Know Criminal Law
How does the US criminal justice system decide just what is a crime? How does the whole world of criminal law work, and where did it come from? If we go back to Roman times we find that there was no criminal law, and that all offenses were deemed to be against the individual. It was only after the Romans that the concept of crimes against society emerged. Murder, rape and the like were given a special classification in order to protect the social order. 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. There are two things needed for a criminal to be found guilty of a crime. First of all they have to have committed the act, and secondly they must have had a criminal intent. In criminal law the act is known as ‘actus reus’ and criminal intent is known as ‘mens rea’. There are some crimes that do not require ‘mens rea’ and these are known as crimes of strict liability, where a defendant can be found guilty in the absence of any malice or moral liability. Crimes are defined by state statutes, federal statutes and case law. Case law is where precedents are set at specific trials that decide where a certain action is criminal or not. Judges publish their reasons for making the decisions they did and this becomes case law. There are many nuances to the law and defense attorneys have plenty of scope to refute charges. In America’s criminal law sector the state courts, federal courts, and special state criminal courts make up the court system. Whichever of these courts a trial takes place in the main thing that is debated is whether the elements that make up the criminal offense with which the defendant is charged were actually present. The US criminal justice system determines if 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 points of criminal law: http://hubpages.com/hub/Criminal-Liability-and-Actus-Reus |