| Criminal law | |
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| Elements | |
| Scope of criminal liability | |
| Severity of offense | |
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| Inchoate offenses | |
| Crimes against the person | |
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| Sexual offences | |
| Crimes against property | |
| Crimes against justice | |
| Crimes against the public | |
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| Crimes against animals | |
| Crimes against the state | |
| Defences to liability | |
| Other common-law areas | |
| Portals | |
Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfareof people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law is established by statute, which is to say that the laws are enacted by a legislature. Criminal law includes the punishment and rehabilitation of people who violate such laws.
Criminal law varies according to jurisdiction, and differs from civil law, where emphasis is more on dispute resolution and victim compensation, rather than on punishment or rehabilitation.
Criminal procedure is a formalized official activity that authenticates the fact of commission of a crime and authorizes punitive or rehabilitative treatment of the offender.
History[edit]
The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between civil law and criminal law. The first written codes of law were designed by the Sumerians. Around 2100–2050 BC Ur-Nammu, the Neo-Sumerian king of Ur, enacted written legal code whose text has been discovered: the Code of Ur-Nammu[1] although an earlier code of Urukagina of Lagash ( 2380–2360 BC ) is also known to have existed. Another important early code was the Code of Hammurabi, which formed the core of Babylonian law.[2] Only fragments of the early criminal laws of Ancient Greece have survived, e.g. those of Solon and Draco.[3]
Tort
| Part of the common law series |
| Tort law |
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| Intentional torts |
| Property torts |
| Defenses |
| Negligence |
| Liability torts |
| Nuisance |
| Dignitary torts |
| Economic torts |
| Liability and remedies |
| Duty to visitors |
| Other common law areas |
A tort, in common law jurisdiction, is a civil wrong[1] (other than breach of contract) that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. It can include intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, financial losses, injuries, invasion of privacy, and many other things. The word 'tort' stems from Old French via the Norman Conquest and Latin via the Roman Empire.[2]
Tort law involves claims in an action seeking to obtain a private civil remedy, typically money damages. Tort claims may be compared to criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongsthat are punishable by the state. A wrongful act, such as an assault and battery, may result in both a civil lawsuit and a criminal prosecution in countries where the civil and criminal legal systems are separate. Tort law may also be contrasted with contract law, which also provides civil remedies after breach of a duty that arises from a contract; but whereas the contractual obligation is one agreed to by the parties, obligations in both tort and criminal law are more fundamental and are imposed regardless of whether the parties have a contract.[citation needed]In both contract and tort, successful claimants must show that they have suffered foreseeableloss or harm as a direct result of the breach of duty.[note 1][note 2]
Criminal Law
What we call criminal law broadly refers to federal and state laws that make certain behavior illegal and punishable by imprisonment and/or fines. Our legal system is largely comprised of two different types of cases: civil and criminal. Civil cases are disputes between people regarding the legal duties and responsibilities they owe each other. Criminal cases, meanwhile, are charges pursued by prosecutors for violations of criminal statutes.
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Criminal Law
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Overview
Criminal law, as distinguished from civil law, is a system of laws concerned with punishment of individuals who commit crimes. Thus, where in a civil case two individuals dispute their rights, a criminal prosecution involves the government deciding whether to punish an individual for either an act or an omission.
A “crime” is any act or omission in violation of a law prohibiting the action or omission.
Criminal Codes
Each state decides what conduct to designate a crime. Thus, each state has its own criminal code. Congress has also chosen to punish certain conduct, codifying federal criminal law in Title 18 of the U.S. Code. Criminal laws vary significantly among the states and the federal government. While some statutes resemble the common law criminal code, others, like the New York Penal Law, closely mimic the Model Penal Code (MPC).
Codification of Criminal Procedure
Congress codified the federal criminal law and criminal procedure in Title 18 of the U.S. Code with §§ 1 to 2725 dealing with crimes. Title 18 designates various conduct as federal crimes, such as arson, use of chemical weapons, counterfeit and forgery, embezzlement, espionage, genocide, and kidnapping. These statutes usually prescribe a maximum sentence appropriate for a convicted individual. For additional Federal Regulations, consult 28 C.F.R.
