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Criminal Law Today, 7th edition

Published by Pearson (January 31, 2021) © 2022

  • Frank Schmalleger Emeritus, University of North Carolina

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For courses in criminal law.

A timely, real-world perspective on criminal law

Criminal Law Today brings criminal law to life by relating it to the stories of today's headlines. Viewing law as a vital policymaking tool, Schmalleger explores the challenges of continually adapting the law to a complex, rapidly changing society. By providing real-world context, he helps students grasp the fundamental nature of law, general legal principles, and how the law functions in American society today.

The 7th Edition has revised learning objectives. It also includes a wide range of new cases, news stories, legal topics and graphics providing contemporary examples of criminal law in action.

Hallmark features of this title

A balanced textbook/casebook approach

  • EXPANDED: Capstone Cases in each chapter provide excerpts from court opinions. They illustrate legal themes, demonstrate American jurisprudence, and explain appellate decisions.
  • Additional Applications build on Capstone Cases. They enhance students' understanding of the legal concepts in cases.

Examples of criminal law in action

  • Law in Practice boxes demonstrate real applications of criminal law.
  • Law on the Books boxes present examples of US criminal codes.

Engaging pedagogy

  • Critical Thinking and Applications Problems at the end of each chapter challenge students to apply chapter content to contemporary legal problems.
  • Additional student resources include Capstone Cases, Guide to Legal Citations, the Bill of Rights, the US Constitution and legal resource links.

New and updated features of this title

Real examples demonstrating legal issues

  • EXPANDED: New Capstone Cases include Illinois v. Lara, People v. LaRosa, Burrage v. United States, and United States v. Alvarez.
  • NEW: New topics are reinforced by illustrative examples. Sample stories illustrate the criminal liability of corporations and policies around affirmative consent on college campuses.

Relevant events and news stories

  • EXPANDED: Chapter-opening stories drawn from real events demonstrate concepts and issues from each chapter. A new chapter-opening story has been added to Chapter 6.
  • REVISED: Criminal Law in the News boxes in each chapter include all-new stories from today's media. They demonstrate various legal perspectives at the federal, state and local levels.

Learning aids

  • REVISED: Learning objectives are listed at the start of each chapter. They now offer a clearer, more concise overview of what students can expect to learn in each chapter.
  • EXPANDED: Full-color photos, illustrations and diagrams clarify concepts throughout. New graphics address topics such as assisted suicide states, types of insanity defense by state, and forms of human trafficking by world subregion.

Features of Revel for the 7th Edition

  • Author Explanatory Videos of 2 to 3 minutes each are embedded into the narrative. They offer explanations of and examples for each concept.
  • Point/CounterPoint Videos explore different views on controversial issues. Topics include the 4th amendment, privacy, search and seizure, Miranda, prisoner rights and the death penalty.
  • Current Events Bulletin includes author-written articles updated each semester to connect core concepts with current events. Students can follow the trajectory of policing, courts and corrections issues within the context of the criminal justice field.
  1. The Nature and History of Criminal Law
  2. Criminal Liability and the Essence of Crime
  3. Expanding the Concept of Crime
  4. Extending Criminal Liability: Inchoate Offenses and Parties to Crime
  5. Justifications as Defenses
  6. Defenses: Excuses and Insanity
  7. Crimes against Persons: Homicide
  8. Crimes against Persons: Assault, Sex Offenses, and Other Crimes
  9. Property and Computer Crimes
  10. Offenses against Public Order and the Administration of Justice
  11. Offenses against Public Morality
  12. Terrorism and Human Trafficking
  13. Victims and the Law
  14. Punishment and Sentencing

APPENDICES

  1. How to Brief a Case
  2. Model Penal Code Excerpts

Glossary

Table of Cases

About our author

Frank Schmalleger, PhD, is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Dr. Schmalleger holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University, having earned both a master's degree and doctorate 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 16 of those years, he chaired the university's Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice. He was named Professor Emeritus 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 over 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 internet user, Schmalleger is also the creator of award-winning websites, including one that supports this textbook. Frank Schmalleger is the author of numerous articles and many books, including the widely used Criminal Justice Today (Pearson, 2021), Criminology Today (Pearson, 2021) and Criminal Justice: A Brief Introduction (Pearson, 2020). See his Amazon author page.

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