What is Criminal Law?

Murder, rape, burglary. These are what we know today as crimes, but it was not always so. Back in Roman times these were simply offenses against the individual. It was not until later on in post-Roman Europe that concept of offenses against the social order emerged. These offenses are so serious that they are dealt with by separate laws. Criminal law.

When something is harmful to society as a whole, rather than just an individual, it is elevated to the status of being a criminal offense. When facing a criminal charge a defendant is likely to face jail time. This contrasts with offenses against an individual which are handled by civil law, and more likely to be punished by a monetary penalty.

Crimes come in all shapes and sizes, but from a legal point of view they can be divided into two categories. Crimes of strict liability are those where it does not matter whether there was intent on the part of the criminal. Other crimes require both criminal intent and the act itself to be present. In legal parlance these conditions are referred to as mens rea and actus reus.

To listen to a defense attorney you would think that crimes are not well defined at all. A defense attorney will make as many arguments as possible that his client’s acts did not constitute what is defined as a crime. However, crimes are in fact well defined by case law, federal statutes and state statutes. In case law judges publish their opinions on specific trials and these then become precedents for future trials.

There are a number of elements that make up a criminal offense, and in the US criminal justice system the main thing that is debated in the trial courtrooms nationwide is whether each of these elements was present. This holds true whether the trial is in the state courts, federal courts, or special state criminal courts

The US criminal justice system determines whether or not crimes have taken place. It does so by determining whether the elements of the criminal offense were present. If you are facing criminal charges you are up against some might resources. This web page covers some interesting aspects of criminal law: http://hubpages.com/hub/Criminal-Liability-and-Actus-Reus