The criminal law refers to any law that relates to crime. The law punishes the people who pose any threat to the health, property or moral welfare of another person. Criminal laws vary from one Country to the other. Any crime includes criminal elements. The jurisdiction may impose capital punishments for severe crimes. Depending on the jurisdiction and what sort of crime a person commits, the duration period in jails may vary. There are five objectives behind the enforcement of criminal law. They are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and restoration of a person.

1. Retribution: As criminals have taken undue advantage of the law, they ought to be punished, this appears to be the primary goal of retribution. The law will put various scales on the crime committed and judge accordingly. The intensity of the punishment varies according to the crime committed.

2. Deterrence: Here the primary focus is to impose a specific penalty to the offender to discourage the person from committing any fraudulent activities on a later stage. In this case, the other individuals also refrain from committing the crime, fearing the law.

3. Incapacitation: Incapacitation either includes capital punishment of prison sentence such that they are kept away and is protected from the society.

4. Rehabilitation: This process involves transforming the offender to be a valuable part of the society. The rehab makes the offender convince of their mistakes and through proper channels of counselling and other such activities. The offender is encouraged to live a better life once released from the prison.

5. Restoration: Here, the goal is to repair the injury inflicted by the offender on the victim.

Types of criminal law

There are two types of criminal acts, misdemeanor and felonies. A misdemeanor act is a little less offensive under criminal law. They include minor assaults, like traffic offences and petty thefts. The imprisonment years for this type of crime is one year or less. Felony includes- murder charges, man/animal slaughter, rape, crime dealing with drugs, robbery, etc. However, the punishment differs from one State to the other. Any crime consists of two parts – mensrea (this refers to the mental state a person is while the crime is being committed) and Actus Reus (This relates to the crime committed by the offender. i.e., If a person is charged with drug case, then there has to be proof that the offender actually sold drugs).

Crime law: Cases.

Any crime law includes two cases. Some cases would be judged by the jurisdiction to determine if a person is pled guilty or innocent. The next example is called a plea bargain. Here, if the offender admits his crime and pleads himself guilty, then his total years in prison may be reduced.