Criminal law.sometimes called penal

Criminal law.sometimes called penal low ,involves the prosecution by the stateof a person for an that has been classified as a crime.The contrasts with civil law,which involves private individuals and organisations seeking to resolve legal disputes.Prosecutions are initiated by the state through a prosecutor whine in a civil case the victim brings the suit.Some jurisdictions also allow private criminal prosecutions.
Depending on the offence and junsdiction various punishments are available to the courts to punish an offender.A court may sentence an offender to execution,corporal punishment or loss of liberty(imprisonment and incarceration); suspend the sentence;impose a fine; put the offender under governments supervision though parol or prodation; or plase on a community servise order.
Criminal law commonly proscribes-that is it prohibits several categories of offences: offences against.The person(e.g. assault),offences against property(e.g burglary) ,public-order crimes(e.g. prostitution) and buisness or corporate crimes(e.g. insider dealing).
Most crimes(with the exception of strict liability crimes such as statutory rape and certain traffic offences) are characterised by two elements: criminal act(actus reus) and criminal intent(mens rea).To secure a conviction,prosecutors must prove that both actus reus and mens rea were present when a particular crime was committed.
In criminal cases, the burden of proof is often on the prosecutor to persuade the trier(whether Jude or jury) that the accused isguitly beyond a reasonable doubt of every element of the crime charged.If the prosecutor fails to prove this,a verdict of not gullty is rendered.This standard of proof contrasts with civil cases,where the claimant generally needs to show a defendant is liable on the balance of probabilities(more than 50% probable) .In the USA,this is referred to as the preponderance of the evidence
Some jurisdictions distinguish between felonies(more serious offences,such as rape)and misdemeanours(less serious offences,such as pretty theft).It also worth noting that the same incident may sometimes lead to both a criminal prosecutionand an action it tort.