Criminal Law Today - Contents C hapter 1: The Nature and History o...

Instructor’s Manual to accompany Criminal Law Today Sev enth Edition Frank Schmalleger 1 / 4

iii Copyright © 2022 Pearson Education, Inc.1 6 Contents

C

hapter 1: The Nature and History of Criminal Law

C

hapter 2: Criminal Liability and the Essence of Crime

C

hapter 3: Expanding the Concept of Crime

10 Chapter 4: Extending Criminal Liability: Inchoate Offenses and Parties to Crime 14 20 25 31 37 43 50 55 60 64 69 C

hapter 5: Justifications as Defenses

C hapter 6: Defenses: Excuses and Insanity Chapter 7: Crimes against Persons: Homicide

Chapter 8: Crimes again

st Persons: Assault, Sex Offenses, and Other Crimes

Chapter 9: Property and Computer Crimes

Chapter 10: Offenses against Pub

lic Order and the Administration of Justice

Chapter 11: Offenses against Public Morality

Chapter 12: Terrorism and Human Trafficking

Chapter 13: Victims and the Law

Chap

ter 14: Punishment and Sentencing 2 / 4

1 Copyright © 2022 Pearson Education, Inc.

Chapter 1 The Nature and History of Criminal Law

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Chapter one defines law and how it relates to the norms, mores, morals, and crime within society. The historical and philosophical perspectives of law are covered to establish the origin of law in the United States. The tradition of Common Law, along with how it functions today is discussed, as well as criminal procedure and the different types of crimes. The modern legal system, such as federalism, the separation of powers, and the due-process system are also discussed.

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, the students should be able to:

• Define crime and criminal law.• Summarize the origins and development of criminal law.• Describe the role of common law in modern criminal law and explain the differences between procedural and substantive criminal law.• Describe the various ways in which crimes can be classified and list the four traditional types of crimes.• Identify the purposes served by criminal law.• Identify the various sources of criminal law, including the principle of stare decisis.• Describe the structure of the U.S. legal system, including jurisdiction.• Describe the adversarial and accusatorial qualities of the U.S. system of criminal justice.• Expound upon the “rule of law” and explain why the due process is an integral part of the rule of law.

LECTURE OUTLINE

• Introduction

The introduction of this chapter provides a true-life story of a man who complained about the quality of drugs he had purchased.II. What Is Criminal Law?Law is defined according to Black’s Law Dictionary as “that which is laid down, ordained, or established a body of rules of action or conduct prescribed by controlling authority and having binding legal force.” Not all rules are laws, and even fewer are considered crimes. Society, in general, adheres to norms, mores, and morals to police their behaviors. Criminal law can be understood as a 3 / 4

2 Copyright © 2022 Pearson Education, Inc.body of rules and regulations that define and specify the punishments for offenses of a public nature or for wrongs committed again the state or society.III. Historical and Philosophical Perspectives—Laws in the United States have been shaped by a number of historical developments and philosophical perspectives. Criminal law, in particular, has been greatly influenced by natural law theories.

• Natural and positive law. Natural law can be defined as the rules of conduct inherent

in human nature and in the natural order, which are thought to be knowable through intuition, inspiration, and the exercise of reason without the need to refer to man-made laws.With natural law, the belief is that an intuitive and rational basis for many of our criminal laws can be found in immutable moral principles or some identifiable aspects of the natural order. This theory holds that individual naturally possess certain freedoms that may not be encroached upon by other individuals or governments.

• Positive law is a contrasting construct, which simply states that the law is enforced by

the government.IV. History of Western law. Ancient laws—Code of Ur-Nammu from Mesopotamia is similar to contemporary U.S. law, it distinguished between compensation and punishment—or in contemporary terms civil law and common law.Code of Hammurabi codified offenses, their punishment, and emphasized retribution.Civil and common law traditions—Briefly discuss the Justinian Code, Roman law codified under the emperor that influenced our common law tradition when Rome conquered England in the first century.

• Civil and Common Law Traditions

Courts began to develop common law, case by case that would establish a precedent. This embodied the idea that cases with similar facts should have the same law applied. In England, it began as a set of norms and rules of a community and transformed into a set of laws for a nation.

• Common law today. All states today, with the exception of Louisiana, remain

common law states. The responsibility of interpreting and applying the law belongs to judges, who, through their interpretation of both statures and precedent, continue to develop the existing body of common law.

• Teaching tip: This would be a good place to explain common law and how it

applies to decisions today. Most cases come from common law and precedent.Case precedent is still used in decision making for most cases in our legal system.

• Civil law distinguished. Explain how criminal law governs the relationship between

man and society, while civil law governs the relationships among men. These laws are not prosecuted by the government or the subject of punishment. Instead, the aggrieved person may be entitled to monetary damages or specific performa nce.There are three forms of torts—negligence, intentional behavior, and strict liability.The primary intention of civil actions is to provide compensation for losses known as damages.

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