FROM THE PUBLISHER

Before you select materials for your next Criminal Law course, review this major revision of the popular casebook. Meticulously updated, fine—tuned, and improved for this Fourth Edition, previous users will experience the same high quality they have come to depend on while new users will discover an exceptionally well—balanced casebook that analyzes both the Model Penal Code and common law doctrine.

CRIMINAL LAW: Cases and Materials, Fourth Edition, stands out in a crowded field because of its:

—Distinguished authors — Current co—authors Weisberg and Binder continue the tradition of excellence, relevance, and teachability while maintaining the high standard of quality established by the late John Kaplan, a legendary teacher and scholar.

—Lively text enriched with vivid excerpts, and illuminated by the social, political, and criminological context of criminal law.

—An interdisciplinary approach that fuels class discussion and enriches the course study.

—Well—edited cases, interesting materials, and clear—cut notes capture student attention, build their confidence, and prepare them for progressively more sophisticated topics.

The casebook's six logically organized parts encompass the purposes and limits of punishment and the meaning and types of crimes:

—Just Punishment

—The Criminal Offense

—Homicide Offenses

—Justification and Excuse

—Attribution of Criminality

—Additional Major Substantive Crimes (including Theft Offenses and Rape)

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Extensive revisions for the Fourth Edition reflect both user feedback and developments in law andsociety:

—Chicago v. Morales — the significant U.S. Supreme Court decision which struck down a "gang loitering ordinance" as unconstitutionally vague and re—ignited a major debate over new innovations in urban policing

—More material on RICO and other white collar crimes, including controversial new applications of the Hobbs Act and Mail Fraud

—How the much—contested Federal Sentencing Guidelines have become an integral part of criminal law, especially for drug crimes

—The growing importance of the federal death penalty, including the U.S. Supreme Court's first major opinion reviewing the new federal death penalty law, Jones v. United States

—How controversies over gun control legislation, especially the so—called "straw—man purchase laws" are changing our doctrines of accomplice liability

—Dramatic new contexts in conspiracy law including the stunning verdict in the Terry Nichols case in which he could be convicted of conspiracy but not murder for the Okalahoma City Bombing, and the First Amendment implications of the conspiracy—terrorism conviction of the Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel Rahman bombing case

SYNOPSIS