Criminal Law Today: An Introduction with Capstone Cases (2nd Edition)
- Book Review,
by Frank Schmalleger
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.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
My purpose in writing this textbook has been to provide students with 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 today's American society. Stories from real life, the critical placement of photographs illustrating cogent contemporary issues, and the use of end-of-chapter Capstone Cases are all meant to bring the law to life. My approach has been strongly influenced by my belief that the law has always been, and remains, a vital policy-making tool. As a topic for study and discussion, the nature and life of the law is more important today than ever before. The challenges that face the law as it continues to adapt to the needs of a complex and rapidly changing society are highlighted in this text and serve to emphasize for readers the contemporary relevance of our ever-evolving American criminal law. A central feature of this textbook can be found in its Capstone Cases, placed at the end of each chapter, which provide actual court opinions illustrating important themes in the law. Capstone Cases afford significant insights into the everyday workings of American jurisprudence, and they illustrate the logic by which appellate decisions are made. Law on the Books and Criminal Law in the News boxes, placed throughout the text, illustrate the multiplicity of legal perspectives found at federal, state, and local levels and make students aware of jurisdictional differences in the law. Marginal quotations, found alongside the text column throughout the book, serve to illustrate the inevitable link between matters of the criminal law and contemporary social issues. Unlike most other criminal law textbooks, Criminal Law Today draws on the latest technology to facilitate learning. The World Wide Web site (http://www.prenhall.com/schmalleger) that supports Criminal Law Today provides a wealth of resources, activities, and ideas for both students and professors. Special end-of-chapter Legal Resources on the World Wide Web sections refer students to the Criminal Law Today home page, which is regularly updated, and to other important Criminal Law Resources on the Internet. Finally, Criminal Law Today is the only criminal law textbook that I am aware of which is supported by a full-featured student study guide. The guide, written by noted attorney and educator Cliff Roberson of Washburn University, allows students to integrate the ideas presented in the text and facilitates the learning of what might otherwise be difficult concepts. The guide also provides a useful self-paced review and allows self-testing for students wishing to delve more deeply into the subject matter of this text. Like any author, lost in the proverbial forest of words, it is sometimes difficult for me to get a clear view of how my books will be received. As the first edition of this book neared completion, however, I felt satisfied that I had achieved what I set out to do. That feeling came as I glanced over the observations of one reviewer who had painstakingly read through this book as it was under development. His final comment, after months of review, accompanied by well-placed suggestions, read as follows: "This textbook presents criminal law, which is as ancient as human society itself, in a fresh, modern format . . . one which will bring criminal law to life for students everywhere." That's just what I intended! Frank Schmalleger The Justice Research Association
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