Criminal Law: Introduction

The study of criminal law is the study of crimes and the principles of criminal responsibility for those crimes...A person charged with a crime is presumed innocent. Moreover, she may not be convicted - the presumption of innocence is not overcome - unless her guilt is proved "beyond a reasonable doubt"...Generally speaking, crimes have two components: the "actus reus," the physical or external portion of the crime; and the "mens rea," the mental or internal feature...The actus reus of an offense consists of (1) a voluntary act (or, rarely, a failure to act); (2) that causes; (3) social harm...A careful look at the definition of "actus reus"...indicates that there must be a link between the voluntary act (or omission) and social harm. That link is "causation"; the defendant's voluntary act (or omission) must "result in" - cause - the social harm...Generally speaking, "mens rea" has two meanings...Broadly speaking "mens rea" is defined as "a general immorality of motive," "vicious will," or an "evil-meaning mind"..."Mens rea" may also be defined, simply, as "the particular mental state provided for in the definition of an offense."

- Joshua Dressler, Understanding Criminal Law (8th ed. 2018). 

First, unlike torts and contracts, the criminal law involves public law. That is, although the direct and immediate victim of a crime typically is a private party (e.g., the person who is robbed, assaulted, or kidnapped), and other individuals are indirectly harmed (e.g., the family members of the direct victim), a crime involves more than a private injury. A crime causes "social harm," in that the injury suffered involves "a breach and violation of the public rights and duties, due to the whole community, considered as a community, in its social aggregate capacity." For this reason, crimes in the United States are prosecuted by public attorneys representing the community as a whole, and not by privately retained counsel. There is more, however, that should distinguish a criminal wrong from its civil counterpart. A person convicted of a crime is punished..."[T]he essence of punishment...lies in the criminal conviction itself," rather than in the specific hardship imposed as a result of the conviction. The hardship suffered as a result of the criminal conviction may be no greater or even less than that which results from a civil judgment...What, then, essentially distinguishes the criminal law from its civil counterpart, or at least should distinguish it, is the societal condemnation and stigma that accompanies the conviction. 

- Joshua Dressler, Understanding Criminal Law (8th ed. 2018). 

• Homicide 
  • Murder
  • Manslaughter
  • Negligent Homicide
  • Felony Murder
• Theft
  • Larceny
  • Larceny by Trick
  • Embezzlement 
  • False Pretenses 
  • Burglary 
  • Robbery 
• Rape (Sexual Assault) 
• Attempts
• Solicitation
• Conspiracy 
• Accomplice Liability