Criminal Law Today is written for college, university, and law school students taking their first course in criminal law. Criminal Law Today provides an appreciation for the fundamental nature of law, an overview of general legal principles, and a special understanding of the historical development of criminal law and its contemporary form and function in American society today.

Criminal Law Today builds upon real-life chapter-opening stories, attention-getting images, "Criminal Law in the News" features, "Law on the Books" boxes, and special end-of-chapter "Capstone Cases" to bring the law to life. This book also illustrates the role of criminal law as a policy-making tool, and identifies the challenges that face the law as it continues to adapt to the needs of our complex and rapidly-changing society. Special features found throughout the text include:

• Attention-getting, real-life, chapter-opening stories
• Web-Extras! (from sites like Britannica Online, the American Bar Association, the ACLU, Nolo's Legal Encyclopedia, and Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute) that link students to the latest relevant legal information via the World Wide Web
• "Criminal Law in the News" boxes produced by award-winning journalists, and highlighting critical legal issues in today's world
• "Law on the Books" features demonstrating jurisdictional variation in the law
• "Law in Practice" boxes illustrating major points from court opinions and other legal sources
• A focused learning environment built around clearly identified chapter-specific learning objectives, terms to know, bulleted chapter summaries, and discussion questions placed strategically throughout the book
• Capstone Cases at the end of each chapter illustrating important legal principles
• A running marginal glossary, along with a complete end-of-text glossary defining critical terms
• End-of-chapter "Legal Resources on the World Wide Web" sections that provide links to Web sites like FedLaw, FindLaw, Law Guru, Laws.com, The Legal Pad, Lexis One, Mega Law, Versus Law, Virtual Chase, and much more!
• Separate chapters on high-technology crimes and applicable statutes, victims and the laws supporting and protecting victims of crimes, and the insanity defense and related issues
• A comprehensive Criminal Law Today site, where Web-based resources are conveniently linked to key ideas in the text

Visit the Criminal Law Today web site at: www.prenhall.com/schmalleger. For instructors needing copies of our extensive supplements package, please contact us at: cjcustomerservice@prenhall.com.