Criminal law

From Free net encyclopedia

Template:CrimLaw Criminal law (also known as penal law) is the body of statutory and common law that deals with crime and the legal punishment of criminal offenses. There are four theories of criminal justice: punishment, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. It is believed that imposing sanctions for the crime, society can achieve justice and a peaceable social order. This differs from civil law in that civil actions are disputes between two parties that are not of significant public concern.

The process begins, obviously, with an alleged crime. A complainant makes an accusation, which is investigated by the police, acting as agents of the government. The police file a document, in most jurisdictions known as a complaint, with a court in the appropriate jurisdiction. If the alleged offense is classified as a felony, the Constitution of the United States requires that the case be referred to a grand jury for an indictment. An indictment is the official charging instrument accusing the defendant of criminal conduct.

The interests of the state are represented by a prosecuting attorney, while the interests of the defendant are represented by his or her defense attorney. While the specific process varies according to the local law, in virtually every jurisdiction the process culminates with a trial, followed by appeals to higher courts.

Criminal statutes spell out the exact circumstances which constitute a crime. These circumstances are known as the elements of the offense. Unless all the elements are proven by the prosecuting authority, the defendant is not guilty of the offense. There are three kinds of elements: the act itself, the actus reus, guilty act; the requisite mental state, the mens rea, guilty mind; and the attendant circumstances. As an example, the common law definition of burglary was as follows: unlawful entry into a dwelling house at night with the intent to commit a felony therein. It is the duty of the prosecution, therefore, to prove not merely the act (the entry), and the mental state (the intent to commit a crime), but all the attendant circumstances (that it was a dwelling house, and that it was at night). Most modern criminal statutes have, among other changes, eliminated the "at night" element.

In defense, the accused could argue that he had no intent to commit a crime inside the house, that it occurred during the day, or that his entry was lawful. He could also, of course, argue that the incident never happened, or that someone else committed the offense.

Criminal law in most jurisdictions, both in the common and civil law traditions, is divided into two fields:

Criminal procedure regulates the process for addressing violations of criminal law
Substantive criminal law details the definition of, and punishments for, various crimes.

Criminal law distinguishes crimes from civil wrongs such as tort or breach of contract. Criminal law has been seen as a system of regulating the behavior of individuals and groups in relation to societal norms at large whereas civil law is aimed primarily at the relationship between private individuals and their rights and obligations under the law. Although many ancient legal systems did not clearly define a distinction between criminal and civil law, in England there was little difference until the codification of criminal law occurred in the late nineteenth century. In most U.S. law schools, the basic course in criminal law is based upon the English common criminal law of 1750 (with some minor American modifications like the clarification of mens rea in the Model Penal Code).

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Quotes

A society should not be judged on how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals.....Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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References

Lindsay Farmer, "Reconstructing the English Codification Debate: The Criminal Law Commissioners, 1833-45," Law and History Review, Volume 18 Number 2 Summer 2000
George P. Fletcher, Basic Concepts of Criminal Law (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1998).
George P. Fletcher, Rethinking Criminal Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Michael Gorr and Sterling Harwood, eds., Controversies in Criminal Law (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992).
Hyman Gross, A Theory of Criminal Justice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, reissue).
H.L.A. Hart, Punishment and Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968).
Sterling Harwood, "Is Mercy Inherently Unjust?" in Michael Gorr and Sterling Harwood, eds., Crime and Punishment: Philosphic Explorations (Boston: Jones & Bartlett Publishers, 1995).
Jeffrie Murphy et al., Forgiveness and Mercy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
K. J. M. Smith, Lawyers, Legislators and Theorists: Developments in English Criminal Jurisprudence, 1800-1957 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998).
Ernest van den Haag, Punishing Criminals: Concerning a Very Old and Painful Question (New York: Basic Books: 1978).