Preface

• Author: Kent Roach
• Profession: Faculty of Law and Centre of Criminology. University of Toronto
• Pages: 21-22

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PREFACE

TO THE FOURTH EDITION

This book is designed to provide a concise and current discussion of

the basic principles of Canadian criminal law. To this end, the heart of

this book examines the principles of the general part of the criminal

law: the elements of offences and the relevant defences. It follows the

traditional conceptualization of the general part, but it examines un-

fulf‌illed crimes and participation in crimes earlier than other works

because of their great practical importance and their effective expan-

sion of the prohibited act. Regulatory offences and corporate criminal

liability are examined together because of their functional and context-

ual similarities.

A few chapters attempt to place the general principles of the crim-

inal law in context. Chapter 1 provides an overview to all the topics

examined in the book. Chapter 2 examines the constitutional prin-

ciples that affect the investigation of crime, the criminal trial process,

and the substantive criminal law as they relate to fault requirements

and defences. This edition of the book contains a new chapter 10,

which examines selected offences including homicide, sexual offences,

property, and terrorism offences. Provocation is also examined in this

chapter. Other contextual chapters include chapter 11, which examines

the principles of sentencing, and chapter 12, which outlines models of

the criminal process, trends in the criminal law, and perspectives that

can be brought to the study of the criminal law. These chapters are not

intended to be comprehensive, and each deserves a book in its own

right, but it is hoped they will provide readers with a fuller sense of the

criminal law than would be provided if the book were restricted to the

general part of the criminal law.