Criminal Law

Criminal Law is the study of the principles and concepts underlying the laws that prohibit and punish behavior that society has deemed dangerous or undesirable. It is also a study of the legal institutions that attempt to interpret and implement these principles and concepts. Throughout this course, we will consider the difference between a “crime” and other violations of law; the elements of a criminal statute; the rules, formal and informal, that courts consult in interpreting criminal laws; the ways in which criminal legislation does or does not satisfy society’s varied interests; the relationship between the criminal legal system and inequality, including with respect to race, class, and gender; and the ways in which discretionary actors in the system – especially police officers, prosecutors, and judges – act in the shadow of the law.