LAW 305—Introduction to Criminal Law

The purpose of the course is to introduce the principles and objectives of substantive criminal law. While considerable attention is placed on examining the doctrinal framework undergirding American criminal law, the course also seeks to develop an understanding of the ways in which the state uses punishment as an instrument of social control. Finally, the course studies the constitutional, statutory, and jurisprudential limitations that are placed on the state?s authority to punish, and, therefore, its power to use the criminal law as a means of shaping social interactions.