KINDS OF LAWS CRIMINAL LAW • A crime is any behavior that is illegal because the government considers it harmful to society. It may be an act, such as stealing, or failure to act, such as not paying your taxes or failing to get car insurance. Each law defines a behavior and states how it may be punished. It is similar to our student handbook code of conduct, only the punishments are fines or imprisonment rather than detentions or suspensions. Criminal law refers to the group of laws that tell which acts are crimes, how accused persons should be tried in court, and how crimes should be punished. PA Criminal Code • PURPOSE OF CRIMINAL LAW: The main purpose of criminal law is to protect society as a whole. If someone commits a crime, the government will punish him or her even if you as the victim choose not to “press charges.” This is to prevent the criminal from repeating this behavior. • PENALTIES FOR CRIMES: Some crimes deserve greater penalties than others. Repeat offenders deserve harsher punishments than first-­‐time offenders. Sentencing guidelines are provided to judges to ensure that different judges give similar penalties for crimes committed by people with similar criminal backgrounds. • Crimes are divided into two categories: felonies, serious crimes for which the penalty can be imprisonment for more than one year, and misdemeanors, less serious crimes for which the punishment is often a fine. • SOURCES OF CRIMINAL LAW: Congress, the state legislatures, and local government all can pass criminal laws. Some types of behavior may be legal in some states but not in others (gambling, for example). Punishments may also differ—DUI may be a felony in one state but a misdemeanor in another. CIVIL LAW • Civil Law is the group of laws that help settle disputes between people. Unlike criminal cases, in a civil case the government will not get involved automatically. An individual or group involved in the conflict must ask for help by suing. • SOURCES OF CIVIL LAW: In civil cases, the judge is seeking the fairest way to settle the disagreement. In order to be consistent, they often refer to earlier decisions (“precedents”) that have been made in similar cases. WHERE CRIMINAL LAW AND CIVIL LAW MEET Some cases involve both civil and criminal law. For example, in a traffic accident the police may charge one driver with reckless driving and he may face criminal penalties including fines and/or imprisonment. That is criminal law. The person who he crashed into may sue him for damages to the car and lost wages due to time missed from work because of her injuries. That is a civil case. Sometimes, someone who is found not guilty in a criminal case may still be sued and face penalties in a civil case. OJ Simpson