Criminal Law

Law students often find criminal law to be one of the most interesting, but also one of the most difficult courses. Even the fundamental elements of criminal liability can be hard to learn and even harder to apply on exams. The study of criminal law demands that students juggle a mix of common law principles, modern judicial decisions, statutory text, the Model Penal Code, and philosophies of justice to address the enduring dilemmas that comprise criminal law.

In Criminal Law: Model Problems and Outstanding Answers, Kathryn Christopher and Russell Christopher deftly guide students in applying criminal law. Their interesting and accessible fact patterns explore important principles surrounding homicide and rape, attempt and conspiracy, accomplice liability and defenses, and devote special attention to difficult doctrines like impossible attempt and felony murder. This book includes clear introductions to the major topics in criminal law, provides hypotheticals that students can expect to see on exams, and offers model answers to those hypotheticals. It then gives students the opportunity to evaluate their own work with a comprehensive self-analysis section. This book prepares students by challenging them to use the law they learn in class while also explaining the best way to express sophisticated answers on their exams.

Model Problems and Outstanding Answers is an innovative new series by Oxford University Press. Featuring topical introductions and clear fact patterns, each book contains exercises designed to help students develop methods to craft organized, relevant, and thoughtful responses to exam-style questions. These exercises show the student how to think like a lawyer. By guiding students to the most appropriate ways to apply their knowledge to new facts, the series offers meaningful and significant preparation for law school exams and bar-exam essays.


"Learning the law is easy. Understanding the facts is easy. Applying the law to the facts is not so easy. Here at last is the best tool out there for helping students and teachers bridge the gap between law and fact. Each chapter begins with a summary of the common law and the Model Penal Code pitched at just the right level of detail. Next comes a wonderfully crafted hypothetical and sample answer showing students the fine art of applying law to fact. Helpful charts, summaries, and tips abound. The authors have done students--and their teachers--a great service."
--Stephen P. Garvey, Professor of Law, Cornell Law School

"This is the textbook I suspect students are searching for: a sophisticated but not overlong summary of those parts of criminal law actually taught in first-year law courses, with an in-depth demonstration of how that law is to be applied, through a series of brilliantly conceived problems and fully developed answers. Learning to apply the law is what most professors see as their essential but challenging mission to impart. Professors should welcome the assistance this book offers them--rather than replacing what they do in class, it makes it that much more likely that they will be teaching students not merely how to recite the law, but to use it."
--Leo Katz, Frank Carano Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School