These online lessons are good for someone who wants to cover a specific topic. There is no outline format available so their use for filling out your own outlines is limited. But if you’re unsure about a particular subject this is a good way to refresh your memory. Most of the major topics are covered and there are various options for viewing which means you shouldn’t have to worry about your computer not running it. Again, if there’s a specific topic you’re having some trouble with this is a good place to go, but don’t count of these lessons to help you outline.

Foundations of Criminal Law
Leo Katz, Michael S. Moore and Stephen J. Morse
KF9218 K376 1999B

This book is not the easy survey its title might indicate. It’s only about 400 pages, but it is a deep 400. It contains mostly essays and commentaries by others rather than a discussion by the authors. The book assumes you have a pretty decent grasp of the basics of criminal law that you would learn in a 1L class and that you want a deeper understanding. I would not recommend this book for outlining or finals review. If you really enjoy criminal law, are really sure of the basics, and want to go the extra mile to really shine; you might consider taking a look here. For the vast majority of 1L’s, this book is just a lot more than you need and you can easily get lost.

Criminal Law, 2nd ed.
John M. Scheb, John M. Scheb II
KF9218 .S34 1999

At around 400 pages, this book is short, but broad. It covers a lot of material, including a lot that 1L’s just don’t need to know. Unless you have a pretty odd professor you can safely ignore the material on white collar crimes for example. It has descriptions of some fairly obscure crimes such as passing bad checks or using a forged instrument. Because of the books short length but broad subject matter it never really gets deep into any one topic. It does have good, but very basic, summaries of material and its contents and index make it easy to find what you are looking for. This book is good when used in conjunction with a deeper study guide in that it will give you a quick idea of the basics of a topic. It has case cites which are helpful to see how a doctrine has evolved and each section has some vocabulary terms which you should know, so if those look Greek to you (and some of them may actually be Greek) you should probably look them up. Good at what it does but not good enough on its own.

Understanding Criminal Law, 4th ed.
Joshua Dressler
KF9219 .D74 2006

You can actually get yourself a free copy of this book if you have enough Lexis points. This book is detailed, very detailed. It includes whole chapters on solicitation, diminished capacity, accomplice liability and some other topics that are usually covered under more general headings. This book really gets down into the subjects and is heavily footnoted making it a good way to run down cases and track evolving doctrines. For all its detail the book is easy to follow and you can use the index to quickly find the topic you’re looking for. Don’t try to use this book to teach yourself a topic you really don’t understand, it’s simply too detailed for that, but as a study aid or way to re-learn topics you know but are just shaky on, you probably can’t go wrong with this. I wouldn’t recommend this for a quick refresher on something you’re pretty sure of, but rather use this for a topic you really didn’t get in class, it’s detailed and thorough explanations will probably show you what you’re missing.

Principles of Criminal Law
Wayne R. LaFave
KF9219 .L34 2003
Concise Hornbook Series

Criminal law must have a lot of principles since this book hits the 700 page mark. It’s lengthy but has a really good table of contents that will point you to exactly what you are looking for. It gives good summaries of the key elements involved in a topic such as the elements of a crime or the tests used by the court. It doesn’t have many hypotheticals or practice questions though which limits its use for exam prep. However, if there’s a topic you just aren’t that sure of this is a good book to go to for a concise summary without getting beaten over the head with case citations or obscure references. I would recommend this book for a quick refresher on those topics which you might be having difficulty with. Conspiracy, I’m looking at you.

Criminal Law
Laurie L. Levenson
KF9219 .L388 1997
Roadmap Law Course Outlines Series

First thing, this book is about 10 years old, which means there might have been changes you need to be aware of. Always make sure the test, criminal elements, or doctrine you study hasn’t been overruled or otherwise died off. Keeping that in mind, this book is very good. The book has an easy to follow table of contents and whole chapters devoted to the major crimes, such as rape, homicide, attempt etc. instead of lumping them all under a “crimes against the person” heading or something like that. It covers most of the major crimes any 1L needs to know, including attempt and conspiracy. The book is in outline format which means you can easily and quickly skim through a section to pick out the major points. It contains some “study tips” as well as review questions with explanations. I highly recommend this book as a study aid and especially as an outlining too, just remember to make sure what you are studying is still current.

