Criminal law is of fundamental concern in any society.

The role of the criminal law and the relationships between crime, punishment, law, justice, and morality are the subject of ongoing and frequently bitter debate. The study of Queensland's criminal law is a puzzling experience. Like many aspects of Australia's 'Sunshine State', the criminal law of Queensland is peculiar, sometimes rather obscure, and a little different from the criminal law elsewhere.

Criminal Law in Queensland seeks to provide a comprehensive outline of the principles, offences, and defences relevant to Queensland, offer critical perspectives on many facets of contemporary criminal justice, and present problems in their current and comparative contexts. Rather than provide definitive answers, this book seeks to raise questions about the criminal law in Queensland and invite readers to reflect critically on their relationship to the criminal law as citizens, as students, as practitioners and, perhaps, as potential subjects of its sanctions.

This book seeks to facilitate the study of the criminal law, explore and analyse general principles, specific offences, and defences, and draw comparisons to developments at common law, federal criminal law, and in other parts of Australia.