Highlighting key issues in Criminal Justice that students need to consider, the Fifth Edition of this popular text contains a wide and varied selection of materials which help to explain the evolution of the criminal justice process in England and Wales since the early 1990s. Statutes, case law, empirical research and official and unofficial reports, as well as theoretical perspectives, and academic comment are woven together and contextualized by the accompanying narrative to provide an authoritative account of the recent development of the criminal justice system.

1. Introduction, 2. The Police 3. The Crown Prosecution Service, 4. Non-Police Investigations, 5. Defence Lawyers, 6. Magistrates, 7. Trial Judges, 8. Juries, 9. Appeal and Review Decisions, 10. Sentence Management

Nicola Padfield is a Reader in Criminal and Penal Justice at the Faculty of Law and Master of Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge, UK. A qualified barrister, she has published widely on criminal law and criminal justice and is a Bencher of the Middle Temple.

Jonathan Bild is a Teaching Associate and Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, UK.