Criminal law

Criminal law

Part of the common law series
Elements: Actus reus, Causation, Concurrence, Mens rea, Intention, Recklessness, Criminal negligence, Ignorantia juris non excusat, Strict / Corporate / Vicarious liability

Crimes against people: Assault, Battery, Robbery, Sexual offences, Rape, Pimping, Kidnapping, Manslaughter, Murder

Crimes against property: Damage, Arson, Theft, Burglary, Deception

Crimes against justice: Obstruction • Bribery Perjury • Malfeasance in office

Inchoate offenses Attempt • Conspiracy • Accessory

Criminal defenses: Automatism • Intoxication • Mistake, Insanity • Diminished responsibility Duress • Necessity Provocation • Self-defense

Other common law areas: Contract • Tort ■ Property Wills, trusts and estates Evidence

Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often
severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. Criminal punishment, depending on the offense and jurisdiction, may include execution, loss of liberty, government supervision (parole or probation), or fines. There are some archetypal crimes, like murder, but the acts that are forbidden are not wholly consistent between different criminal codes, and even within a particular code lines may be blurred as civil infractions may give rise also to criminal consequences. Criminal law typically is enforced by the
government, unlike the civil law, which may be enforced by private parties.

Criminal law history

The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between civil and criminal law. The first written codes of law were produced by the Sumerians. Around 2100-2050 ВС Ur-Nammu, the Neo-Sumerian king of Ur, enacted the oldest written legal code whose text has been discovered: the Code was the Code Hammurabi, which formed the core of Baby lonian law. These early legal codes did not separate penal and civil laws.

Objectives of Criminal Law

Criminal law is distinctive for the uniquely serious potential consequences or for failure to abide by its rules. Every crime is composed of may be imposed in some jurisdictions for the most serious crimes. Physical or may be imposed such as or although these punishments are prohibited in much of the world. Individuals may be in a variety of conditions depending on the jurisdiction. Confinement may be solitary. Length of incarceration may vary from a day to life.Government supervision may be imposed, including house arrest, and convicts may be required to conform to particularized guidelines as part of a parole or probation regimen, also may be imposed, seizing money or property
from a person convicted of a crime.

Five objectives are widely accepted for enforcement of the criminal law by punishments: retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and restitution. Jurisdictions differ on the value to be placed on each.

■                   Retribution - Criminals ought to suffer in some way. This is the most widely seen goal. Criminals have taken improper advantage, or inflicted unfair detriment, upon others and consequently, the criminal law will put criminals at some unpleasant disadvantage to "balance
the scales." People submit to the law to receive the right not to be murdered and if people contravene these laws, they surrender the rights granted to them by the law. Thus, one who murders may be murdered himself. A related theory includes the idea of "righting the
balance."

■                   Deterrence | Individual deterrence is aimed toward the specific offender. The aim is to impose a sufficient penalty to discourage the offender from criminal behavior. General deterrence aims at society at large. By imposing a penalty on those who commit offenses,
other individuals are discouraged from committing those offenses.

■                   Incapacitation - Designed simply to keep criminals away from society so that the public is protected from their misconduct. This is often achieved through prison sentences today. The death penalty or banishment have served the same purpose.

■                   Rehabilitation - Aims at transforming an offender into a valuable member of society. Its primary goal is to prevent further offense by convincing the offender that their conduct was wrong.

■                   Restitution - This is a victim-oriented theory of punishment. The goal is to repair, through state authority, any hurt inflicted on the victim by the offender. For example, one who embezzles will be required to repay the amount improperly acquired. Restitution is commonly
combined with other main goals of criminal justice and is closely related to concepts in the civil law.

Selected criminal laws

Many laws are enforced by threat of criminal punishment, and their particulars may vary widely from place to place. The entire universe of criminal law is too vast to intelligently catalog. Nevertheless, the following are some of the more known aspects of the criminal law.

Elements

Main article: Element (criminal)

The criminal law generally prohibits undesirable acts. Thus, proof of a crime requires proof of some act. Scholars label this the requirement of an actus reus or guilty act. Some crimes – particularly modern regulatory offenses - require no more, and they are known as strict liability offenses. Nevertheless, because of the potentially severe consequences of criminal conviction, judges at common law also sought proof of an intent to do some bad thing, the mens rea or guilty mind. As to crimes of which both actus reus and mens rea are requirements, judges have concluded that the elements must be present at precisely the same moment and it is not enough that they occurred sequentially at different times.
Actus reus

Main article: Actus reus

Actus reus is Latin for "guilty act" and is the physical element of committing a crime. It may be accomplished by an action, by
threat of action, or exceptionally, by an omission to act. For example, the act of A striking В might suffice, or a parent's
failure to give food to a young child also may provide the actus reus for a crime.

Where the actus reus is a failure to act, there must be a duty of care. A duty can arise through contract, a voluntary undertaking,a blood relation with whom one lives, and occasionally through one's official position! Duty also can arise from one's own creation of a dangerous situation Occasional sources of duties for bystanders to accidents in Europe and North America are good Samaritan laws, which can
criminalise failure to help someone in distress (e.g. a drowning child), in this case it was held that Since a PVS patient

Criminal Law.

Translate and learn new words:

Penal (criminal) law – уголовное право

To refer to – относиться к, ссылаться на;

Jurisdiction – правосудность, юрисдикция;

Severe impositions – строгие взыскания;

Failure – провал, неудача;

To comply – соблюдать, следовать закону;

Execution – казнь, исполнение;

Loss of liberty – лишение свободы;

Parole – условно-досрочное освобождение;

Probation – полное освобождение на поруки;

To blur – опорочить, запятнать;

To enforce – приводить закон в исполнение в принудительном порядке;

To enact – постановлять, вводить закон;

Objectives – Цели,;

To prohibit - запрещать;

Supervision – контроль, надзор, наблюдение;

Confinement – тюремное заключение;

To impose – обманывать, облагать, налагать;

Solitary - одиночный;

Incarceration – заключение в тюрьму, лишение свободы;

House arrest – домашний арест;

To convict of a crime – обвинить в совершении преступления, осудить за преступление;

Retribution – возмездие, кара;

Incapacitation – ограничение дееспособности;

Rehabilitation – восстановление в правах;

Restitution – восстановление первоначального положения, реституция;

undesirable acts – нежелательные действия;

To seize money – завладеть деньги, конфисковать деньгами;

Actus reus – виновные действия;

Mens rea – виновная воля, вина;

Strict liability offenses - Правонарушения с привлечением к строгой ответственности;
An intent to do - Намерение сделать;
Requirement - требование;
Fatal offenses – преступление со смертельным исходом;
Personal offenses – преступление против личности;
Malice – преступное намерение, злой умысел;
Manslaughter – непредумышленное убийство (убийство по неосторожности);
wrongfulness of intent – неправомерность намерения.