As in the first edition, Thaman presents a topical approach to the subject, focusing on the roles of public prosecutors, police, victims, and defense attorneys in the investigation of criminal cases and trials up through the judgment phase. Thaman uses high court jurisprudence in English translation to elucidate the European approach to important, and often controversial, areas of criminal procedure, and he also links criminal procedure with its roots in substantive criminal law. Thaman looks at the early reactions to crimes committed flagrantly or in secret as the historical roots of modern criminal procedure. The approaches of the old inquisitorial system and the use of torture to solve circumstantial evidence crimes are also presented.

The Second Edition retains the basic content and organization of the original edition. It updates the citations to U.S. Supreme Court cases and to important literature which has appeared in the last six years and refers to some new important cases, primarily in footnotes. Stylistic improvements in the text and the translations have been made and glossary entries (including some Russian terms) have been added.