Categories of Crime - Essay Example

As stated previously, criminal law differs from civil law in that it requires an agent of the government, whether state or federal, to charge someone accused of a crime and prove that they are guilty of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Except in cases where the accused has foregone, or waived, his right to a trial by a jury, the decision of guilt or innocence must be determined by a jury of his or her peers, usually a twelve-person group of randomly selected citizens that have no knowledge of the crime that the defendant has committed (American Bar Association, 2011).

This is to help protect the accused by forcing the jury to make a decision of guilt or innocence based on what they hear in the courtroom, not what they have read, heard, or seen somewhere else (American Bar Association, 2011). The two most common types of crimes prosecuted in state courts involve felonies and misdemeanors. Felonies are the more serious of the two, and usually come with a penalty of no less than 12 months in prison, and can be punishable by death in some states (Cornell University Law School, 2010). . After the War for Independence, a push was made for less of a harsh legal system, and through the years certain crimes have undergone evolution.

For example, murder was split into two categories, and a bill was duly passed by the 1794 Pennsylvania legislature to include felony murder in the category of first-degree murders (McClain, and Kahan, 2002). Other crimes as well, such as the actions that constitute a misdemeanor, have seen their own evolution through the legal system since colonial times (McClain, and Kahan, 2002). Espionage and treason differ from felonies and misdemeanor crimes in that they are most often considered federal crimes, and as such are usually tried in a federal court, not by state courts.

As per the Federal Judiciary System, the federal courts are involved because the United States is quite often the party in the case. Even in cases of industrial espionage, or trade secrets, it is a federal crime made so by the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, in which two sections, according to the House of Representatives and Title 18 of the United States Code, criminalized the act of both foreign economic espionage, and commercial economic espionage. Espionage, according to the Miriam-Webster Dictionary, is defined as “the practice of spying or using spies to obtain information about the plans and activities especially of a foreign government or competing company”, while according to the Constitution, treason is an act of war against levied one’s own country (U.S. Government Printing).

More specifically, it is defined in modern times by the U.S. Code, Title 18, which states, in part, that whoever has allegiance to the United