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Criminal Law • Introduction
CRIMLAW#000
Legal Definition
Criminal Law is, in many ways, similar to Torts: whereas Torts are wrongful acts that harm others and lead to civil liability (meaning a civilian has the right to sue another civilian), Criminal Law covers wrongful acts that are specifically and uniquely so wrong that society as a whole becomes the plaintiff, represented by the government, to prosecute a defendant.
On exams, Criminal Law is often tested either by itself or combined with Criminal Procedure. Like torts, you will usually organize your essays in the order of crimes identified, unless the prompt tells you otherwise. For example, some exams may ask you to broadly identify any and all crimes you can spot from a specific actor, like Bob. In these cases, you would title your section "Crimes of Bob," then discuss every crime, one by one, in IRAC form that you've identified from the fact pattern. Also be sure to discuss any potential defenses to crimes that you've identified. You'll want to focus your attention on the more substantive elements of each crime, whether the facts support that they have occurred, and ultimately your conclusion as to whether the crime is established. Note that for crimes that are jointly committed by two or more actors, you need only discuss such crimes once.
In other words, on a Criminal Law exam, you become the prosecutor and the defense attorney, which means it is common for you to have to argue both sides of each crime depending on the fact pattern.
On exams, Criminal Law is often tested either by itself or combined with Criminal Procedure. Like torts, you will usually organize your essays in the order of crimes identified, unless the prompt tells you otherwise. For example, some exams may ask you to broadly identify any and all crimes you can spot from a specific actor, like Bob. In these cases, you would title your section "Crimes of Bob," then discuss every crime, one by one, in IRAC form that you've identified from the fact pattern. Also be sure to discuss any potential defenses to crimes that you've identified. You'll want to focus your attention on the more substantive elements of each crime, whether the facts support that they have occurred, and ultimately your conclusion as to whether the crime is established. Note that for crimes that are jointly committed by two or more actors, you need only discuss such crimes once.
In other words, on a Criminal Law exam, you become the prosecutor and the defense attorney, which means it is common for you to have to argue both sides of each crime depending on the fact pattern.
