![]() ![]() What the “state” calls itself can vary from state to state some prosecutions are done in the name of the people, and some are done in the name of the “commonwealth.” Regardless of how the case is named, a prosecutor working for the government on behalf of society brings it forward. Since the people are represented by the state, all criminal prosecutions are brought forward in the name of the state. A crime, the theory holds, may harm the individual, but it also harms all of society. ![]() A criminal prosecution operates under a different legal theory. In other words, torts are private wrongs. When a harmed individual (the plaintiff) wins a tort case in civil court, they may also win a money award referred to as damages. In civil law, a wrong done to another person is called a tort. Cybercrime involves disparate acts such as distributing child pornography, sending out mass emails in an attempt to obtain identifying information ( phishing), distributing viruses designed to damage computer systems, hacking into business computers to steal money, and so forth.Ĭrimes that are motivated by bias toward a particular race, religion, ethnicity, or sexuality are known as hate crimes. Organized crime is considered especially heinous because groups can cause more criminal damage, and the groups make for more difficult investigations and prosecutions.Ī large swath of criminal offenses involving computers and related technologies are collectively known as cybercrime. Crimes committed by groups with a discernable organizational structure are classified as organized crime. These are crimes that a particular job provides the criminal opportunity. Murder is a common example: Most murders come to the attention of the police, and prosecution is more likely than for most other offenses. The overt nature of such crimes makes notice by police more likely, and thus prosecution more likely. Because people’s views vary so widely as to the inherent wrongness of an act, there is no absolute standard for classification.Ĭriminal acts that are highly visible to the public are often referred to as visible crime, ordinary crime, or street crime. Most so-called “victimless crimes” are mala prohibita offenses. If an act is not necessarily evil and is only considered criminal because it is prohibited by the government, it is considered a mala prohibita offense. If the act is “wrong in itself,” it is considered a mala in se offense. ![]() There is also a distinction between types of criminal law based in the inherent evil of the act. Note that this distinction depends on the sentence some convicts go to prison for less than a year because of early release programs such as “good time” and parole. Felonies, on the other hand, are serious crimes (e.g., rape, murder, burglary, kidnapping) where the punishment can be death or a long period (at least a year) of incarceration in a state-run prison. Misdemeanors are usually only punishable by fine and imprisonment in a local jail for a period of less than a year. Things like petty thefts, simple assault, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness are relatively nonserious crimes classified as misdemeanors. Also included are legal defenses (such as the insanity defense) that apply in criminal cases.Ī common way of organizing criminal laws is to divide them into felonies and misdemeanors, which depend largely on the seriousness of the offense and the type of punishment associated with the offense. This text follows the latter approach by using the heading criminal law to refer to the substantive criminal law, which is the part of the law that describes what acts are prohibited and what punishments are associated with those acts. This is because some sources use it in a very general way to describe the entire spectrum of laws dealing with the criminal justice system others use it as a shorthand way of referring to what is also known as the substantive criminal law. ![]()
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