Paul J. Litton

Paul Litton
  • Criminal and Moral Responsibility Theory
  • Death Penalty Law
  • Jurisprudence
  • Bioethics
Associate Professor of Law

PhD (2003), University of Pennsylvania
JD (1999), University of Pennsylvania Law School
BA cum laude (1994), University of Pennsylvania

  • Phone Number: (573) 882-6488
  • Room Number: 312 Hulston Hall
  • E-Mail Address:

Paul Litton joined the faculty in 2006. He received a J.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied through the University’s Joint Program in Law and Philosophy and was awarded the Lynn Lukens Moore Prize in Jurisprudence by the Law School. He was law clerk to Chief Justice Deborah T. Poritz of the New Jersey Supreme Court, serving a second term as the Court’s death penalty law clerk. From 2004 to 2006 he was a fellow in the Department of Clinical Bioethics within the National Institutes of Health.

Professor Litton’s research primarily focuses on moral philosophy and criminal law theory (especially free will and responsibility theory), and bioethics. In 2009 he received the Shook Hardy & Bacon Excellence in Research Award at the Law School. Currently, Professor Litton is co-chairing the Missouri Death Penalty Assessment Team, assembled by the American Bar Association to study and make recommendations regarding the laws and practices of Missouri’s capital system.

Professor Litton teaches Criminal Law, Death Penalty Law, Jurisprudence, and Bioethics.

Recent Publications

Book Chapters/Collected Works

Criminal Law and Psychopathy: Do Psychopaths Have a Right to Excuse?, in PSYCHOPATHY AND LAW (eds. Kent Kiehl & Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2011).

Unexplained, False Assumptions Underlie Kelman's Skepticism, in CRIMINAL LAW CONVERSATIONS (eds. Paul H. Robinson, Stephen Garvey, & Kimberly Ferzan, Oxford University Press, 2009).
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Against Integrationsim, in CRIMINAL LAW CONVERSATIONS, (eds. Paul H. Robinson, Stephen Garvey, & Kimberly Ferzan, Oxford University Press, 2009).
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Academic Journals

A More Persuasive Justification for Pediatric Research, 12 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS 44 (2012).

The Undue Influence of Causation, 11:8 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOETHICS p.19-20 (2011).

What Do Physician-Investigators Owe Patients Who Participate in Research with Franklin G. Miller, v.304 no. 13 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (October 6, 2010).

Responsibility Theory and Psychopathy, v.5 no.8 PHILOSOPHY COMPASS 676 (2010).