Debra A. Livingston

William J. Stuntz

Ronald Jay Allen

Joseph L. Hoffmann

Comprehensive Criminal Procedure: 2017 Case Supplement

Fourth Edition, 2017 Supplement

Comprehensive Criminal Procedure

The rule of law has vanished in America's criminal justice system. Prosecutors now decide whom to punish and how severely. Almost no one accused of a crime will ever face a jury. Inconsistent policing, rampant plea bargaining, overcrowded courtrooms, and ever more draconian sentencing have produced a gigantic prison population, with black citizens the primary defendants and victims of crime. In this passionately argued book, the leading criminal law scholar of his generation looks to history for the roots of these problems -- and for their solutions. The Collapse of American Criminal Justice takes us deep into the dramatic history of American crime -- bar fights in nineteenth-century Chicago, New Orleans bordellos, Prohibition, and decades of murderous lynching. Digging into these crimes and the strategies that attempted to control them, Stuntz reveals the costs of abandoning local democratic control. The system has become more centralized, with state legislators and federal judges given increasing power. The liberal Warren Supreme Court's emphasis on procedures, not equity, joined hands with conservative insistence on severe punishment to create a system that is both harsh and ineffective. What would get us out of this Kafkaesque world? More trials with local juries; laws that accurately define what prosecutors seek to punish; and an equal protection guarantee like the one that died in the 1870s, to make prosecution and punishment less discriminatory. Above all, Stuntz eloquently argues, Americans need to remember again that criminal punishment is a necessary but terrible tool, to use effectively, and sparingly. - Publisher.

The Collapse of American Criminal Justice

Comprehensive Criminal Procedure is a casebook for all introductory courses in criminal procedure law (including both investigation and adjudication courses, as well as comprehensive and survey courses). The casebook focuses primarily on constitutional criminal procedure law, but also covers relevant statutes and court rules. The casebook is deliberately challenging it is designed for teachers who want to explore deeply not only the contemporary state of the law, but also its historical and theoretical foundations. The casebook incorporates a particular emphasis on empirical knowledge about the real-world impacts of law-in-action; the significance of race and class; the close relationship between criminal procedure law and substantive criminal law; the cold reality that hard choices sometimes must be made in a world of limited criminal justice resources; and, finally, the recognition that criminal procedure law always should strive to achieve both fairness to the accused and justice for society as a whole.

Rule of law has vanished in America’s criminal justice system. Prosecutors decide whom to punish; most accused never face a jury; policing is inconsistent; plea bargaining is rampant; and draconian sentencing fills prisons with mostly minority defendants. A leading criminal law scholar looks to history for the roots of these problems—and solutions.

To ensure that you have the most up-to-date and complete materials for your Criminal Procedure class, be sure to use Comprehensive Criminal Procedure, 2008 Case Supplement .

William J. Stuntz

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