Inside_Criminal_Law

The purpose of criminal law is to stop criminal behavior and to punish individuals for bad acts or crimes they have committed. Criminal law also provides society with the belief that justice will be carried out by society to protect all members of the public and perhaps provide retribution for criminal acts that have been committed. There are two main functions of criminal law. The first function is to protect society from harm to any individual’s physical safety or property. This harm can be described as murder, theft, or even arson. The second main function is to protect society’s interests from harm that can be caused by unsafe foods or consumer products, a polluted environment or a poorly constructed building. Information about the American criminal law can be found in the constitution. The constitution allows the States to make their own laws but also gives the United States Supreme Court the authority to strike down any law the State makes if it is unconstitutional. Congress and the State legislation are also allowed to pass laws that are called Statutes while the City council pass what they call ordinances to make up what is known as criminal law. These laws are intended to provide the states with additional crime control in the areas where the local law enforcement has not been very effective. Next there are different reasons the responsibility of a criminal can be limited. These reasons can also be referred to as excuse defenses. One of these reasons would be due to insanity. For example, an individual who has a history of a mental illness is charged with pushing an innocent individual in front of an oncoming car killing them instantly. The accused would need to prove that at the time of the incident he or she did not possess the necessary mental capacity to be held responsible for the crime they have committed. Another reason would be called a mistaken idea which is when a law was not published or reasonably known to the public or when an individual relies on an official statement of the law that was inaccurate. There is also the excuse defense of age which means the individual would need to prove that at the time of the crime he or she was under a statutorily determined age or they did not have the maturity to make the decisions needed to commit the crime. There are also times when an individual will state they did commit the crime they are accused of but the act was justified. Entrapment is considered to be a justification defense that the criminal law will allow when an officer of the law or a government official has misled an individual in doing something unlawful. This can occur when an informant or undercover agent intimidates a suspect into committing a crime that the officer feels the suspect is already guilty of committing. Another justification defense is self defense an example of this defense is if a person awakes to find an individual above them holding a gun and while they are struggling the gun goes off and kills the individual that was holding the gun. The person who woke up and ended up shooting the individual with the gun can be considered innocent due to feeling as if their life was endangered. Necessity and duress are considered to be other forms of justification defense but will not be elaborated on. Another thing one should know are the procedural safeguards that protect a person in the case that a criminal law is broken. Anyone would be able to find these bases in the Bill of Rights. These safeguards include the Forth Amendment which provides protection from unreasonable search and seizure but also requires that warrants for a search or arrest cannot be issues without probable cause. The Fifth Amendment states that no one can be deprived of life, liberty, or property without “Due Process” of the law. The Fifth Amendment also prohibits against double jeopardy which means an individual cannot be tried twice for the same criminal offense and guarantees that no person can be expected to incriminate him or herself on the witness stand. There is also the Sixth Amendment that guarantees a speedy trial, the right to confront witnesses, and the right to an attorney at various times of a criminal proceeding. Last is the Eighth Amendment which prohibits against excessive bail, fines, and cruel and unusual punishment. Finally, due process was mentioned in the explanation of the procedural safeguards that protect the American Constitutional rights. In order to understand due process it is important to know the two types. First would be the procedural due process that states the law must be carried out in a fair and orderly manner which requires certain procedures to be followed while implementing a law so that the basic freedoms of an individual are never violated. Then there is substantive due process which requires the laws to be reasonable. This means even if the law was properly past by legislation but is unfair then it must be declared unconstitutional. Reference The National Archives and Records Association (n.d) The Bill of Rights. Retrieved November 29, 2009 from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights.html