Reconstructing Criminal Law: Text and Materials

by Nicola Lacey , Celia Wells , Oliver Quick

• ISBN13: 9780406963765
• ISBN10: 0406963762
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-06-21
• Publisher: Lexis Nexis

Summary

Reconstructing Criminal Law provides a radical and stimulating alternative to the standard black letter criminal law text. The authors analyse central aspects of criminal law in the context of the assumptions surrounding it, and employ a number of critical approaches, including a feminist perspective to give insights into the current state of the law. A comprehe nsive resource--it contains extracts that cover a wide range of materials from historical, political, sociological and philosophical sources and discusses offences considered to be at the margins of criminal law. It also offers an important practical element whereby students and teachers can attempt to answer the questions that the criminal justice system confronts on a daily basis.

Author Biography

Nicola Lacey, Professor of Criminal Law, London School of Economics Celia Wells, Professor of Law, Cardiff University Oliver Quick, Lecturer in Law, University of Bristol

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Table of statutes	xiii
Table of cases	xix
Approaching criminal law	1	(110)
Images of criminal law	1	(37)
Theories of criminal law: history, sociology and philosophy	3	(12)
Further reading	15	(1)
Defining due process: criminal law and human rights	15	(2)
Legal ideology and the rule of law	17	(6)
The presumption of innocence: in search of `the golden thread'	23	(15)
Further reading	38	(1)
Framing criminal law	38	(32)
`Actus reus'	43	(6)
`Mens rea'	49	(11)
The `actus reus'/`mens rea' combination	60	(2)
Exemption, justification and excuse	62	(4)
Participatory liability	66	(1)
Vicarious liability	67	(1)
Inchoate offences	68	(1)
Conclusion	69	(1)
Further reading	69	(1)
Criminal laws in their social and procedural context	70	(41)
Social norms and criminal law	70	(7)
Criminal laws and the criminal process	77	(1)
Defining crimes	78	(3)
Policing and prosecuting	81	(12)
Constructing crime in the trial process	93	(4)
Responding to crimes	97	(11)
Further reading	108	(3)
Law and order	111	(105)
Social and political constructions of disorder	112	(24)
Conceptions of disorder	114	(5)
Legitimate protest or moral panics?	119	(6)
Problem populations	125	(2)
Riots	127	(4)
Thematic summary	131	(5)
Further reading	136	(1)
Public order laws	136	(34)
Football `games'	136	(12)
Riot, violent disorder and affray	148	(1)
Outline of offences	149	(1)
Common elements	150	(4)
Mental element	154	(1)
Trespass offences	154	(8)
Breach of the peace	162	(1)
Arrest	162	(5)
Bind over	167	(1)
Fixed penalty notices (on-the-spot fines)	168	(2)
Further reading	170	(1)
Criminal law and justice: emerging themes	170	(21)
Public order and criminal law	171	(7)
Institutional responses	178	(2)
Policing disorder	180	(2)
Prosecuting disorder	182	(4)
Trying disorder	186	(5)
Further reading	191	(1)
Participation in offences	191	(25)
Further reading	215	(1)
Risk and danger	216	(94)
Home and away: inclusion and exclusion	216	(26)
Space, knowledge and technology	216	(7)
Harassment offences	223	(1)
Public Order Act 1986	223	(9)
Protection from Harassment Act 1997	232	(3)
Anti-social behaviour orders	235	(5)
The (ir)responsible child	240	(2)
Further reading	242	(1)
Offences against the person	242	(29)
The general scheme	243	(1)
Assault and battery	243	(2)
Occasioning actual bodily harm, wounding and grievous bodily harm	245	(14)
Racial hatred, racial and religious aggravation	259	(5)
Reforming offences against the person	264	(6)
Further reading	270	(1)
Drugs and alcohol: legal constructions of a social problem	271	(27)
