Criminal Law - The Basics
For most people, familiarity with criminal law comes in fragments -- from movies, television, and books. But when we become personally involved in the criminal law system, real-life issues come into focus and the need for information and assistance can arise quickly. This overview discusses the basics of criminal law: criminal statutes, criminal law players and procedure, and the potential outcome of a criminal case. Links to additional introductory information on criminal law are also provided.
Criminal Laws and Their Sources
When a society and its government decide that certain conduct is dangerous to citizens, or damaging to the society as a whole, such conduct is labeled a "crime" and is made punishable by sanctions such as fines and imprisonment. Most crimes are identified in statutes that have been enacted by federal, state, and local government legislatures, in response to issues that affect the jurisdiction. For example, a city may determine that it is a crime to be drunk in public, while the federal government decides bank robbery is a federal crime, since most banks are federally insured.
Criminal statutes describe the type of conduct that has been deemed a crime, the mindset or intent required, and in some instances, the proper punishment. For example, the following "Burglary" statutes are from the California Penal Code:
Section 459. Every person who enters any house, room, apartment, tenement, shop, warehouse, store, mill, barn, stable, outhouse or other building, tent, vessel, [etc.]...with intent to commit grand or petit larceny or any felony is guilty of burglary.
Section 461. Burglary is punishable as follows:
1. Burglary in the first degree: by imprisonment in the state prison for two, four, or six years. 2. Burglary in the second degree: by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison.
People who are found to have violated a criminal law -- whether through their own admission by a "guilty" plea, or as a result of a jury trial -- can be punished through imposition of fines, imprisonment, probation, and community service, among other penalties.
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