Criminal Law Today: An Introduction with Capstone Cases - Hardcover

Frank Schmalleger

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0131702874 ISBN 13: 9780131702875

Publisher: Pearson College Div, 2005

Synopsis

This book is designed to introduce readers to the fundamental nature of law, to give them an overview of general legal principles, and to help them develop a special understanding of the historical development of criminal law and its contemporary form and function in today's American society. Real stories and photographs of contemporary situations and issues bring the content to life, and Capstone Cases provide insights into the everyday workings of American jurisprudence and illustrate the logic by which appellate decisions are made. This volume provides complete coverage of the nature and history of criminal law, criminal liability and the essence of crime, the concept of crime, justifications as defenses, excuses as defenses, the defense of insanity, legal and social dimensions of homicide, assault, battery, and other personal crimes, property and computer crimes, offenses against public order and the administration of justice, offenses against public morality, victims and the law, and punishment and sentencing. For individuals interested in criminal law and its function in society.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Criminal Law Today is written for college, university, and law school students taking their first course in criminal law. Criminal Law Today provides an appreciation for the fundamental nature of law, an overview of general legal principles, and a special understanding of the historical development of criminal law and its contemporary form and function in American society today.

Criminal Law Today builds upon real-life chapter-opening stories, attention-getting images, "Criminal Law in the News" features, "Law on the Books" boxes, and special end-of-chapter "Capstone Cases" to bring the law to life. This book also illustrates the role of criminal law as a policy-making tool, and identifies the challenges that face the law as it continues to adapt to the needs of our complex and rapidly-changing society. Special features found throughout the text include:

• Attention-getting, real-life, chapter-opening stories
• Web-Extras! (from sites like Britannica Online, the American Bar Association, the ACLU, Nolo's Legal Encyclopedia, and Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute) that link students to the latest relevant legal information via the World Wide Web
• "Criminal Law in the News" boxes produced by award-winning journalists, and highlighting critical legal issues in today's world
• "Law on the Books" features demonstrating jurisdictional variation in the law
• "Law in Practice" boxes illustrating major points from court opinions and other legal sources
• A focused learning environment built around clearly identified chapter-specific learning objectives, terms to know, bulleted chapter summaries, and discussion questions placed strategically throughout the book
• Capstone Cases at the end of each chapter illustrating important legal principles
• A running marginal glossary, along with a complete end-of-text glossary defining critical terms
• End-of-chapter "Legal Resources on the World Wide Web" sections that provide links to Web sites like FedLaw, FindLaw, Law Guru, Laws.com, The Legal Pad, Lexis One, Mega Law, Versus Law, Virtual Chase, and much more!
• Separate chapters on high-technology crimes and applicable statutes, victims and the laws supporting and protecting victims of crimes, and the insanity defense and related issues
• A comprehensive Criminal Law Today site, where Web-based resources are conveniently linked to key ideas in the text

Visit the Criminal Law Today web site at: www.prenhall.com/schmalleger. For instructors needing copies of our extensive supplements package, please contact us at: cjcustomerservice@prenhall.com.

About the Author:

Frank Schmalleger, Ph.D., is Director of The Justice Research Association, a private consulting firm and "think tank" focusing on issues of law, crime, and justice. The Justice Research Association, which is based in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, serves the needs of the nation's civil and criminal justice planners, administrators, and educators through workshops, conferences, and grant-writing and program evaluation support. Its most significant project to date is the Criminal Justice Distance Learning Consortium (CJDLC). CJDLC can be found on the Web at http://www.cjcentral.com/cjdlc.

Dr. Schmalleger holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University, having earned both a master's (1970) and doctorate (1974) from Ohio State University with a special emphasis in criminology. From 1976 to 1994, he taught criminal justice courses at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. For the last sixteen of those years, he chaired the university's Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice. He was named Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in 2001. As an adjunct professor with Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, Schmalleger helped develop the university's graduate program in security administration and loss prevention. He taught courses in that curriculum for more than a decade. Schmalleger has also taught in the New School for Social Research's online graduate program, helping to build the world's first electronic classrooms in support of distance learning through computer telecommunications. An avid Web surfer, Schmalleger is also the creator of a number of award-winning World Wide Web sites, including one that supports this textbook http://www.prenhall.com/schmalleger.

Frank Schmalleger is the author of numerous articles and many books, including the widely used Criminal Justice Today (Prentice Hall, 2001); Criminology Today (Prentice Hall, 2002); Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction (Prentice Hall, 2002); Crime and the Justice System in America: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997); Computers in Criminal Justice (Wyndham Hall Press, 1991); Career Paths: A Guide to jobs in Federal Law Enforcement (Regents/ Prentice Hall, 1994); Criminal Justice Ethics (Greenwood Press, 1991); Finding Criminal Justice in the Library (Wyndham Hall Press, 1991); Ethics in Criminal Justice (Wyndham Hall Press, 1990); A History of Corrections (Foundations Press of Notre Dame, 1983); and The Social Basis of Criminal Justice (University Press of America, 1'981). Schmalleger is also founding editor of the journal The Justice Professional.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pearson College Div
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0131702874
• ISBN 13: 9780131702875
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 742