This text is designed to provide a clear explanation of criminal law. As well as setting out the law itself, we look at the principles behind it and discuss some of the issues and debates arising from it. The criminal law is frequently the subject of heated public debate, and we hope that the material here will allow you to enter into this debate and develop your own views as to how the law should progress. One of our priorities in writing this text has been to explain the material clearly, so that it is easy to understand, without lowering the quality of the content. Too often, law is avoided as a difficult subject, when the real difficulty is the vocabulary and style of legal texts. For that reason, we have aimed to use ‘plain English’ as far as possible, and Criminal Law 10th edition explains the more complex legal terminology where it arises. In addition, chapters are structured so that material is in a systematic order for the purposes of both learning and revision, and clear subheadings make specific points easy to locate. Although we hope that many readers will use this text to satisfy a general interest in the law, we recognise that the majority will be those who have to sit an examination on the subject. Therefore, each chapter features typical examination questions, with detailed guidance on answering them, using the material in the text. This is obviously useful at revision time, but we recommend that on first reading, you take the opportunity offered by the questions sections to think through the material that you have just read and look at it from different angles. This will help you to both understand and remember it. You will also find a section (at the end) which gives useful general advice on answering examination questions on criminal law. This text is part of a series produced by the authors. The other titles in the series are The English Legal System, English Legal System: Essential Cases and Materials, Contract Law and Tort Law. We have endeavoured to state the law as at 1 January 2014.