Rethinking the Crime of Rioting 107 Minnesota Law Review 2022-2023

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107 Minn. L. Rev. 77 (2022-2023)
Rethinking the Crime of Rioting

handle is hein.journals/mnlr107 and id is 88 raw text is:

Article

Rethinking the Crime of Rioting

Nick Robinsont

Introduction ............................................................................ 78
I. The Problem of Rioting .......................................................... 85
A. The United States and Its Many Types of
R iots ..................................................................... . . 85
B. The Challenge of the Riot ..................................... 89
C. The Weaponization of the Accusation of
R iotin g ................................................................... . 9 1
ii. The Development of the Crime of Rioting ........................ 93
A . English Roots ......................................................... 93
B. United States Evolution ....................................... 96
III. A Critique of Anti-Riot Legal Measures .......................... 106
A. Unnecessary ........................................................... 106
B. The Danger of Expanded Criminal Liability ........ 109
1. Being Part of the Crowd ................................... 109
2. The Threat of Violence ..................................... 115
3. The Vagaries of Incitement .............................. 121
C. Uneven, Politicized, and Racialized
Enforcement ........................................................... 127
IV. Re-envisioning the Crime of Rioting ................................ 131
A. Eliminating the Crime of Rioting .......................... 131
B. Minimizing the Risk of Abuse ............................... 133
1. Require Underlying Unlawful Conduct ........... 133
2. Increase the Minimum Size ............................. 134
3. Eliminate Felony Rioting ................................. 135
4. Narrow Incitement ........................................... 137
5. Scrutinize Related Anti-Riot Measures ........... 137
Conclusion ................................................................................ 138

t Senior Legal Advisor at the International Center for Not-for-Profit
Law. I would like to thank Amy Marshak, Bobbi Elaine-Strang, Doug Rutzen,
Elly Page, Emilia Pierce, Jane Chong, John Inazu, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard,
Patrice Sulton, Richard Schmechel, Robert Post, and Yvonne Tew for feedback
on or conversations about this article. All errors and opinions are my own. Cop-
yright © 2022 by Nick Robinson.

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