Drug and alcohol control	271	(1)
The nature of the problem	271	(3)
Prohibition and regulation	274	(5)
Intoxication and criminal responsibility	279	(19)
Further reading	298	(1)
Conspiracy	298	(12)
Property and propriety	310	(144)
Defining and defending private property	311	(39)
Conceptions of property in social and political thought	312	(11)
Shoplifting	323	(5)
Occupational and `white collar' crime and conceptions of fraud	328	(17)
Burglary	345	(5)
Further reading	350	(1)
Constructing property in criminal law	350	(74)
Theft	351	(1)
The history of theft	351	(9)
Contemporary conceptions of theft: ordinary language through the looking glass	360	(23)
Offences of deception	383	(7)
Conspiracy to defraud and attempts	390	(1)
Conspiracy to defraud	390	(3)
Attempts	393	(2)
Inchoate liability, impossibility and patterns of criminality	395	(6)
Burglary	401	(3)
Criminal damage	404	(4)
Duress, necessity and property	408	(14)
Respect for property?	422	(1)
Further reading	423	(1)
Property rights and criminal enforcement	424	(30)
`Situational' crime prevention	425	(9)
Diversifying and privatising control	434	(8)
`Real' crime and selective enforcement	442	(4)
`Intangible' property crime and the criminal process	446	(6)
Further reading	452	(2)
Constructions of sexuality and bodily autonomy: trust and integrity	454	(171)
The social construction of sexuality and bodily autonomy	455	(18)
Attitudes to sexuality and autonomy	459	(2)
Sexual freedom and sexual discipline	461	(11)
Further reading	472	(1)
Sexual violence	473	(43)
Sexual violence and the criminal process	473	(1)
A continuum of violence	474	(4)
Investigating and prosecuting sexual violence	478	(5)
The offence of rape	483	(2)
Penile penetration	485	(2)
Rape and marriage	487	(4)
Consent, belief and mistake -- the background	491	(9)
Consent, belief and mistake -- the 2003 reforms	500	(3)
Evidence and the rape trial	503	(7)
Punishing rape	510	(5)
Further reading	515	(1)
Regulating sexuality	516	(63)
Forbidden degrees	517	(1)
Ages of consent	517	(2)
Homosexuality	519	(13)
Abusing positions of trust	532	(1)
Child sexual abuse	532	(6)
Incest	538	(3)
Further reading	541	(1)
Prostitution	542	(14)
Further reading	556	(1)
Pornography	557	(1)
Pornography, obscenity and freedom of speech	557	(6)
Beyond the liberal approach?	563	(15)
Further reading	578	(1)
Regulating maternity	579	(24)
Contraception and abortion	579	(21)
Surrogacy arrangements	600	(3)
Further reading	603	(1)
Euthanasia	603	(22)
Respect for life and death	603	(8)
Consent and necessity	611	(13)
Further reading	624	(1)
Making a killing: conceptions of violence	625	(180)
The social construction of violence and personal harm	626	(11)
Conceptions of violence	626	(3)
Domestic violence	629	(7)
Further reading	636	(1)
The criminal regulation of public safety	637	(40)
Regulation in context	637	(1)
Road traffic	638	(4)
Work hazards	642	(3)
Characteristics of regulatory offences	645	(1)
Offence labels	645	(1)
The prevalence of strict liability	646	(9)
Enforcement models	655	(4)
Corporate liability for crime	659	(3)
The rise of corporate manslaughter	662	(3)
Vicarious and direct liability	665	(2)
The Herald of Free Enterprise story	667	(6)
Corporate killing: the new offence	673	(4)
Further reading	677	(1)
Homicide	677	(35)
Is killing wrong?	677	(6)
Medical non-treatment	683	(12)
Definitions of death	695	(1)
Causing death	696	(9)
Who can be killed?	705	(7)
Further reading	712	(1)
Murder and manslaughter	712	(93)
The penalty for murder	713	(23)
The mental element in murder	736	(17)
Involuntary manslaughter	753	(15)
Voluntary manslaughter	768	(1)
Diminished responsibility	769	(8)
Provocation	777	(19)
Self-defence	796	(6)
Further reading	802	(3)
Bibliography	805	(42)
Index	847