All observers of our legal system recognize that criminal statutes can be complex and obscure. But statutory obscurity often takes a particular form that most observers have overlooked: uncertainty about the identity of the wrong a statute aims to punish. It is not uncommon for parties to disagree about the identity of the underlying wrong even as they agree on the statute's elements. Hidden in plain sight, these unexamined disagreements underlie or exacerbate an assortment of familiar disputes—about venue, vagueness, and mens rea; about DUI and statutory rape; about hate crimes, child pornography, and counterterrorism laws; about proportionality in punishment; and about the proper ambit of the criminal law. Each of these disputes may hinge on deeper disagreements about the identity of the wrong a statute aims to punish, and these deeper disagreements can be surprisingly hard to resolve, fueled as they are by the complex inner structure of our penal laws and the discretionary mechanisms of their administration.

中文翻译：

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难以捉摸的惩罚对象

我们法律体系的所有观察者都承认，刑事法规可能很复杂且晦涩难懂。但是，法规的模糊性通常采取一种大多数观察者都忽略的特殊形式：法规旨在惩罚的错误的身份的不确定性。即使当事人就法规的要素达成一致，但对潜在不法行为的身份存在分歧的情况并不少见。这些未经审查的分歧隐藏在众目睽睽之下，构成或加剧了各种熟悉的争议——关于地点、模糊性和犯罪意图；关于酒后驾车和法定强奸；关于仇恨犯罪、儿童色情和反恐法律；关于惩罚的相称性；以及刑法的适当范围。这些争议中的每一个都可能取决于关于法规旨在惩罚的错误的身份的更深层次的分歧，