Relationship Between the Civil and Criminal Law, Essay Example

“Both criminal and civil cases involve a dispute over the rights and responsibilities of the people involved”. (American Bar Association, 2009) Civil law deals more with the personal wrongdoings while criminal is about the wrongs against society.

For example, if someone steals your property, you can sue the wrongdoer in the civil court in order to get reimbursement or compensation. In this case society in general is being harmed, and the state will prosecute the individual for harming society. However, if somebody insults you personally, then you file a lawsuit against the person in order to get compensation in civil court. But in this case society has not been harmed. In many cases government addresses the criminal case while civil matters are usually brought by individuals. Criminal law deals with psychotherapy or penalty for wrongdoings, and results in fines or incarceration. Civil law has the primary purpose of compensation.

In some cases individuals cannot be imprisoned for a civil matter, but they can be for a criminal wrong. In civil court the weight of proof is a prevalence of the evidence. In criminal courts the burden is beyond the doubt, which means that the judges must be totally certain before they accuse someone of being guilty.

References

American Bar Association. (2009). Criminal Law. How do civil and criminal law differ? Retrieved April 23, 2009 from http://www.abanet.org/publiced/practical/criminal/criminal_civil.html.