back to 1951. The ALI Library also includes the 1985 Model Penal Code: Official Draft and Explanatory Notes.

To access the Model Penal Code, use your last name and member number to log into Jenkins' website. From the Member Center select HeinOnline. Once in Hein, from the Collections list on the left side select American Law Institute Library. The Model Penal Code is listed alphabetically under Codifications and Other Projects. Clicking Model Penal Code will show all available documents related to the Model Penal Code in chronological order, starting with 1951. This list includes drafts and commentaries.

To search this collection, click on the Search tab below the HeinOnline logo. The search box will appear on the left side of the screen. This basic search will search all of the ALI Library, including all published and draft copies of the Model Penal Code as well as the ALI Reporter, the Proceedings of ALI Annual Meetings, all published and draft copies of the Restatements of the Law and the Principles of the Law, and other ALI and ALI-ABA publications.

To search just the Model Penal Code, click on "Advanced Search" and select Model Penal Code from the title list. The search results will include results from all the drafts and commentaries in the Model Penal Code collection. To limit the search to just the 1985 Model Penal Code: Official Draft and Explanatory Notes, restrict the search by date (1985 to 1985). This date restriction will also search the 1985 Commentaries to Part 1.

For more search tips, including how to search phrases and use Boolean operators, see HeinOnline's Advanced Search Syntax Guidelines.

HeinOnline is a membership database available to most Jenkins members.