Profs. Rosen-Zvi and Fisher Publish Article on Overcoming Divide between Civil and Criminal Procedure

Professors Issacar Rosen-Zvi and Talia Fisher have recently published an article entitled Overcoming Procedural Boundaries in the Virginia Law Review, 94 Va. L. Rev. 79 (2008). Here is an excerpt from the Introduction:

The Article will not challenge (at least not directly) the distinction between substantive criminal law and civil law but rather will focus solely on procedure. It will argue that to the extent that detaching the two spheres is justified in substance, a parallel split in procedure is not necessarily entailed. We will argue that dissociating substantive civil and criminal law from procedure would better serve the goals of both. From a procedural standpoint, casting off the fetters of the legislature's obsolete categorizations would better realize the underlying objectives of the procedural system. From a substantive perspective, our proposed procedural model would decrease the ability of federal and state legislators to “civilize” some sanctions that belong in the criminal sphere while “criminalizing” other sanctions that belong in the civil sphere in order to reap procedural advantages.