The Purpose of Criminal Law - 846 Words

Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The main purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and to help guide human conduct. Also, laws provide penalties and punishment against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or persons. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals’ namely criminal punishment, private action and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of costs and speed, they present big dangers that discourage their use unless in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the offender. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law†¦show more content†¦On the other hand, positive law is forced by the government for everyone to obey. In order for the law to be a positive law it must be formed and applied so that it is acceptable by most people .Common law is gear ed toward custom and usage for instance, nonstatutory customs, ways of life and examples that help steer the decisions of the judicial system The purpose of criminal law is to catch those individual’s that break the law and may harm other people. Not only does criminal law show individuals what they have done wrong but it also states what the punishment will be if the law is broken. Criminal law not only punishes the accused but it also offers protection through the judicial system that punishes and controls (http://www.hg.org/crime.html, 2012). The U.S. Constitution and state constitutions are written sources of American criminal law. They are the supreme law. The U.S. Constitution is the law of this country and the state constitutions are the supreme law of the state. 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