Criminal Law: Case Studies & Controversies eschews traditional reliance on judicial opinions in favor of an innovative and dynamic method of criminal law instruction centered on statutory interpretation and case studies. Examination of real-world problems allows first-year law students to not only develop familiarity with the criminal law doctrine necessary for potential careers as prosecutors or defense attorneys but also hone crucial skills for lawyering generally. Provocative case studies provide background for engaging class discussion and challenge students to tackle applying doctrine in real-world situations. When useful, the book provides actual cases from a variety of jurisdictions to further illuminate the concepts with which students have already been forced to grapple. New to the 6th Edition: Additional and updated case studies and discussion material informed by the professors’ teaching experiences and designed to reinforce issues at the forefront of modern criminal law. All Chapters have been streamlined for a more efficient and concise textbook. A comprehensive updated Teachers’ Manual provides instructors and students with additional valuable resources. Professors and students will benefit from: Use of an innovative case studies method. Each topic area includes a detailed story about the people and events leading up to the offense. Inclusion of photographs related to the crimes so students can better contextualize issues. “Core opinions” of central historical, theoretical, or doctrinal importance in each subject-area section. Provocative and timely principal cases from a wide variety of jurisdictions, each followed by the statutes that existed in the jurisdiction at the time of the offense. Treatise-like summaries of law in each topic area give students an overview of the law, introduce the underlying theoretical principles, and provide context.

This book aims to explore a number of connected themes relating to compliance, legitimacy and trust in different areas of criminal justice and socio-legal regulation.

This edited book provides an in-depth examination of the implications of neuroscience for the criminal justice system. It draws together experts from across law, neuroscience, medicine, psychology, criminology, and ethics, and offers an important contribution to current debates at the intersection of these fields. It examines how neuroscience might contribute to fair and more effective criminal justice systems, and how neuroscientific insights and information can be integrated into criminal law in a way that respects fundamental rights and moral values. The book’s first part approaches these questions from a legal perspective, followed by ethical accounts in part two. Its authors address a wide range of topics and approaches: some more theoretical, like those regarding the foundations of punishment; others are more practical, like those concerning the use of brain scans in the courtroom. Together, they illustrate the thoroughly interdisciplinary nature of the debate, in which science, law and ethics are closely intertwined. It will appeal in particular to students and scholars of law, neuroscience, criminology, socio-legal studies and philosophy. Chapter 8 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

International criminal law lacks a coherent account of individual responsibility. This failure is due to the inability of international tribunals to capture the distinctive nature of individual responsibility for crimes that are collective by their very nature. Specifically, they have misunderstood the nature of the collective action or framework that makes these crimes possible, and for which liability may be attributed to intellectual authors, policy makers and leaders. In this book, the author draws on insights from comparative law and methodology to propose doctrines of perpetration and secondary responsibility that reflect the role and function of high-level participants in mass atrocity, while simultaneously situating them within the political and social climate which renders these crimes possible. This new doctrine is developed through a novel approach which combines and restructures divergent theoretical perspectives on attribution of responsibility in English and German domestic criminal law, as major representatives of the common law and civil law systems. At the same time, it analyses existing theories of responsibility in international criminal law and assesses whether there is any justification for their retention by international criminal tribunals.

Psychopaths constitute less than 1% of the general population but over 20% of prison populations. They commit a disproportionate amount of crime and violence in society. Given that the economic burden of crime in the United States is estimated to be over $2.3 trillion per year, psychopaths likely constitute one of the most expensive mental health conditions known today. This volume chronicles the latest science of psychopathy and the various ways the condition intersects with the criminal justice system. From the modern techniques to assess the symptoms, to its utility in predicting violent recidivism, to the latest neuroscience youth and adults, and the most promising avenues for treatment, this volume captures the modern science of the condition and discusses ethical and legal issues surrounding psychopaths.

An evidence-based roadmap for how the American criminal justice system can be reformed This important volume brings together today's leading criminal justice scholars and practitioners to offer a roadmap for those who want to change the face of the American criminal justice system. This collection of essays addresses thirteen significant issues in justice reform, starting from a suspect’s first interaction with the police and continuing to gun violence, prosecutorial innovation, sentencing reform, eliminating bail, recidivism and re-entry, collateral consequences of crime, and eliminating false convictions. A common theme emerges in this volume: the American criminal justice system is riddled with weaknesses that cause harm and require greater accountability. Each chapter is both educational and prescriptive, helping readers to understand the problems that plague the criminal justice system, how those problems can be addressed, and who should take responsibility for them. Part scholarly research, part account of the justice system’s workings and failings, and part agenda for action, Transforming Criminal Justice aims to educate and move readers to effect change.