Criminal Law and Its Importance to the Society - Essay Example

Question: Explain what criminal law is outlining its importance to the society. Discuss criminal procedure highlighting one of the challenges facing this part of criminal law. Name Instructor Course Date Criminal Law Criminal law can be understood in a substantive sense as a body of statutes and rules or norms promulgated formally by specific organs of the governments over which their contraventions would warrant punishment after prosecution by a specific prosecuting body. It involves criminal procedures where officially formalized activities are carried out to authenticate commission of crime and as such followed by punitive action on the offender. As such, criminal law concerns prosecution of a person or a government for the committed actions that can qualify to be a crime. However, what is crime? Crime is therefore that act committed by a person or government in contravention with the criminal law and as such is punishable. Crime is thus declared one depending on the given criminal law that is applicable to the situation or action (Ashworth, & Horder, 7). This paper therefore seeks to discuss criminal law through giving an explanation why criminal law exists and further outlining the criminal procedure as a part of criminal law that ensures that criminal justice is achieved. Why criminal laws Criminal law as established provides the procedures through which criminal justice can be achieved. Criminal laws therefore exist to enable individuals, organizations or governments respond in ways that enables coexistence. Criminal law provides the starting point of the criminal justice system by defining behavior that is to be regulated through the use of criminal law (Cross, 8). This is because criminal law establishes the principles for defining what is right or wrong within the law. As such the formulation of law will describe the wrong or the inacceptable acts. Further, criminal law establishes the penalties that are meted on those who commit the offenses in contravention with the established law (criminal law). This ensures that the behaviors that are deemed necessary for regulation are thus regulated by criminal law through formulation of the law and subsequent enforcement of such laws. Criminal laws are thus established with the purpose to deter economically inefficient actions that are not helpful to the economy (Cross, 11). This is a rather law and economics approach in the application or formulation of criminal law. An example provided in Cross’s book is where a person stills a car rather than buying it. This is viewed as a crime because it affects negatively the economy in the sense that it deprives an individual their economic development. Because the individual who stills the car chooses to do so willfully, criminal law therefore defines such a behavior as wrong and in contravention with it. As such penalties are imposed on the given behavior with an economic approach to the implications of the act. Additionally, criminal laws are established to enable enforcement of morality (Cross, 11). Morality in this case can be understood in the aspect of principles that define wrong or right as well as bad or good. They are thus particular value systems held by people and concern conduct. As such, criminal laws are established to criminalize the behaviors that are considered against the moral values that are common within a society. Therefore, if in a given society it is considered morally wrong for a person to have sexual intercourse with their kin, then a law will be established to make it a criminal offense to do so. That is, incest. As such we can deduce that criminal laws are established with the intentions of regulating morals within a society. Criminal laws can also be established with a paternalistic intention (Ashworth, & Horder, 13). This is to mean that the laws are made to ensure that people do not engage in certain behaviors for the safety of their lives. As such, these criminal laws prevent people from harming themselves or others. An example could be smoking or alcohol regulation laws. This prohibits drinking for those under the age of 18 thus preventing harm for those who would want to engage in drinking in childhood. Secondly, smoking prohibition laws that ensures the safety of those who do not smoke from being harmed through secondary smoking. Finally, criminal laws are established with a risk management approach where, a particular behavior is regulated due to the likely risk it can pose on the general public (Ashworth, & Horder, 15). This implies those risks that a particular behavior by an individual or group of people can engage in to create dangerous situations that can harm the people in their surroundings. Criminal procedure – Challenges of use of eyewitness Criminal procedure as a part of criminal law is the process of adjudicating criminal law. This process therefore involves formally charging a person, gathering of evidence and prosecution which will consequently result in acquittal or conviction of the given defendant. Criminal procedure is thus carried out to ensure justice is meted on the individuals or governments involved in the criminal offense (Monaghan, 31). Through the process of evidence gathering and subsequent prosecution, various evidences are arraigned in court to help establish the culpability or innocence of the individual charged. As such, the processes sometimes involve the use of eye witness evidence. However, this eyewitness evidence is mostly characterized with a lot of challenge in court processes. First, system variables challenges in eyewitness. These are those variables that can be controlled by the criminal justice system. They may include photographic as well as physical line up. In this case the use of eyewitness in court for a criminal prosecution can be defective as a result of influence by either the prosecution or the defendant. This is possible in the sense that when photographs of suspects are produced for the eyewitness to identify the suspect, the authority may deliberately fail to provide the suspects photo among that list or in the case of physical line up, the authorities deliberately fail to provide the suspect in the line. Psychologists say that the eyewitnesses are likely to end up with a person after all in the line or photos provided. This increases the error of prosecution in a criminal law (Wells, & Olson, 21). As such, the criminal justice can be compromised through the criminal procedure as an effect. Secondly, the estimator variables that can affect the ability of the eyewitness to clearly remember or recall the activities that happened during a particular incident. These may include, a person’s conditions like stress levels which will influence their ability to perceive and remember incidences that took place around them. When a person is so stressed they hardly can take note of small details about an event or activity (Wells, & Olson, 19). As such when such people are used to provide eye witness in a criminal case can affect the reliability of their evidence. This affects heavily the prosecution since the credibility of the evidence arraigned in court is pegged on the validity of the eye witnesses’ account. Another estimator variable in criminal law that affects the use of eyewitness in a criminal procedure involves the element of recognition and identification of a criminal or suspect. This happens on instances where a person committing crime for instance rape or theft was seen by the eyewitness but confused for someone else they well know. In most cases it happens with people who know one another or are friends. The eyewitness so someone still something but confused that thief to be the person they know. The problem that happens around recognizing a person in such cases of mistaken identity poses threats to the use of eyewitness evidence in prosecution. Additionally, reflection of conventional wisdom challenge where the witnesses’ distance from the suspect comes to play in the identification process. In such cases the witnesses’ distances affects their ability to identify correctly the suspect and as such are likely to confuse the identity of the suspect (Geiselman, Fisher, MacKinnon, & Holland, 17). This is detrimental in the manner that a wrong suspect may be identified as the person who committed the given crime. As such the information given by the eyewitness concerning the identity of the suspect may not be truth and thus affect the justice delivery process negatively. However, eye witness can sometimes provide very valid and credible accounts that can be very instrumental for the criminal procedure to ensure that those who engage in actions that arevin contravention with the established criminal laws are apprehended, charged, prosecuted and subsequently punished in accordance with the given law. Conclusion This essay having explained Criminal law as a substantive sense as a body of statutes and rules or norms promulgated formally by specific organs of the governments over which their contraventions would warrant punishment after prosecution by a specific prosecuting body and involving criminal procedures where officially formalized activities are carried out to authenticate commission of crime and as such followed by punitive action on the offender. It has further explained a challenge in a criminal procedure specifically focusing on use of eyewitness as well as its effect on the criminal procedure as a part of criminal law. These effects include the system and estimator variables which have an effect on the outcome of the process in general affecting the credibility of the criminal law processes. Works cited Ashworth, A., & Horder, J. (2013). Principles of criminal law. Oxford University Press. Monaghan, N. (2014) criminal law directions. Oxford University press 2014. Cross, N. (2009) criminal Law and Criminal Justice (an introduction). Liverpool John Moores University Press. Wells, G. L., & Olson, E. A. (2003). Eyewitness testimony. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 277-295. Geiselman, R. E., Fisher, R. P., MacKinnon, D. P., & Holland, H. L. (1985). Eyewitness memory enhancement in the police interview: cognitive retrieval mnemonics versus hypnosis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70(2), 401. Read More