Sean Doran is Professor of Law at the Queen's University of Belfast. John Jackson is a Professor of Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the Queen's University of Belfast.

• Part 1 Juding law and fact: the necessarily expanding role of the criminal trial judge, Sean Doran; comparative perspectives on the judicial rold, J.F. Nijboer; fact determination - common sense knowledge, judical notice and social science evidence, Marilyn T. MacCrimmon; the separation of questions of law and fact in the new Russian and Spanish jury verdicts, Stephen C. Thaman. Part II Protection of rights and prevention of unfairness: plea bargaining - ethics and politics, Mike McConville; attempting to ensure fairness in the glare of the media, Richard D. Friedman; the impact of human rights on judicial decision making in criminal cases, John D. Jackson; evidential rules for criminal trials - who should be in charge?, Alex Stein; victims ad the criminal process - a public service ethos for criminal justice?, Joanna Shapland; judges and gender, Christine Boyle. Part III Case management: co-operative justice and the adversarial criminal trial - lessons from the Woolf Report, Jenny McEwan; raising concerns about magistrates' clerks, Penny Derbyshire. Part IV Judges and judging in times of crisis: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, Albie Sachs; judicial roles and the criminal process during states of emergenct - a framwork for analysis, Tom Hadden; emergency cases - commissions, commissioners and the commodity of justice, Clive Walker. Part V: Sentencing: the United States perspective on the judicial role in sentencing - a story of small victories and a call for partial solutions in a difficult environment, Robert P. Mosteller; some reflections on the federal judicial role during the war on drugs, Jack B. Weinstein and Mac E. Quinn; the roles of legislature and judiciary in English sentencing, Andrew Ashworth; the judicial role in "balance" between two visions of justice in sentencing, Neil Huton and Cyrus Tata; judicial discretion and gender issues in sentencing, Marie Fox.

...essays cover a wide range of criminal justice topicsallows the richness and interconnections of the criminal process to emerge.This is a valuable collection for all that are interested in the Anglo-American criminal process and the evolving, dynamic and often controversial role of judges in that process. Kent Roach, University of Toronto Public Law January 2001 This is a scholarly collection of thought provoking contributions to an ongoing debate in Britain and abroad. The calibre of the contributors to this book gives an indication of the weight of analysis presented here. It is another excellent addition to the already excellent Hart catalogue. Graeme Broadbent The Law Teacher January 2001