Many academic criminal lawyers and criminal law theorists seek to resolve the optimum conditions for a criminal law fit to serve a liberal democracy. The typical wish lists include a criminal law that intervenes against any given individual only when there is a reasonable suspicion that s/he has caused harm to the legally protected interests of another or was on the brink of doing so. Until there is conduct that gives rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct by an individual, s/he should be allowed to go about her or his business free from covert surveillance or other forms of intrusion. All elements of crimes should be proved beyond any reasonable doubt. Any punishment should be proportionate to the gravity of the wrongdoing, and, when the offender has served this punishment, the account should be cleared and good standing recovered. Seeking Security explores the gap between the normative aspirations of liberal criminal law scholarship and the current criminal law and practice of Anglophone jurisdictions. The concern with security and risk, which in large part explains the disconnection between theory and practice, seems set to stay and is a major challenge to the form and relevance of a large part of criminal law scholarship.

This is the new edition of the leading textbook on criminal law by Professors Simester and Sullivan, now co-written with Professors Spencer, Stark, and Virgo. Simester and Sullivan's Criminal Law is an outstanding account of modern English criminal law, combining detailed exposition and analysis of the law with a careful exploration of its theoretical underpinnings. Primarily, it is written for undergraduate students of criminal law and it has become the set text in many leading universities. Additionally, the book is used as an important point of reference in academic writing and postgraduate research in England and abroad. Simester and Sullivan's Criminal Law has been cited by appellate courts throughout the world. The sixth edition is comprehensively updated throughout to set out and analyse all key development in the field with the work's trademark clarity and critical rigour. Review of the Fifth Edition `undoubtedly a first-rate companion for any undergraduate or post-graduate law course. Since attaining international recognition and citation in appellate courts worldwide, the security of the text's position as a point of academic reference remains as steadfast as ever.' John Taggart BL, Criminal Law Review.