A Novel Approach to Criminal Courts

This "teaching novel" is meant for use in courses on the American criminal courts, criminal court procedures, and related subjects. The book tells the fictional story of a burned-out former public defender turned high school math teacher, who very reluctantly agrees to represent one of his students charged with double vehicular homicide.

The case starts in juvenile court but quickly winds up waived to adult court for ultimate jury trial there. The reader then travels through the entire adult criminal court process, beginning with a preliminary hearing and continuing on through such steps as pretrial motions, plea bargaining, jury selection, the trial itself, sentencing, and appeal.

As the tale unfolds, the reader learns the "ins and outs" of criminal court process and how these various steps play out in real life. Perhaps even more importantly, the reader experiences the inner society of the "behind the scenes" world of a courthouse. The book consists of fifteen units, each of which contains two to four related chapters. Each chapter contains bolded key terms, representing real world concepts of importance embedded within the fictional story, and ends with questions for classroom discussion.