This popular casebook through the selection of classic and modern cases provides an excellent tool for teaching students the common law foundations of the criminal law and modern statutory reforms including the Model Penal Code. Along the way the casebook considers modern controversies (e.g. "shaming" punishment capital punishment broadening sexual assault law self-defense by battered women police use of force in making arrests euthanasia the role of culture in determining culpability) offers exceptionally helpful and interesting (sometimes even humorous) Notes and Questions to guide students and even "brain teasers" to confront (as the Preface states) "the Big Questions . . . that philosophers theologians scientists and poets as well as lawyers have grappled with for centuries." The Ninth Edition as in the past includes new cases as well as updates in the Notes that bring current criminal justice to the fore.
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The fourth edition of this book presents the Federal Rules of Evidence as amended through December of 2019 in a clear and concise manner that is accessible and engaging to both professors and students. Each chapter begins with an explanation and rationale for the chapter's topic. The applicable rule or rules of evidence are also replicated at the beginning of the relevant sections eliminating the requirement that students purchase a separate book of rules. The chapters continue to feature fresh visual presentations and layouts by use of text boxes diagrams and color-border segregated features. The book's most distinguishing feature however is still the accompanying electronic version with links to multiple-choice questions. The fourth edition contains a revised Appendix with the complete set of the Federal Rules of Evidence eliminating the need for students to purchase a supplement. The fourth edition also utilizes additional and improved logic maps to assist students in their evidentiary analysis.
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This comprehensive and clearly written Understanding treatise is frequently cited by scholars and courts in their analysis of substantive criminal law and has been a popular source of assistance to criminal law students for the past quarter century. Understanding Criminal Law is designed to be taught in conjunction with any casebook. The topics covered are those most often raised in criminal law casebooks and coverage of these subjects is meant to complement professors' classroom discussions. The text focuses on the basic elements of and defenses to all crimes provides indepth coverage of such crimes as homicide rape and theft and covers other important topics covered in a criminal law course such as accomplice and inchoate liability.
Understanding Criminal Law also covers theories of punishment sources of the criminal law and overarching principles such as legality and proportionality. The common law is emphasized with extensive comparisons to the Model Penal Code and modern statutes. This edition offers the most significant updating ever including coverage of quickly changing legal areas such as sexual assault and selfdefense law. Recent revisions to the Model Penal Code are also covered.
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