Criminal Law, 1st ed.
Joshua Dressler
KF9219.3 .D74 2005
Black Letter Outlines

Written in outline form, which means you can quickly jump to a topic in this book that you need to go over, and then find the area of that topic you are having particular trouble with. The most helpful element is probably the review questions that come at the end of each chapter. You can use these to gauge just how much you need to buckle down and go over a particular topic. Do you need to just skim quickly or sit down and read the whole chapter word for word? Doing these review questions will let you know. Finally there are is the first chapter, the “Capsule Summary of Criminal Law” that makes this book unique. This is basically a “mini-outline” of the entire topic right at the start. Use this, read it over, even if you don’t read anymore of this book, it will hit the major topics and is a great, brief refresher. The second chapter “Perspective” contains a great section on exam taking tips including a “do’s and don’ts” section. This section gives really good tips and suggestions, remember that your individual professors wants may override some of these suggestions but they are generally appropriate and I would definitely read through them, especially if criminal law is going to be your first final. Overall a very good outlining tool with a very helpful exam prep section.

Criminal Law in a Nutshell
Arnold H Loewy
KF9219.3 .L63 2003
Nutshell Series

This is a short summary of criminal law. It has good overviews of the major substantive topics and decent explanations. The table of contents and index will allow you to get to your trouble spot without having to thumb through the whole book. There are no questions, hypotheticals, or analysis sections. I would recommend this book purely as a “fill in the gap” resource. Don’t try to use this book to teach yourself a topic, even one you have a decent grasp of already, rather use this to quickly refresh your memory about the major points. You’ll be able to remind yourself what the elements of a crime or the prongs of a test are, but you might not come away with any understanding of what those elements or prongs mean. The book is designed and should be used by students who have good notes, good outlines, and a decent understanding but just need a quick recap of major points. This will help you fill in gaps you might have in your memory, notes or outlines, but it will not teach you a topic.

Criminal Law, 4th ed.
Richard g. Singer and John Q. La Fond
KF9219.3 .S54 2007
Examples and Explanations Series

Similar to the Concise Hornbook Series described above, this book is only about 400 pages but it covers the major topics you learn in 1L criminal law. You’ll get a good description of specific basic crimes such as rape or homicide as well as some fairly detailed walkthroughs of harder topics such as attempt or conspiracy. What sets this book apart though are the examples. At the end of every chapter the book presents a few questions, most phrased as a fact pattern and then a question regarding whether a certain crime has been committed. Following the 2 or 3 questions you will get very good explanations of the questions. These examples and explanations segments make this book incredibly useful for exam studying. You can see if you’re on the right track in how you’re thinking about a particular subject. An easy to follow table of contents lets you jump right to the section you’re having the most trouble with.

Questions & Answers: Criminal Law, 2nd ed.
Emily Marcus Levine & Paul Marcus
KF 9219.5 .L48 2007
Questions & Answers Series

This book is nothing but questions, answers to those questions, and explanations of those answers which makes this a great exam prep resource. The first part of the book is divided into sections such as “defenses” “homicide” etc. and contains multiple choice (MC) fact patterns. Additionally, some of the MC questions contain a follow up short answer expanding on the previous fact pattern. The second section of the book is a “Practice Final Exam” which basically means the questions could come from any category. The “Practice Final” is completely multiple choice which is almost certainly not the way your final will be so it doesn’t really get you the experience of taking a long essay exam. But it does give you practice thinking about multiple different topics at the same time and how to pull an entire semester of criminal law together. Finally the third section contains detailed and thorough explanations of the answers, complete with the reasons the other answers are wrong. This is especially helpful because you might really think the book is wrong, but the book will give you the reason why it is correct. This book is excellent as exam prep and I would highly recommend you use this book after you’ve studied your outlines and feel ready for an exam. You will get a really good idea where you stand and what topics you might need a final refresher on before exam day.