American Criminal Law
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Introduction
American criminal law can be defined as the set rules and procedures regarding the punishment of individuals who commit crimes, for example, murder and assault. Criminal laws allow the government to use the legal system to provide justice by enforcing laws and punishing individuals who commit crimes in society. This paper aims to explain the sources of criminal law, the five elements of criminal liabilities, and explain the examples of necessity. Also, the paper will compare and contrast conspiracy and vicarious liability.
Sources of Criminal Law
Several sources of criminal law are used to establish the rules used in conducting trials and come up with a just way of punishing criminals. Criminal law comes from different cases, including statutory law, court cases, constitutional law, common law, and administrative law. Statutory law refers to written laws passed by legislative assemblies. Court cases are characterized by using previous rulings to solve a similar case (Barbu, 2018). Common law refers to the making of decisions on cases based on legal customs. Constitutional law, another source of criminal law, refers to using states’ constitutions to judge the cases. Lastly, administrative law refers to laws made by organizations, U.S. government agencies, and commissions; the agencies have the power to make rules that have the force of the law. Besides, the organizations can investigate violations and impose sanctions.
The pros and cons relating to criminal law sources; are advantageous because they influence laws and structures by providing judges’ reference in making rulings regarding different cases. Nevertheless, one of the disadvantages of criminal law sources is that the laws have not been changed in a long time. Hence they cannot accommodate the changing nature of the world (Barbu, 2018). Also, common law is not practical because some norms are backward in society while others are discriminative depending on the cultural orientations of individuals. For example, societies that see gender-based violence against women, as usual, may not find justice for women who are abused.
Elements of criminal liability
Criminal liability refers to the act of an individual taking responsibility for a crime they committed, including serving the charges against the offense they committed. The five criminal liability elements are attendant circumstances, criminal act, criminal intent, causation, and concurrence (Weigend, 2014).
“Ignorance is no defense.”
This phrase is used in the criminal law concept to mean that the failure to understand the requirements of the law should not be used as an excuse to explain why people commit crimes. In my opinion, this statement is fair because, as citizens of states, we should understand the laws. Nevertheless, the phrase should not apply in all cases, for example, for people who committed crimes because they have mental health problems. It would be unfair to punish a mad man for committing a crime he does not understand.
Examples of Necessity
Necessity in criminal law refers to the act of individuals committing a crime because the acts were justified. An example is when an individual kills another person for self-defense purposes; this action is justified because the crime occurred when one of the victims was trying to prevent more harm (Alvarez et al., 2010). Another example of necessity is when an individual is found outside past curfew hours because they attended a sick child. Necessity applies in this case, and the case is justified because the person broke the curfew rules to seek medication for the sick child, failure to get medication may cause the child’s death. In necessity defense, the crime is justified when the harm caused is not greater than the one prevented. Also, the defendant did not cause or contribute to the threat.
The most controversial excuse for defense
In my opinion, the most controversial excuse for defense is a mistake caused by an emotional reaction. Committing a crime and defining the act as a mistake cannot be justified. I believe that mistakes can be prevented by having the right choices on how to control emotions. Anger should not be a reason as to why people decide to kill in case there is an argument. A mistake is a choice that individuals make, and they should be punished for the crimes committed.
Complicity and Vicarious liability
Complicity liability is defined as a situation in which an individual helps another to commit a crime. In contrast, vicarious liability is the situation in which one party is held accountable for other parties’ criminal acts. These two concepts differ in that, in Complicity liability, both parties consent to the criminal actions. In vicarious liability, the two parties involved may not agree about the committing of the crime. Still, they both have a connection to the crime (Wang, 2018). Another difference between the two is that in complicity liability, both parties are charged for the crime. However, in the case of vicarious liability, only one party is charged for the offense that is committed.
Conspiracy or solicitation
In my opinion, conspiracy is a more severe crime when compared to a solicitation. Conspiracy is more severe because it involves an agreement between two parties in committing the crime; hence, the crime’s magnitude and effect are significant. On the other hand, solicitation involves one party, and in some cases, the threatened individual may not fall into the trap of the criminal.
Conclusion
This paper discusses criminal law concepts, such as collaboration and liability, conspiracy and solicitation, necessity, ignorance is no defense and criminal liability elements.
References
Alvarez, J. E., & Brink, T. (2010). Revisiting the Necessity Defense. Yearbook on international investment law and policy, 2011, 11-09.
Barbu, S. G. (2018). Observations from a constitutional perspective regarding the sources of criminal law and criminal procedure law. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series VII: Social Sciences and Law, 11(2-Suppl), 9-18.
Degan, V. D. (2005). On the sources of international criminal law. Chinese Journal of International Law, 4(1), 45-83.
Wang, V. B. (2018). Participation in Crimes: An End to Derivative Complicity Liability?. Participation in Crimes: An End to Derivative Complicity Liability
Weigend, T. (2014). Subjective elements of criminal liability. In The Oxford handbook of criminal law.