Criminal Law and Comics

Are you struggling to make heads or tails of criminal law or criminal procedure? Or perhaps you’re looking for a different, nontraditional way to engage with the material? Well, have we got the books for you!

The Kathrine R. Everett Law Library has recently acquired two comic book paperbacks written and drawn by defense attorney Nathaniel Burney. The books resulted from the development of an ever-expanding web comic known as the Illustrated Guide to Law.

You can find The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Law and The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Procedure in the law library’s Study Aids collection. Both books are quite comprehensive and roughly track the subject matter covered in a typical law school course on each topic. The Illustrated Guide to Criminal Procedure also includes a 16-page flowchart on 4th Amendment search and seizure. (But please, don’t cut it out of the book!)

Oh, and if you really love these books or do your best exam prep on your feet, you can shell out some cash for the 4th Amendment Flowchart Shower Curtain, available from Burney’s website.

For related reading, I recommend subscribing to the “Abnormal Use” products-liability blog from the attorneys at Gallivan, White & Boyd, P.A., especially the “Friday Links” posts, which often incorporate comic book covers. Law and the Multiverse also tackles the intersection of comic books and law, but instead of illustrating law with comics, it considers what legal doctrines might apply in fictional comic book universes.

Happy reading!