Criminal Law and Procedure
| Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
| Pages | 297-302 |
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The American criminal justice system has two legal parts: law and procedure. Criminal law defines crime and punishment. It protects society by discouraging harmful conduct and punishing wrongdoers. Criminal procedure controls the process of investigating crime, arresting a suspected criminal, and convicting him in a court of law. Criminal procedure protects the rights of the accused, whether guilty or innocent.
Criminal law in the United States has its roots in Great Britain. When the United States was born in 1776, criminal law in England existed in the common law. Under common law, judges developed definitions for crimes on a case-by-case basis. Criminal law in the United States originally came from the common law. Today the federal government and most states have statutes that define crime and punishment. Many of these definitions, however, come from the common law.
Under federal law and that of most states, crimes are categorized as felonies, misdemeanors, and petty offenses. A felony is a crime, such as
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murder, that is punishable by death or imprisonment for more than one year. Misdemeanors are less serious crimes, punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a monetary fine, or both. Petty offenses are punishable by imprisonment for less than six months, a small fine, or both. Infractions, such as minor traffic and parking violations, are punishable only by a fine and are not considered crimes.
Most crimes are against either people or property. Crimes against people include murder, assault, battery, rape, and kidnapping. Crimes against property include arson, trespass, and burglary. The definitions for most crimes include both a bad act and a guilty mind. The bad act requirement makes sure people are not punished just for bad thoughts. The guilty mind requirement makes sure people are not punished when they do something bad accidentally. A person must intend to do something wrong to be guilty of a crime.
People charged with crimes can use many defenses to avoid being convicted and punished. Capacity defenses are for people who did not have the ability to control their behavior. Capacity defenses include insanity, infancy, and intoxication. Defenses such as duress, coercion, and necessity are for people who were forced to commit a crime. Entrapment is a defense for people whom the government tricks into committing a crime. Self defense is for people who respond to an attack with the force necessary to stop it and end up hurting or killing their attacker.
The U.S. Constitution says "No . . . ex post facto Law shall be passed." An ex post facto (after the fact) law makes a crime out of something a person did when it was not a crime. For example, imagine that it was legal in 1999 to protest outside an abortion clinic. If a state passed a law in 2000 that made it a crime to have protested outside abortion clinics in 1999, the law would be ex post facto and invalid under the Constitution.
Criminal procedure controls the process of investigating crime...
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