Basic Criminal Law: The Constitution, Procedure, and Crimes

by Anniken U. Davenport

Basic Criminal Law, Third Edition offers a comprehensive, well-organized approach to understanding key legal concepts and to developing the real-world skills students will as paralegals or in other criminal justice roles. Thoroughly updated for the latest trends, it guides students through the history of criminal law, the crimes themselves, and specific legal procedures. To promote interest, it presents crimes first and then procedures, and highlights current events and case law throughout. This edition’s new features include: completely revamped end-of-chapter material, including a comprehensive Building Your Professional Skills section; a new chapter on sex crimes; more coverage of evidence, technology, and appeals; more charts and diagrams; new state-specific examples, and updated case studies throughout.

430 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2008

About the author

Anniken Davenport writes from Savannah, Georgia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A freelance journalist specializing in legal topics, she has a knack for turning dense legal materials into readable prose. She holds a dual concentration fiction and nonfiction MA in writing from Johns Hopkins and a JD from Penn State.

She has written for numerous publishers and publications, producing weekly and monthly newsletters, manuals and books. She teaches business law online to undergraduates and is the author of a popular paralegal textbook on criminal law. Davenport also conducts frequent webinars on human resource topics.

For a short time, she occupied Flannery O'Connor's Savannah basement - until asthma forced her out. Born in Oslo post-war, she was raised on stories of the Nazi occupation and remains fascinated by Edvard Munch paintings. She also co-founded e-publisher Valhalla Press and edits the literary journal Ragnarok.

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Reviews

[Shane Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear and well-written textbook that covers the essential material and includes great examples. Great care was obviously taken to keep the material up-to-date and to use topical cases from the headlines to illustrate principles, considerably more so than in similar textbooks that I have been assigned for other courses.

[Paige]

i think this is the first textbook i have read fully!