Doing Statutes in Criminal Law: A Guide for New Law Students (2024)

Abstract

The first task in starting law school is learning how to read a case.  Sooner or later, however, the new law student needs to learn how to read a statute, usually in the criminal law course.  Statutes should be easier than cases:  they are much shorter and clearer and they are only rules--something familiar since childhood.  Nonetheless, the precision with which lawyers must approach statutory texts has challenged generations of new students and the instructors seeking to guide them.  In the spirit of Orin Kerr's How To Read A Legal Opinion:  A Guide for New Law Students, 11 Green Bag 2d 51 (2019), this brief discussion aims to help the new law student get off on the right foot in learning how to handle statutory law in the criminal law course.

Keywords: criminal law, statutory interpretation, legislation, legal education