Criminal Law defines offenses against the community at large. It encompasses general principles of criminal responsibility, as well as the substantive law establishing specific criminal offenses. For the purposes of this guide, Criminal Law does not include Criminal Procedure or Evidence Law, which both have their own guides. As far as jurisdictions go, this guide covers Georgia Criminal Law and Federal Criminal Law, with a focus on the most essential sources and strategies.
The following sources are good places to begin your research into Georgia's Criminal Law. Secondary Sources like these describe and explain the law, which makes them an ideal entryway for researching an issue or topic. For a more complete selection of the library's secondary sources on criminal law in Georgia, check out the tab below. For a look at the library's entire collection of treatises, here's our Treatise Finder. If these treatises seem too detailed, consider a legal encyclopedia. For help with secondary sources more generally, check out our Secondary Sources Guide. If you want an overview for a law school class, study aids are your best choice.
It's trickier to choose a single starting point for researching Federal Criminal Law. Because it is more specialized in nature, you can often find helpful treatises focusing on specific topics or statutes within Federal Criminal Law, such as Banking Crime and National Security Law: some of these are included below.
Secondary Sources like these describe and explain the law, which makes them an ideal entryway for researching an issue or topic. For a more complete selection of the library's secondary sources on Federal Criminal Law, check out the tab below. For a look at the library's entire collection of treatises, here's our Treatise Finder. If these treatises seem too detailed, consider a legal encyclopedia. For help with secondary sources more generally, check out our Secondary Sources Guide. If you want an overview for a law school class, study aids are your best choice.