The federal government has also codified the specific procedures which must take place during the course of a criminal proceeding in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Elements of a Crime
An individual commits a crime if he or she acts in a way that fulfills every element of an offense. The statute establishing the offense also establishes the elements of the offense. In general, every crime involves three elements: first, the act or conduct (“actus reus”); second, the individual’s mental state at the time of the act (“mens rea”); and third, the causation between the act and the effect (typically either "proximate causation" or "but-for causation"). In a criminal prosecution, the government has the burden of proof to establish every element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
According to the Supreme Court in Elonis v. United States, 575 U.S. __ (2015), when a statute does not prescribe a specific mental state, a court will infer the “mens rea which is necessary to separate wrongful from innocent conduct.”
Types of Crimes
Crimes can be generally separated into four categories: felonies, misdemeanors, inchoate offenses, and strict liability offenses.
Each state, and the federal government, decides what sort of conduct to criminalize. At common law, there were nine major felonies (Murder, Robbery, Manslaughter, Rape, Sodomy, Larceny, Arson, Mayhem, and Burglary) and various misdemeanors (i.e. assault, battery, false imprisonment, perjury, and intimidation of jurors).
The U.S. Code is far more extensive than the common law. Nonetheless, Congress has limited power to make criminal laws. As this power is generally reserved to the states, state criminal codes, such as the New York Penal Law, are far more complicated than the U.S. Code. The N.Y. Penal Law prescribes nine levels of felonies, ranging from residential mortgage fraud in the fourth degree to terrorism.
Sentencing Guidelines
The federal government and state governments have created various sentencing guidelines. Federal courts use the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, while state courts will look at state-specific sentencing guidelines.
Liability for Accomplices
When multiple parties are involved, the traditional first step is to classify the participants according to the following categories:
- Principal in the first degree – those who actually commit a crime (i.e. the perpetrator). Perpetrators are not accomplices and this section does not pertain to them.
- Principal in the second degree – those who aided, counseled, commanded, or encouraged the perpetrator in the actual commission of a crime. An abettor is considered an accomplice.
- Accessory before the fact – those who aided, counseled, commanded, or encouraged the perpetrator to commit the crime, without actually being present at the moment of perpetration. An accessory (before the fact) is considered an accomplice.
- Accessory after the fact – those who aid an individual, knowing the individual to be a criminal, in an effort to hinder the individual’s detection, arrest, trial, or punishment. Accessories (after the fact) are guilty of a separate crime, so this section does not pertain to them.
To convict an accomplice, the prosecutor needs to establish the requisite actus reus and mens rea. That is, the prosecutor must prove that the accomplice acted in support of the perpetrator, and had the requisite mental state while doing so. It is important to note that some jurisdictions allow accomplices to be prosecuted independently of the principal perpetrator. Thus, an accomplice could be found guilty of a more severe offense than the principal. In certain jurisdictions, an accomplice may be convicted while the alleged perpetrator is acquitted.
Ex Post Facto
An ex post facto law retroactively punishes actions. The Constitution explicitly forbids this practices in Article 1, Sections 9 and 10.
Punishing For Status
A law cannot punish a person simply for their status. As the Supreme Court explained in Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (1962), any statute that criminalizes the status of a person inflicts a cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment. For example, a state could not punish an individual for “being homeless,” which would be a status offense, but could punish a homeless individual for trespassing or loitering, which involves some conduct.
Defenses
There are a number of defenses available to a defendant in a criminal prosecution. The following list illustrates some common defenses individuals rely on:
- Failure of Proof – an individual’s simplest defense in a criminal prosecution is to claim that the prosecution has not or cannot prove an element of the offense.
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Mistakes – in certain circumstances, an
individual’s mistake can be used as a
defense.
- Mistake of Law – a mistake regarding the legal status or effect of some situation.
- Mistake of Fact – a mistake regarding the facts of some situation.
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Justifications – these are complete defenses
- Self-Defense: the use of force to protect oneself from an attempted injury by another.
- Defense of property: a person may use force to protect his property from a felony occurring within.
- Defense of Others: the right of a person to protect a third party with reasonableforce against an assailant who seeks to inflict force upon the third party.
- Necessity: sometimes referred to as the “choice of evils,” the necessity defense allows an individual to engage in otherwise unlawful conduct if by doing so the individual avoids a greater harm.
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Excuses – these are partial defenses
- Duress: an individual may plead duress if another individual forced him or her to engage in the illegal conduct by force or threat of force.
- Intoxication: an individual who was involuntarily intoxicated can plead intoxication as a defense to every crime. An individual who was voluntarily intoxicated can plead intoxication as a defense only to crimes that require a specific mental state.
- Insanity: an insane individual cannot form the requisite mental state, and thus cannot be found guilty.
Jurisprudence
Common law
