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Thursday, May 10, 2007
Choosing a Casebook: Criminal Procedure
Please use the comments section to share thoughts on choosing a casebook in Criminal Procedure. (See here and here for a discussion of the Course Preparation Project.)
Posted by Matt Bodie on May 10, 2007 at 04:31 PM in Teaching Law | Permalink
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Comments
Oops! I'm confusing my casebooks. (Not a good sign in a casebook recommendation!). The Katyal / Kahan / Meares book is for Crim . . .
Posted by: Rick Garnett | May 11, 2007 4:15:57 PM
I've taught Constitutional Criminal Procedure ("Cops and Robbers") 5 times, and used Dressler & Thomas. I think it's excellent, for pretty much the same reasons Mike D. does. I also like what I've heard about the (forthcoming?) Katyal / Kahan / Meares book. I think it will be interesting, by the way, to see what happens, as more ConCrimPro books are put out by people (Bibas? Kerr? Markel?) who "came of age" after Justice Scalia joined the Court (and who, perhaps, do not view everything that has happened since the Warren Court as a kind of "decline and fall").
Posted by: Rick Garnett | May 11, 2007 4:13:15 PM
This is probably not aimed at students, but as a former student of Orin's who has used Kamisar twice, I feel obliged to note that many of us hated it for including too many important cases in the notes, presenting the same cases in multiple sections of the book (a pet peeve), and very sloppy editing (I've seen dozens of typos). That said, we all enjoyed Orin's class and use of the book...so maybe we can hope for improvements?
Posted by: anon | May 11, 2007 4:05:17 PM
Dressler & Thomas has worked quite well for me. The book is conversational, at times humorous, and includes loads of problems, which I love to use in class. The book is also clear on the blackletter, which is a big help, and the inclusion of the problems means that each class session can be tailored to the level of sophistication appropriate for that class.
Posted by: Mike Dimino | May 11, 2007 10:22:45 AM
When I first started teaching, I tried Allen/Stuntz/Hoffman/Livingston because its worldview was closest to my own. I personally liked it, but my students *really* didn't. I then switched to Kamisar/LaFave, and found it was much much better: students liked it a lot more, and I enjoyed teaching from it. I then joined Kamisar/LaFave as a co-author, so I guess I'm pretty much committed to it for the next four decades or so.
Posted by: Orin Kerr | May 10, 2007 7:57:32 PM
I've used Miller and Wright's Criminal Procedures casebook once so far, and it's outstanding as an introduction to the materials, but the one downside, for some, is that it does not emphasize much of the SCOTUS materials; so on the one hand, you get a terrific idea of how criminal procedure in the states works and on the other hand, you have much less emphasis on the con law side of crim pro. The Stuntz/Allen/Hoffman/Livingston casebook is quite good also, and is one that I'm considering toggling between every now and then.
Posted by: Dan Markel | May 10, 2007 6:22:31 PM
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