Criminal law

Summary

Criminal law

Crimes can be thought of as acts which the state considers to be wrong and which can be punished by the state.
Criminal acts differ in different countries. For example, some countries such acts as smoking marijuana, having more than one wife at the same time or drink alcohol consider as crimes, the others don't. But in general, quite a lot criminal acts are common to most countries, such as stealing, physically attacking someone or damaging their property.
In many legal systems there is an important principle that a person cannot be considered guilty of a crime until the state proves he committed it. The state must prove the guilt according to high standards. For each crime there are precise elements which must be proven. Usually there are two elements of a crime : 1) the criminal act itself(Actus Reus); 2) the criminal state of mind of the person when he committed the act(Mens Rea).
When talking about murder, the court must be sure that the act was a substantial cause of the death. The defendant may avoid the quilt if he can show he has a defense. A defense is a reason the court should excuse his act. Different systems of law recognize different and usually limited sets of defenses. For example, English law allow the defense of duress – being forced to commit the crime. Another popular defense is of insanity, but it requires careful proof. Nearly every system of law recognizes self-defense.
The concept of defense should not be confused with mitigation – reasons your punishment should not be harsh. After found being guilty the defendant may try to mitigate his crimes by explaining the specific circumstances at the time of the crime.
Technical change is one of the main reasons why criminal law is one of the fastest growing areas of the law. Another reason is that the number of crimes seem to be increasing rapidly. Sometimes governments have to pass new laws to deal with new forms of behavior.