by Michael Totten

Created on: March 10, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2009

Criminal is a term defining a suspected or known breach of a society's laws, as determined by that society's legislative and judicial structure. The legislative branch of government is responsible for enacting laws defining what is to be considered criminal, and the judicial branch is responsible for interpreting those laws. Technically the term 'criminal' has no meaning except as it relates to enacted laws under a criminal code, as opposed to a civil code of law. However, it is also popular usage to brand as criminal any person or action which breaks the unwritten rules of a society.

A person is defined as a criminal once a court of law finds him guilty of having broken a criminal code law. (Those who break civil and contract law are not strictly considered to be criminals.) Ideally, the court of law tries to determine the truth of the matter. However, whether the person has actually broken the law is immaterial. What matters is the verdict of 'guilty.'

An action may be considered criminal before it is known whether the person who committed the action is a criminal. For example, causing someone to come to harm is a criminal action, but if a court of law finds that the person who caused this could not have been reasonably aware that his action would cause harm, he is not a criminal. In the same way, ignorance of the law does not excuse a person from being a criminal, but inability to comprehend the law might. Intent does not change the criminal label, only the specific law which has been broken.

In the strict legal sense, a person who is found incapable of discriminating between right and wrong cannot be convicted of a criminal act. This usually applies to young children, to the mentally handicapped, and to people found criminally insane.

In fact, now that insanity is no longer a medical term, the only valid meaning of insanity is the legal distinction of whether a defendant had the ability to distinguish right from wrong at the time of committing the criminal act. Some jurisdictions additionally require that the defendant was not in control of his actions at the time of the crime. It is possible to find a person criminally insane at the time of the crime without judging on current sanity, such as a person who suffered a serious psychotic episode at the time the crime was committed. In all cases where mental handicap or criminal insanity is suspected, the defendant is examined by psychiatrists for fitness to stand trial, for assessment of any underlying cognitive

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>