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Criminal Law
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What is Criminal Law?

Criminal law is a foundational area of legal study concerned with defining offenses, establishing standards of culpability, and determining appropriate punishment for those who commit crimes against individuals or society. It appears across undergraduate and graduate curricula in law, criminal justice, and political science programs, often as a required course. The field is academically significant because it sits at the intersection of ethics, government authority, and individual rights, demanding that students analyze how societies decide which acts constitute crimes and how defendants are treated within formal legal systems. Texts such as Herring's Criminal Law: Text and Cases are among the assigned sources students engage with when building this analytical foundation.

Student papers on this topic approach the subject from several distinct angles. Some examine procedural dimensions, tracing how a case moves through the criminal justice process from arrest to sentencing. Others focus on substantive doctrine, analyzing concepts like the reasonable person standard or the principles underlying criminal liability. Applied angles are also common, with papers exploring how criminal law intersects with business activity, property offenses, and specific criminal statutes. Evidence problems and the role of police subculture within the broader criminal justice system represent additional threads that students pursue, often through case-study or policy-analysis frameworks.

A strong essay on criminal law requires a clearly bounded thesis — focusing on a specific offense category, legal standard, or procedural question rather than attempting to survey the entire field. Legal cases, statutory text, and scholarly commentary carry the most analytical weight as evidence. The most common pitfall is treating criminal law as purely descriptive; examiners expect students to evaluate why particular rules exist, how they function in practice, and whether they achieve just outcomes for defendants and society alike.

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Research Paper Doctorate

Racial bias and discrimination in death penalty sentencing

The United States is one of only a handful of developed nations that still readily imposes death upon those found guilty of a crime (Kurtis 200). Killing as a function of the state raises a number of moral questions,…

Paper Undergraduate

Physician-assisted suicide and the case for legalization

Euthanasia in all its forms has become a topic for extreme public debate. Sadly, the issue is not a public one at all but a very personal and excruciating decision that requires self- and social mediation to develop.

Paper Undergraduate

Attorney General for Alberta v. The Attorney General of Canada

The issue of firearms is a complicated one that has been scrutinized for many years. The purpose of this discussion is to explore that issue of firearms in the context of the constitution and Canadian Courts.

Essay Doctorate

Gang activity in America from 1800 to 2000

To gain some new insights into how gangs evolved over time and what factors contributed to this process, this paper provides a timeline of gang activity from 1800 to the present day, followed by an analysis of these trends. A summary of the research and important findings concerning gang activity during this 200-year period is provided in the conclusion.

Paper Doctorate

Domestic violence in the United States: history, definitions, and prosecution

Introduction Domestic violence is not a new phenomenon associated with modern times. It has been a common occurrence throughout history. From a social/cultural point of view, the woman was considered the property of the man and his duty was to discipline her and the children (and slaves/servants) with thorough beatings. Consistent with eighteenth-century English common law, the only concerns about this related to the thickness of the stick that the law allowed for the beatings. Although there were some earlier unenforced laws against spousal abuse, it was only as recently as the 1970s that the U.S. justice system began to view the problem with any seriousness and consideration of domestic violence as a crime. Until that time, social services for the victims of domestic violence were almost nonexistent (Bronfman, et al., 2005).

Essay Doctorate

Balancing speed and quality in criminal case resolution

The civilized society is one that is founded on laws and values where each member of society thereto should abide by and adhere to. Any breach or non-conformance to said statutes and principles will be met with…

Research Paper Doctorate

Gun ownership and defensive use in crime prevention

Gun availability has become a very much discussed and very intensely debated item of discussion in the United States. According to statistics there are over 230 million guns privately owned, about half of households in…

Generational transmission and institutional concealment in child sexual abuse

This paper examines the church child sexual abuse scandals from the conflict theory of crime. The conflict theory suggests that those in power structure the law to prevent those who are not in power from attaining parity. It specifically looks at why supervisors would transfer offending clergymen to jobs where they would continue to have contact with children.

Research Paper Undergraduate

Defining terrorism and post-9/11 surveillance policy in America

Coady notes that it is important to define terrorism because it is necessary to properly address the moral issues surrounding it. He defined terrorism as "the organized use of violence to attack noncombatants or their…

Essay Doctorate

The professionalization and evolution of American law enforcement

History Policing, the Law Enforcement Industry America, Police Role Society and the Functions Policing America; a critical analysis

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