This casebook introduces the first-year student to the basics of American criminal law. Drawing on statutory, common and constitutional law, the book raises the questions of why and how we punish, and it enables instructors to discuss with students the thorny problem of the relationship between the state and the individual. As with most substantive criminal law courses, the book covers a range of topics including rationales for punishment, elements of key crimes, inchoate offenses, and defenses.

This most recent edition includes several new problems and comments reflecting contemporary challenges in the criminal justice system, such as extreme juvenile sentencing, criminalization of poverty, disproportionate punishment along race and class lines, redrafting of the Model Penal Code sections on sexual offenses, limits on deadly force in law enforcement, assisted suicide, and the erosion of the insanity defense.