Criminal law

involves the prosecution by the state of a person for an act that has been classified as a crime. Prosecutions are initiated by the state through a prosecutor, while in a civil case the victim brings the suit.

Criminal law A court may sentence an offender to: execution, corporal punishment or loss of liberty (imprisonment or incarceration); suspend the sentence; impose a fine; put the offender under government supervision through parole or probation; place them on a community service order.

Criminal law commonly proscribes offences against the person e.g. assault, offences against property e.g. burglary, public-order crimes e.g. prostitution business, or corporate, crimes e.g. insider dealing.

Two elements of crimes a criminal act (actus reus)criminal intent (mens rea). To secure a conviction, prosecutors must prove that both actus reus and mens rea were present when a particular crime was committed.

Two elements of crimes exception of strict liability crimes such as statutory rape and certain traffic offences.

the burden of proof on the prosecutor to persuade the trier -judge - jury that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of every element of the crime charged.

Proof If the prosecutor fails to prove this, a verdict of not guilty is rendered.

Proof This standard of proof contrasts with civil cases, where the claimant generally needs to show a defendant is liable on the balance of probabilities. In the USA, this is referred to as the preponderance of the evidence..

Some jurisdictions distinguish between -felonies (serious offences, such as rape) - misdemeanours (not serious offences, such as petty theft). Same incident may sometimes lead to both a criminal prosecution and an action in tort.