Criminal Libel in US

Criminal libel in US law? UCLA law prof. Eugene Volokh in a June 8 posting in VC took special note of criminal libel cases in Virginia. To those who are familiar with UW-Milwaukee journalism prof. David Pritchard's "Rethinking Criminal Libel: An Empirical Study," 14 COMM L. & POL'Y 303 (2009) and with Ga. State U journalism prof. Greg J. Lisby's "No Place in the Law: The Ignominy of Criminal Libel in American Jurisprudence," 9 COMM L. & POL'Y 433 (2004), Volokh's posting is not as "remarkable" as some people might think. When it comes to criminal law, indeed, the United States is not as liberal as Mexico, England, and Ireland. In recent years, Mexico and several other countries have decriminalized libel in an effort to expand freedom of expression.