Criminal Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminal Law - Essay Example The main purposes of having criminal laws are just twofold: to state public morality and to set the boundaries within the society. In a society, there are various non-verbal practices that have been put to law, because the members of the society deem it as offending or inappropriate. So when an individual violates a rule which is establish by the society, or perhaps a public moral, then that individual would be punished for intentionally breaking the rule, because his action implies that he is intentionally causing disharmony to the society. Law, or criminal law in this case, seeks to have these individuals accountable for the criminal actions they have committed. This is done through having legal actions against them, like imprisonment or fines. Criminal law is based on many written sources, all of them from laws. These are constitutional, administrative, statutory, common and case laws. Constitutional law deals with the U.S. Constitution: how it has to be interpreted and implemente d. All the laws are subordinate of the constitution. If, say, a law is in conflict with the Constitution, the Supreme Court acts on it and deem it unconstitutional. Administrative laws are made by the government offices, agencies and commissions. They are semi-judicial or semi-legislative in character but they often have criminal penalties. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are examples of administrative agencies that make this kind of laws. They can also formulate rules and investigations and also impose sanctions. Statutory laws are those which are passed as statutes by the Congress and other state legislative bodies. The federal government has its own set of statutory laws as well as the state government. Federal law sometimes overlaps with the federal law. Common law is based on the universal practices and notions of the society. It is also known as judge-made law, where the judges created the common law by r uling that certain actions are deemed as crimes and they are punishable. The judges also defined that certain offenses like rape and murder are crimes against the state. This originated in England in the twelfth century. Case laws are laws that laws that have resulted from court decisions and interpretations of statutory law. This is often the result when certain court decisions have not yet been codified. One of the most common justification and excuse defense used is self-defense and insanity. A justification or excuse in jurisprudence is a defense against criminal charges and it’s commonly used as a means to grant exception for a person which may have criminal liabilities (excuse) or as a means to vindicate an act (justice). These defenses have similar but different functions. Justification was already seen in Early English law but they were for remission of the criminal’s punishments, which is basically just a dismissal of criminal charges. Justification also means that criminal charges be dismissed because an individual enforcement of the law or for the benefit of the public. Excuse began as a plea for mercy and often used psychology to support the acts of crime. Therefore, justification implies that it is for the common good, and for the uniformity of the people in the society while excuse is a highly individualized defense, depending on the accused psychological assessment. For example, self-defense is commonly used as