Core Concepts in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice: Volume 1, Anglo-German Dialogues

Attempts at trans-jurisdictional debate and agreement are often beset by mutual misunderstanding. Professionals and academics engaged in comparative criminal law sometimes use the same terms with different meanings or different terms which mean the same thing. Although English is the new lingua franca in international and comparative criminal law, there are many ambiguities and uncertainties with regard to foundational criminal law and criminal justice concepts. However, there exists greater similarities among diverse systems of criminal law and justice than is commonly realised. This book explores the foundational principles and concepts that underpin the different domestic systems. It focuses on the Germanic and several principal Anglo-American jurisdictions, which are employed as examples of the wider common law-civil law divide.

Part I. Introduction: 1. Introductory remarks Kai Ambos, Antony Duff, Julian Roberts and Thomas Weigend; Part II. Criminal Law: 2. Omissions Kai Ambos; 3. Preparatory offences Stefanie Bock and Findlay Stark; 4. Participation in crime Antje du Bois-Pedain; 5. Consent in the law relating to sexual offences Thomas O'Malley and Elisa Hoven; 6. Terrorism offences Andrew Cornford and Anneke Petzsche; Part III. Criminal Justice and Procedure: 7. Proportionality of punishment in common law jurisdictions and in Germany Richard S. Frase, Carsten Momsen, Thomas O'Malley and Sarah Lisa Washington; 8. Criminal history enhancements at sentencing Julian Roberts and Stefan Harrendorf; 9. Due process Lucia Zedner and Carl-Friedrich Stuckenberg; 10. The role of the prosecutor Alexander Heinze and Shannon Fyfe; 11. Negotiated case depositions in Germany, England, and the United States Thomas Weigend and Jenia Turner; 12. Exclusion or non-use of illegally gathered evidence in the criminal process: focus on common law and German approaches Stephen Thaman and Dominik Brodowski.

Scholars of comparative criminal law often do not understand each other, using the same terms with different meanings or vice versa. In this collection, authors from the Germanic and the Anglo-American traditions collaborate to compare, and explore the connections and similarities between the basic concepts and structures of their systems.

Kai Ambos is the holder of the Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Comparative Law and International Criminal Law at the Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany. He is also Head of the Department of Foreign and International Criminal Law, Institute of Criminal Law and Justice at Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, Germany.
Anthony Duff is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Stirling, and an Honorary Professor in the Edinburgh Law School. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and holds an honorary doctorate from Universitetet i Oslo. He was a founding co-editor of the journal Criminal Law and Philosophy.
Julian Roberts is currently a member of the Sentencing Council of England and Wales, Associate Editor of the European Journal of Criminology and Visiting Research Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Minnesota. He is is co-Director of the Criminal History Project located in the Robina Institute, Faculty of Law, University of Minnesota.
Thomas Weigend is a Professor Emeritus of International, Comparative and German Criminal Law at the University of Cologne. He was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago, the University of Tokyo, New York University, Peking University, Universitá di Bologna, and other universities.
Alexander Heinze is an Assistant Professor of law at Georg-August-Universität School of Law, Göttingen, Germany. His research and publications (in English and German) deal with various aspects of comparative law, media law, international criminal procedure, legal theory, philosophy and sociology of law.