Task 1. Read and render the following text.

Criminal law absorbs our attention in a way that no other body of law does. Horrific crimes, juicy tales of passion, and mundane muggings occupy the front pages and public attention. Criminal law is a hot political topic that has immediate personal dimensions. But, as elsewhere in the law, the issues are more complicated than they seem.

To define criminal law, we need to distinguish it from other bodies of law that do something like that, and to distinguish the substantive criminal law from the process that applies it.

Criminal law is the body of law that defines criminal offenses, regulates the apprehension, charging, and trial of suspected persons, and fixes punishment for convicted offenders. Criminal law defines acts as criminal. In other words, however immoral or unjust an act may be thought to be, it is not a crime unless the law says it is one. Criminal acts are so wrongful that when someone commits a criminal act as distinguished from some other type of wrong, she is not just made to pay damages or be snubbed at the country club, she is punished.

We need criminal law to punish criminals and prevent crime.

The first purpose criminal law serves is to define what behavior society regards as wrongful. It is wrong to murder your neighbor, set fire to her house, or steal her lawnmower. The acts defined as criminal often (but not always) have the most serious consequences for others; murder and arson are very harmful, but stealing your neighbor’s lawnmower probably is less of a social evil than manufacturing lawnmowers without adequate safety devices, which is only a civil wrong.

A crime is usually defined as a voluntary act or omission, together with a given state of mind. The state of mind involves purpose, awareness, recklessness, or negligence. Acts committed during fits of epilepsy or while sleepwalking are involuntary and thus do not qualify as crimes. Mental disorders are also recognized as limiting or absolving responsibility for acts otherwise regarded as criminal. The law of most countries recognizes that the use of force might be justifiable. The use of force might be justifiable in self-defense, defense of other persons, protection of property, and enforcement of the law. Criminal acts include arson, rape, treason, aggravated assault, theft, burglary, robbery, murder, and conspiracy. [Conspiracy is a secret plan made by two or more people to do something that is harmful or illegal.] Criminal law also deals with the preparation of charges and with trial procedures. The latter involves the formation of juries, the guarantee of a public trial, the right to counsel, the presentation of evidence, the establishment of guilt, and sentencing, if guilt has been established. Criminal law is concerned with postconviction procedures, such as calling for a new trial or challenging a conviction, either in the court where the conviction was declared or in appeal to a higher court.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-19