Cases and Materials on Criminal Law

American Casebook Series

by Joshua Dressler, Stephen P. Garvey

This popular casebook, through the selection of classic and modern cases, provides an excellent tool for teaching students the common law foundations of the criminal law and modern statutory reform, including the Model Penal Code. Along the way, the casebook considers modern controversies (e.g., "shaming" punishment, rape law, self-defense by battered women, euthanasia, the role of culture in determining culpability), and creatively uses literature (e.g., examining insanity through Edgar Allen Poe's The-Tell Tale Heart) and even "brain teasers" to confront (as the Preface states) "the Big Questions . . . that philosophers, theologians, scientists, and poets, as well as lawyers, have grappled with for centuries."

Genres: Law, Nonfiction, Textbooks, School

1139 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very long. Great notes.

[Irina Kebreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better text books out there...

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better law school textbooks I’ve read. But still recommend the supplement to fill in some of the gaps.

[D]

school

[Sharon Getsis · Rating 4 out of 5]

School! Second best textbook

[Corporate Clone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Navarro is the best case ever. Classic oafish behavior.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Might as well claim my textbooks as reading 🙃

[lilian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun casebook! I actually ended up enjoying Criminal Law more than I thought I would. Some of the cases are pretty difficult to read content-wise, but overall it was a decent book.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My criminal law final was about a guy with Asperger's Syndrome who tries to rape a pre-op male-to-female transsexual. She ends up beating him to death and burying his body in the woods. Can he successfully raise the insanity defense? What category of homicide, if any, is she guilty of?

[Golak · Rating 2 out of 5]

the worst hypotheticals ever!!! the stupid exercises in this book caused 2 days of class debates which my professor ended in sarcastic comments about the exceptional quality of this book! the cases themselves are ok, but the hypotheticals are just dreadful!!!

[Fahed]

Great textbook used by almost half of the law schools in the United States. Joshua Dressler is one of the leading authorities on Criminal Law. I recommend this textbook along with Understanding Criminal Law by the same author.

[amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really not a good casebook at all...
Difficult to understand the law since there is no commentary other than the cases.

[Rex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good textbook.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best casebook from first year of law school; an appropriate length but some of the "notes" seemed superfluous.

[Marwan]

for summeryin collage

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dressler is the most amazing professor in the world, and having him as one while also reading his casebook was amazing. For a textbook, it was pretty great and we read a lot of interesting cases.

[Rebecca]

Dressler loves to cite his other work.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Criminal law is always interesting

[lucien]

What I'm learning from this book: People do mean things to others.