The new edition of this criminal law book benefits from both use and experience-- after using the first edition and seeking feedback from students and professors alike, the authors set about creating an even more interactive and engaging experience for the modern law student. The book has dual goals -- (1) to help students understand the processes and elements of the criminal law and (2) to improve the critical reading, thinking and writing skills of students through problems, real examples, and hypotheticals.

The book offers structures within major components of the subject matter, from starting each chapter with an outline and key points and ending chapters with reviews, to utilizing a wide variety of tools to enhance learning. It includes well-known events, such as the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin homicide case, background boxes highlighting contextual points, and different kinds of exercises covering a panoply of lawyering skills. The book also steps back and provides broader perspectives of the criminal law -- from questions about justice to theories of punishment.

This book is part of the Context and Practice Series, edited by Michael Hunter Schwartz, Professor of Law and Dean of the McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific.