CRIMINAL LAW

Our criminal law has its roots in medieval England. Under early common law, criminal behavior was considered a breach of the King's peace and therefore a harm to society in general, which required governmental action. Only the major felonies, such as treason, rape, larceny, battery, kidnapping, murder, and arson were prosecuted and the common sentence was death.

Today, criminal law is a vast and complex body of statutes, rules, and judicial decisions that touch nearly every aspect of our lives. State, federal, and municipal criminal codes have divided the old common-law felonies into many separate crimes and now provide an array of sentencing options.

In addition, new crimes have been defined addressing drugs, automobiles, businesses, organized crime, computers and other modern situations.

A crime must be clearly defined in order to pass scrutiny under the federal Constitution, which prohibits the government from taking a person's life, liberty, or property without due process of law. A vague description of the crime or a lack of specific elements needed for committing the crime leaves a person without knowledge of exactly what is prohibited.

In order to be a crime, the prohibited conduct must include both a "mens rea" or guilty mind and an "actus reus" or bad act.

Accidentally hitting somebody when you draw back the baseball bat to swing at a ball is not a crime because it lacks the guilty mind. Wishing someone would drop dead is not a crime because it lacks the bad act.

Some examples of crimes and their definitons can be found by clicking on the definitions link to the left.

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