While fundamental doctrines and legal principle figure strongly in textbook and superior court analyses of the criminal law, the practical operation of the law is far more open to other approaches. This chapter explores how it is useful to demonstrate to students the variable and political use of doctrine and principle in constructing and interpreting criminal law the way courses are constructed. This includes courses that range beyond the traditional offences such as homicide to include new offences that are significantly different in their construction - such as terrorism, drugs and sexual assault offences, and that include offences that are rarely appealed, such as public order and police powers offences. Doing so exposes students to how the different players in criminal justice define crime, and the different outcomes that can lead to in different offences and courts.