Criminal Law

Federal Crimes vs. State Crimes in the United States The United States does not have a single criminal law system. Instead, criminal law operates through a dual system of government. The federal government has authority to define and prosecute certain crimes, while each state has its own criminal code, courts, Read more

Introduction Criminal law ordinarily assumes that a person should not be punished merely because a prohibited act occurred. Traditionally, criminal responsibility has involved both a prohibited act, or actus reus, and a sufficiently culpable mental state, or mens rea. Strict liability offenses depart from that familiar model by eliminating, limiting, Read more

Regulatory Offenses and Criminal Liability Modern criminal law does more than punish conduct traditionally regarded as inherently wrongful. It also regulates activities that can create significant risks to public health, safety, financial systems, the environment, and other collective interests. These laws are commonly described as regulatory offenses. Regulatory offenses can Read more

Victimless Crimes and Criminal Law Criminal law is often understood as a system for protecting people from harm. Murder protects human life. Assault protects bodily integrity. Theft protects property. Fraud protects people and institutions from deception. But what happens when the government criminalizes conduct in which no obvious victim has Read more

Violent Crimes vs. Nonviolent Crimes Criminal offenses are often divided into two broad categories: violent crimes and nonviolent crimes. The distinction seems straightforward. Violent crimes involve violence; nonviolent crimes do not. But legally, the boundary is more complicated. Some crimes involve direct physical force against another person. Others involve threats, Read more

Malum in Se and Malum Prohibitum Criminal law does not treat every prohibited act in exactly the same way. Some conduct is considered wrong because of its very nature. Other conduct is criminal because a legislature has decided that it must be prohibited in order to protect public safety, regulate Read more

Crimes Classified by Mental State Criminal law does not punish every harmful act simply because harm occurred. In most criminal cases, the law asks an additional question: What was the defendant thinking or aware of when the conduct occurred? That question concerns the defendant’s mental state, or mens rea. Two Read more

Duress vs. Necessity in Criminal Law Duress and necessity are two important defenses in criminal law that excuse or justify conduct that would otherwise constitute a crime. They can appear similar because both involve a defendant who claims: “I committed the act because I had no reasonable alternative.” But the Read more

Alibi as a Criminal Defense An alibi is a defense in a criminal case based on the claim that the defendant was somewhere else when the crime was committed. The basic argument is simple: I could not have committed the crime because I was not there. Unlike defenses such as Read more