For two decades, Criminal Procedure: Principles, Policies, and Perspectives (and its softcover versions, Criminal Procedure: Investigating Crime and Criminal Procedure: Prosecuting Crime), written by Joshua Dressler, George C. Thomas III and now also Daniel S. Medwed, has sought to inspire students to analyze and critique constitutional and non-constitutional criminal procedure doctrine.

The book features careful case selection and editing that includes dissenting and concurring opinions when useful in understanding the law. The Notes and Questions are uniformly thoughtful and sometimes even humorous.

The Seventh Edition includes most of the cases and material that users have told us were successful in the past. The book continues to include "in the trenches" material that gives students an idea of what life is like inside the squad car, the interrogation room, and the courtroom. We have added new material:


A new section, "America the Violent," which includes material about the role that violence has always played in our country
By popular demand, the return of an "old faithful" case, Warden v. Hayden (on the exigency exception to the warrant "requirement")
Carpenter v. United States, the critically important case on police access to historical cell phone records, a case which calls into question some prior "search" cases
New Notes on other Fourth Amendment decisions since the prior edition on such matters as warrantless blood tests on unconscious motorists, warrantless searches of cars found in the curtilages of a home, and a case holding that a driver who is not the renter of a rental car may have standing to challenge a police search even though the renter was not in the vehicle
A new section on Miranda waivers and their consequences
In the Pretrial Release chapter, we have augmented the Notes to include important state-level developments in bail reform
In the Case Screening chapter, we added new Notes to address recent changes in charging practices, including discussion of a growing movement by progressive county prosecutors to decline to charge certain categories of crimes, a trend that raises a number of questions about discretion, separation of powers, and intra-state disparities
Discussion of how "big data" may have an impact on jury selection
In the Trial chapter, new material on jury nullification and recent Supreme Court post-Batson cases
Updated material throughout the book on the effects of racial and gender discrimination on the justice system