50 Ways to Stay Out of Jail

Book excerpt: Advice on how to stay out of jail. Practical advice from 40 years of criminal law experience. Authored by C.A.L. Shields District Attorney (Ret.), Former President of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, Board Certified in Criminal Trial Advocacy and certified as a Capital case defense attorney, Shields has prosecuted or defended scores of homicides trials. His court appearances number in the thousands and he has reviewed tens of thousands of cases. The book condenses decades of observations and advice in an easy to read and comprehend style. He has seen almost every possible situation that has threatened to increase the odds of a person going to jail. The book combines How To and How Not To advice with an aim to avoiding situations that may result in a person going to jail. The advice focuses on both staying out of trouble and getting out of trouble. The advice is illustrated by the use of common situations that the average person may encounter along with strategies to use when dealing with encounters with law enforcement.Legal jargon is kept to a minimum, the focus being on the non-lawyer. The chapters are straightforward and presented in a direct and sometime humorous manner. Street language is kept to a minimum, being employed only when necessary to the situation described.The targeted audience is people on the edge of big trouble, their grandmothers or probation officers. There are several chapters that are useful to citizens whose encounters with law enforcement are infrequent but with the potential for trouble.The book can be read as a whole, by individual chapters or as a reference guide