Criminal law deals with those statutes involving crimes
against the public and individuals with penalties and all the procedures
connected with charging, trying, sentencing and imprisoning defendants
convicted of crimes. The harm that criminal law aims to prevent varies:
it may be physical harm, death, or bodily injury to human beings; the
loss of or damage to property; sexual immorality; danger to the government;
disturbance of the public peace and order; or injury to the public
health.
Behavior that threatens to cause, but has not yet caused, a harmful
result may be enough to constitute a crime. Thus, Criminal law often
strives to avoid harm by forbidding conduct that may lead to harmful
results.
Criminal law involves prosecution by the government of a person for
an act that has been classified as a crime. Crimes are classified in
many different ways: common law crimes versus statutory crimes, and
crimes that are evil in themselves versus those that are criminal only
because the law says so. An important classification is the division
of crimes into felonies or misdemeanors. This distinction is based
on the severity of the crime and is rooted in common law. Persons convicted
of a crime may be incarcerated, fined, or both if the prosecution proves
them guilty beyond reasonable doubt of every fact presented in the
courtroom.
