This title is a part of our CasebookPlus™ offering as ISBN 9781636595863. Learn more at Faculty-CasebookPlus.com.

Increasingly, students and faculty are demanding more critique when it comes to the study of criminal law, especially with respect to issues of race, gender, disability, sexuality, and class. This challenging, yet student-friendly, casebook—the first authored solely by Black men—answers this demand. Criminal Law: A Critical Approach provides clear articulations of core criminal law doctrines and concepts, while at the same time encouraging students to think critically about a host of issues tied to the world in which we live. Against the backdrop of mass incarceration, over-criminalization, and disparities along lines of race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability, this casebook: encourages students to see the criminal law as a system; uses the criminal system pyramid to introduce students to the range of social controls inherent in the criminal system; addresses sources and topics of criminalization that are often overlooked by more traditional casebooks, including non-violent and victimless crimes that constitute the bulk of real-world criminal prosecutions; provides students with the tools to critically engage arguments for and against prison abolition, defunding the police, and alternatives to incarceration; and encourages students to think comparatively through discussion of how legal systems have addressed crime at other times and in other countries. With its mixture of doctrine, theory, and policy, this is a textbook designed to provide a diverse range of resources to help professors challenge the students of today and prepare the lawyer-leaders of tomorrow.


Imprint: Foundation Press
Series: University Casebook Series
Publication Date: 05/10/2023

Bennett Capers, Fordham University School of Law

Roger A. Fairfax, Jr., Howard University School of Law

Eric J. Miller, Loyola Law School - LA

CasebookPlus™

This title is available in our CasebookPlus format. CasebookPlus provides support beyond your classroom lectures and materials by offering additional digital resources to you and your students. Anchored by faculty-authored formative self-assessments keyed to our most popular casebooks, CasebookPlus allows students to test their understanding of core concepts as they are learning them in class – on their own, outside of the classroom, with no extra work on your part. CasebookPlus combines three important elements:

  • A new print or digital casebook
  • Access to a downloadable eBook with the ability to highlight and add notes
  • 12-month access to a digital Learning Library complete with:
Multiple-choice self-assessment questions, including:
  • Chapter questions keyed to the casebook
  • Black Letter Law questions (available in select subjects)
  • Subject area review questions for end of semester use
Essay and short answer questions with sample answers and expert commentary, in 1L and select upper-level subjects

Leading digital study aids, an outline starter, and audio lectures in select subjects

Students can still utilize CasebookPlus digital resources if they’ve purchased a used book or are renting their text by purchasing the Learning Library at westacademic.com.

With CasebookPlus, you can customize your students’ learning experience and monitor their performance. The quiz editor allows you to create your own custom quiz set, suppress specific quiz questions or quiz sets, and time-release quiz questions. Additionally, the flexible, customized reporting capability helps you evaluate your students’ understanding of the material and can also help your school demonstrate compliance with the new ABA Assessment and Learning Outcomes standards.

Learn more about this series.