Fifty Years of Criminal Procedure – the Subject and the Casebook

The following guest post comes from regular reader and commenter Orin Kerr (GW and The Volokh Conspiracy) and is sponsored by West Academic.

Fifty years ago, in 1965, a young professor named Yale Kamisar paired with a more established professor named Livingston Hall to publish a new casebook that introduced a new academic field. That casebook, Modern Criminal Procedure, was the first casebook about a then-new field of criminal procedure. When the first edition was published, the Warren Court was in the midst of its so-called “criminal procedure revolution.” Mapp v. Ohio was four years old, and Gideon v. Wainright was two. Massiah v. United States and Escobedo v. Illinois were hot off the presses (literally). Miranda v. Arizona would follow the next year, with Katz v. United States the year after that and Terry v. Ohio the year after that.

The many editions of the Kamisar casebook have traced and influenced the Supreme Court’s development of the field ever since.

This summer marks the publication of the 14th Edition of the Kamisar casebook. Kamisar remains an active author, as are Wayne LaFave and Jerold Israel, both of whom joined the casebook in 1969 for the 3rd edition. More recently, three new co-authors, Nancy King, Eve Brensike Primus and I have joined the book. In the new 14th Edition, the authors made extra efforts to make the book more user friendly while retaining its comprehensive coverage. The new book has slimmed down a bit, and the authors have added an online teacher’s manual.

Both Yale Kamisar and Jerold Israel will be discussing their work on the casebook, and the evolution of the field of criminal procedure more broadly, at the upcoming Southeastern Association of Law Schools conference, July 27 – August 2 in Boca Raton, FL. Here’s the panel description for those interested:

Teaching Criminal Procedure: Fifty Years of Experience Courses in Criminal Procedure have now been taught at U.S. law schools for half-a-century. Over that time, the nature of these courses has changed and evolved. The speakers on this panel, some of whom have taught Criminal Procedure from the beginning, will discuss how the course has grown and evolved over the decades.

Moderator: Professor Stephen Singer, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law

Speakers: Professor John Burkoff, University of Pittsburgh School of Law; Professor Steven Friedland, Elon University School of Law; Professor Jancy Hoeffel, Tulane University Law School; Professor Jerold Israel, University of Michigan Law School, University of Florida, Levin College of Law; Professor Yale Kamisar, University of San Diego School of Law, University of Michigan Law School; Professor Ellen Podgor, Stetson University College of Law