A short & happy guide to criminal law

This book leaves newcomers to criminal law with what they need most: key concepts they can remember! Too many criminal law guides bury the novice in detailed rules when nine times out of ten mastery of the fundamental concepts is the key to success on the exam or in practice. Remembering these concepts is made easier by a "forest before the trees" organization and the use of quirky, often funny examples that stick the concepts to the reader's memory. Bonus chapters offer valuable tips for students on how to succeed in the study of the law. You'll laugh and learn.*

Contents

• Thinking like a lawyer and learning like a law student

• An overview of criminal law

• The criminal process

• Statutory interpretation and sources of law

• Philosophies of punishment

• The guilty hand

• The guilty mind

• Mistakes and the guilty mind

• Intoxication

• Homicide: an overview

• Common law murder

• Premeditated and deliberate murder

• Felony murder

• Manslaughter

• Causation

• Rape

• Miscellaneous crimes against the person

• Property crimes

• Inchoate crimes: an overview

• Solicitation

• Conspiracy

• Attempt

• Complicity and liability for crimes of others

• Defensive force

• Duress and necessity

• Insanity and related defenses

• Tips for writing law school exam