sample criminal law essay

sample criminal law essay

The Importance of Criminal Law in Society

1. Introduction

Criminal law is of growing importance in numerous modern societies. This is best reflected in the increase of codifications throughout the world. There are, however, various means through which criminal law can be developed, and this is reflected in types and sources of criminal law. Given the rapid rate of social and economic change modern societies are enduring, this is a particular area of importance. The dynamic and varied nature of society means its application is a complex and intricate process. This is particularly so in the UK with the move from a plethora of common law offenses to an all-encompassing code and the increasing European harmonization of criminal law.

Laws are a system of rules and guidelines that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics, and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Whether the person is a private citizen, public official, corporation, or the state, criminal law is bound with these people being held answerable for their actions. This being so, it holds a unique and important position in our society.

2. Historical Overview of Criminal Law

Acts of Plato’s Laws contains many features of criminal law and offers a coherent scheme of a law of crimes. An action was defined as an offense against anyone that trespassed or public, and offenders against gods or temples or against parents were punished more severely than if the victim had been an individual. The law was not punitive, prosecution was private, and the object of punishment was to give the offender time to reform, whether additional inconvenience was achieved by imprisonment or by loss of civil rights.

But perhaps the most influential and significant part of the Torah with respect to Western law was the Ten Commandments. The basic principle of the Commandments is that right action was to be defined not by the interest of one individual or other, but by the divine will of God. And it also introduces the notion that a person should be accountable for their actions, even when no specific individual is harmed. Self-interest motivated the great disobedience laws.

During the period around 1200BC to 800BC, the Israelite People created in Palestine a civilization that became of great importance to the development of Western law. Torah is the law given to Israelites by God. Torah has made a powerful and lasting impact on Western legal thought. The books of Numbers and Deuteronomy provided the basis for a more elaborate criminal law.

Criminal laws are referred to as the system of laws which are concerned with the punishment of those who commit crimes. Thus, it is to be differentiated from civil law. The idea of punishing lawbreakers through law goes back to the dawn of civilization. For example, the Code of Hammurabi, some 1750 years before the birth of Christ, had provisions which imposed punishment on those who were involved in misconduct that was distasteful to the code’s authors. For instance, if a building was constructed poorly.

3. Key Principles of Criminal Law

Legality – This is a simplification of the concept that an individual cannot be punished under a criminal law unless it has been proved to exist. This is important as many individuals or governments may claim that a person has committed a crime whether a law has been broken or not. This was seen in the case of R v R in 1992 where a husband was acquitted of raping his wife when the judge ruled that since 1979 a man could not rape his wife and so there was no such crime to answer to. This highlights that even if a crime is morally wrong, the accused must be informed of exactly what he is accused of doing, and there must be a corresponding law.

The rule of law – This is a vital principle of a free society. It means that the law must apply equally to all, an independent judiciary, and that the government is not above the law. If the government were to punish an individual by imprisoning them because they did an act that was not against the law or was not already a crime, then that could be seen as state despotism and lead the public to lose some of its confidence in the government. If the state can restrict an individual’s liberty, then it is fundamental that it justifies this, and so that individual must be able to see that there is a legal basis for their treatment enabling them to challenge this if it is considered unjust, which is the principle of Habeas Corpus. This plays a prominent role in any issue related to imprisonment.

4. Role of Criminal Law in Maintaining Order

Maintaining order is essential to the smooth running of society. It ensures that individuals are able to live their lives without interference from other people. Power abuse can be minimized through the formal mechanisms of social control provided by the criminal justice system. Without the protection from criminal acts offered by the justice system, people’s lives would be constantly under threat, and this would create a culture of fear and dependency. This is because the systems of informal control present in society, which discourage deviant behavior, are not always effective, and despite their best efforts, some individuals still commit criminal acts. If these individuals were not punished, then the moral tone of society would decrease, people’s faith in right and wrong, and the value of following the law would be lost. The result is that people would be unsure about the actions that they should take, and this moral relativity would lead to dependency on ruling authorities to provide decisions on acceptable behavior. This, in turn, undermines the confidence that individuals have in their capability of making their own decisions and in matters of immigration and criminal justice. The net result of a culture of fear, dependency, and moral relativity is that social order would be lost. It has been shown that societies which have a weakened or ineffective justice system have higher crime rates and generally higher tolerance levels for crime and delinquency. This, again, is because the punishment of offenders maintains the law and order. Successful prevention and treatment of crime are generally poor substitutes for the justice of a criminal act, proving someone to be guilty, and therefore punishing them.

5. Conclusion

The criminal law is an integral part of society that has a number of important functions and key goals. It has been put in place to protect the liberties of citizens, to maintain order and keep the peace, to identify criminal activities and to prosecute those who are involved in these activities, and to help and protect victims. The immense importance and relevance of law in any society is evident as it is a means of regulating behavior and resolving disputes between rival parties. It is essential that individuals are aware of what is considered acceptable behavior in a society so that they can avoid committing an offense. This is a general deterrent, which is put in place by the government changing the law so that the majority of the time it will, in turn, stop individuals from committing an offense. The more specific the law, the easier it is for the general public to know what they are doing is wrong and against the law. It can be seen in this category of private law, as it is under this section of criminal law where assault, battery, and intentional tort are located. An individual who has been assaulted is able to identify that it is a criminal activity and that the offending individual has breached the law. He can also identify what the specific tort was committed, and a notice served by the offender that he may not repeat the offense in the future.