Criminal Law
James R. Elkins
College of Law || West Virginia University
Fall, 2011

Course Textbook: Joshua Dressler, Cases and Materials on Criminal Law (5th ed., 2009). You will also be assigned West Virginia cases and jury instructions, and for comparative purposes, jury instructions from other jurisdictions. The cases and jury instructions that are not provided in the Dressler case book are available on the course website. [Full citations to cases not found in Dressler book are provided so you can use the free-printing services of WestLaw and Lexis-Nexis.]

Recommended Study Guide: Joshua Dressler, Understanding Criminal Law (5th ed., 2009) [Earlier editions of Dressler's Understanding Criminal Law will serve as reliable study guides. Other criminal law study guides are available. I know nothing about them, and thus, cannot vouch for them.]

Course Website: http://myweb.wvnet.edu/~jelkins/crimlaw/ All assignments in the Dressler casebook and other assigned readings (cases, jury instructions, and supplemental readings) are set forth on the course website.

Assignments: Assignments for class will be posted on the course web-site in the "Class Assignments" section.

Class reading assignments will be found on the "Class Assignments" page identified by the Class Assignments logo.

After each class, I will move the completed assignment to an Assignments Archives. The archive will reflect what we have actually covered in class.

For those who want to prepare in advance, you can as a rough guide the proposed schedule of case readings on the course website. I will make changes in the proposed schedule to fit the pace of class discussion and reserve the right to make further changes in the schedule as deemed appropriate.

You are advised to check the assignments page prior to each class, to see if there are late changes or added notes for the assignment. If there are changes in the assignment, I will designate them as such. I will try to keep late changes to a minimum.

Course Grading: Your grade for the course will be based on an essay examination or an extensive multiple choice test. Further announcements about the final examination will be made as the course progresses. The final examination will cover all aspects of the course: assigned cases and readings, materials handed out in class, instructor's notes, class discussion of assignments.

Final essay examinations given in the course from 2002 to 2010 are available online: [Criminal Law Final Examination-2002] [Criminal Law Final Examination-2003] [Criminal Law Examination-2004] [Criminal Law Examination-2005] [Criminal Law Final Examination-2006] [Criminal Law Final Examination-2007] [Criminal Law Final Examination-2009] [Criminal Law Final Examination-2010]

Class Participation: I expect you to be thoroughly prepared to discuss the assigned cases. I do not expect to lecture, although I will provide context, background, and commentary on problems associated with the legal doctrines we study.

If you are not, for some excusable reason, prepared to discuss the assigned materials and want to avoid the embarrassment of being called on, please let me know before class.

Broken-links: If you find broken-links on the course website or any problem with the assignments webpage or gaining access to any resource to which you are directed, please let me know. I will see that the problems are promptly addressed and corrected.

Contact Professor Elkins: Email

I will generally be available in my office prior to our class meetings. My office is located in Room #110. If you find that I am not in my office when you want to meet with me, please contact me by email and we'll find a mutually agreeable time to meet.

You are welcome to contact me by email at any time. Barring unforeseen circumstances, your email will receive a prompt response.

If you have concerns about the course, an assignment, or about law school life, you are welcome to talk with me.