Author Description

Criminal Law: Cases and Materials has long been respected for its distinguished authorship. The late John Kaplan’s extraordinary work continues with the scholarship of Robert Weisberg and Guyora Binder in the Ninth Edition. This casebook’s renowned interdisciplinary approach fuels class discussion as it enriches study. Logically organized, the text addresses the purposes and limits of punishment and considers the meaning and types of crime. Well-edited cases, interesting materials, and clear notes combine with cutting-edge issues and important social questions, such as whom and why we punish. Especially strong are the sections addressing the phenomenon of mass incarceration (including the movement towards prison abolition), the theme of and challenges to racial justice in our criminal law system, and the evolution of our laws on sexual assault. New to the Ninth Edition: Addition of up-to-date empirical and public policy research as well as expanded discussion of the role of constitutional law in the criminalization of homelessness, and issues of racial justice on such topics as criminal liability of police for use of lethal force and the controversies over citizen’s arrest powers. Incorporation of new feminist research in such areas as battered women’s self-defense and sexual assault (including treatment of the ongoing efforts to revise the Model Penal Code laws on rape). New historically informed treatment of felony murder, including legislative and judicial developments in reform and possible abolition of felony murder doctrine. Updated notes and questions aimed at improving the casebook’s usefulness for exam preparation. New case law on the challenges of applying criminal law in the Internet world on such topics as possession of child pornography images and criminal conduct through cyber-messaging. A fresh new analytic guide on “impossible attempts”, designed to assist students with this perennially challenging doctrine. Professors and student will benefit from: