Mississippi Penal Code Made Simple

by Kimani Upshur, M.Ed.

Most people never learn criminal law until they need it — at a traffic stop, in a holding cell, or across the table from a prosecutor. By then, it is too late to learn it calmly. Mississippi Penal Code Made Simple is your plain-English guide to the criminal law of Mississippi, built on the real code: Title 97 — Crimes — of the Mississippi Code of 1972. In twelve short chapters, Kimani Upshur explains how Title 97 is organized, how crimes are graded from misdemeanors to death-penalty felonies, and what the major offenses mean — homicide, assault, kidnapping, stalking, sexual battery, robbery, carjacking, theft, burglary, drug crimes, weapons offenses, fraud, and DUI. You will learn what defenses the law recognizes, including Mississippi’s Castle Doctrine and self-defense law and its permitless carry rules, and what happens from arrest through trial, sentencing, parole, and expungement, with the habitual-offender law and non-adjudication explained. Every chapter ends with ‘Know the Law’ takeaways and ‘Protect Yourself’ action steps, built on the framework’s guiding triad: Know. Respect. Protect. This is general education, not legal advice, and the book says so plainly. Written from a Christian worldview — Scripture first.