This course considers the American criminal law, the procedures through which it is enforced and the nature of criminal punishment from a variety of perspectives. It begins with the criminal law itself, its moral foundations and assumptions, the essential elements of criminal liability and several of the law's more important doctrines and rules. It then turns to the institutions of enforcement and punishment, the police, the public prosecutor, the criminal courts and the system of punishment, to see how they work "on the ground" and compare this to the ideals of the law. Finally, it puts the American system in international perspective by comparing it to European institutions of criminal justice. |