Comparison of Criminal and Civil Cases
Criminal cases
1.Brought by govt.
CA v. Smith, US v. Smith
Civil cases
1. Individual v. Individual
Smith v. Jones
2. goal-punishment
Remove from society, retribution
Deterrence, reform
2. make whole
3. standard of proofBeyond a reasonable doubt
3. preponderance of evidence
4. guilty/not guilty
4. liable/not liable
1. Criminal Cases are primarily prosecuted by the State and local authorities although the
federal court also handles criminal cases (ie. tax fraud, terrorism, mail fraud, crimes in
multiple states)
Civil cases are a disputed claim over something of value, requesting property or money
rather than sending someone to jail
2. The goal of criminal cases is punishment. Punishment has a variety of rationales. A
criminal can be punished to remove them as a danger to society. Punishment also offers
some variety of retribution or revenge for a wrong done. Deterrence is a goal of
punishment but the difficulty with deterrence is that we do not know when it works
because people do not commit a crime but we do know when it does not work because
those people did commit a crime. Reform is a more questionable goal because of
whether it actually works.
The goal of civil cases is to make someone whole or put them in the position they were in
prior to the wrong taking place. This means that any damages as result of the wrong can
be compensated.
3. The Standard of proof for criminal cases is beyond a reasonable doubt. This means
that a juror can have doubts but they can not be reasonable doubts. Giving this a
percentage would be equivalent to about 97% certainty.
The Standard of proof for civil cases is the preponderance of evidence or more likely
than not. Giving this a percentage would be equivalent to about 51% certainty.
4. In criminal cases, a defendant is found guilty or not guilty. In civil a cases, a
defendant is found liable or not liable. Civil cases are never about guilt. Guilt assumes
some type of wrong behavior while civil cases are simply about responsibility.
Statutory Law-laws drafted by legislature and interpreted by judges, codified law
Common Law-judge made law, law that has developed for hundreds of years in the form
of judicial opinions
Stare Decisis –“let the decision stand”-important principle of American law because
provides continuity and predictability, requirement that previous decisions be “allowed to
stand” and continue to be followed
Precedence-must follow previous decisions