CRIM 200 - Criminal Law

3 Credits: (3 lecture)

Course Description
The course will introduce the student to the definitions of crimes as well as the Pennsylvania Crimes Code. Affirmative criminal defenses, mens rea, competency and inchoate crimes will be examined.

Prerequisite ENGL 101.

Text
Gardner, Thomas J. and Terry M. Anderson. Criminal Law. 13th ed. Independence, KY: Cengage, 2018.

Objectives
The student will be able to:

A. Demonstrate knowledge of the scope of conduct regulated by penal statues.

B. Demonstrate a knowledge of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code and of its basis in the Model Penal Code.

C. Demonstrate knowledge of the requirements of criminal responsibility and considerations of the mental states relevant to criminal prosecutions.

Content
A. History and scope of criminal law.

B. Federal criminal jurisdiction.

C. Homicide.

D. Sex offenses.

E. Property crimes.

F. Particular considerations in theft offenses.

G. Crimes of violence.H. Mental elements.

I. Mental impairments.

J. Entrapment.

K. Inchoate crimes.

L. Electronic surveillance.

M. Civil law: alternative and concurrent considerations.

N. Prosecutorial discretion

Student Evaluation
Grades will be based on periodic examinations, the final examination and written assignments.Bibliography
Cook, Joseph G. Constitutional Rights of the Accused. 2nd ed. Rochester, NY: Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company, 1986.

Costopoulos, William C. The Price of Acquittal. New York: Carlton Press, 1982.

Davis, Bertha. Instead of Prison. New York: F. Watts, 1986.

Demaris, Ovid. How Greed, Corruption, and the Mafia Turned Atlantic City Into–the Boardwalk Jungle. New York: Bantam Books, 1986.

Dix, George E. Criminal Law: Cases and Materials. 3rd ed. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1987.

Downes, David M. Understanding Deviance: A Guide to the Sociology of Crime and Rule-Breaking. 2nd ed. New York: Clarendon Press, 1988.

Douglas, Burgess, Burgess and Ressler. Crime Classification Manual. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1992.

Eddy, Paul. The Cocaine Wars. 1st ed. New York: Norton, 1988.

Fletcher, George P. A Crime of Self-Defense: Bernard Goetz and the Law on Trial. New York: Free Press; London: Collier Macmillan, 1988.

Gottfredson, Stephen D. America’s Correctional Crisis: Prison Populations and Public Policy. (Contributions in Criminology and Penology, 0732-4464, No. 17). New York: Greenwood Press, 1987.

Hills, Stuart L. Corporate Violence: Injury and Death for Profit. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield, 1987.

Nakell, Barry. The Arbitrariness of the Death Penalty. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1987.

Pennsylvania Crimes Code and Vehicle Law Handbook. Gould Publications (Current Edition).

Purdon’s Consolidated Statues. Pennsylvania Crimes Code. Philadelphia: George T. Bisel Company, 1988.

Reid, Sue Titus. Criminal Justice: Procedures and Issues. St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1987.

Schiffman, Jonathan D. Fundamentals of the Criminal Justice Process. Rochester, New York: Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, 1986.

Sifakis, Carl. The Encyclopedia of American Crime. New York: Facts on File, 1982.

Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Facts on File, 1987.

Thomas, Jim. Prisoner Litigation: The Paradox of the Jailhouse Lawyer. Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield, 1988.

Toll, Sheldon S. Pennsylvania Crimes Code Annotated (with current cumulative supplement). Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Co. 1974.

West’s Pennsylvania Criminal Justice. West Publishing Co. Current Edition.

Wright, Kevin N. The Great American Crime Myth. New York: Praeger, 1987.