Criminal Law : An Arrangement Of Legal Guidelines

3. A misdemeanor or felony is a crime punishable by a fine or a jail sentence of less than one year?

The Constitutional is centered around power and where that power comes from. The enumerated powers established in Article 1, Section 8 have also given Congress the power to carry out laws in order to follow previously established powers. Governments stretch and bend problems in such a way that they will fit under the enumerated powers of the Constitution. All the enumerated powers have a list of adjunct statute not stated in the strict interpretation of the power. The Necessary and Proper Clause authorizes Congress to pass laws and the adoption of theses laws prompt questions. Examples of questions would be: “How strong must the means-end connection between the primary policy and the secondary rule be?” or “ What are the side effects of this law and how does it impact society?” Laws passed under the clause are placed under judicial review which determines if it applies under the Constitution.

“Criminal procedure is the branch of American constitutional law concerned with the state’s power to maintain an orderly society and the rights of citizens and residents to live in freedom from undue government interference with their liberty” (Zalman, 2008, p. 4). The Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth amendments are significant in studying criminal procedure. In criminal justice, the criminal procedure is important because it deals with the conflict between order and liberty directly. To understand the friction between order and liberty, Herbert Packer studied the competing values that underlie the constitutional order through the Due

Under the Civil Law system, the laws are written and codified that the judges have to follow verbatium. Whereas, under the common law system that is followed by Australia, India and the United Kingdom, the laws are codified, doctrine of precedents is followed but the higher courts have the power to over-rule old judgements and existing law in cases where the law breaches the basic structure. (Peterson)

The Constitution of the United States, signed September 17, 1787, is the basis of all government in the United States. It provides the general setup of the government through a system of checks and balances, the powers of each individual branch, and the standards to which the government should adhere. The US Constitution creates a blanket under which states

A Constitution serves to establish a government, and act as a guide and a reference. It encapsulates the ideals of a citizenry, and delegates powers to a central government. Federal and state governments utilize distinct Constitutions tailored to the specific needs and challenges of governing at the national and local levels.

Every state in the Union has created and implemented its own constitution. These constitutions provide the legal framework by which government operates. They also identify the specific role of government, and endow it with certain powers and authority. A constitution also creates a system for how power is to be delegated and distributed through the creation of branches and individual offices. Along with the authority it provides, constitutions create limits on this power of government, and establish checks and balances to further limit the scope of each individual branch and officeholder. Most importantly, constitutions provide unalienable rights to citizens that cannot be refused, or abridged by government. Each state’s constitution is different, however, all of them serve these functions, in order to, create a lasting government that acts in the best interests of its citizenry.

The court system is an organization in order to provide swift and accurate judgement to the public. When an individual commits a crime they are summoned to appear before a judge. The judge is the individual who will determine their fines, jail time and the overall outcome of a case. This paper will discuss mandatory minimum sentences and sentencing guidelines.

Criminal law involves inducing punishment to the convicted individual so that they would pay for their crimes. Civil law deals with disputes between individuals and redressing the wrongs by giving the victim compensation. Examples of criminal law include theft, murder, and robbery. Examples of civil law include, divorce proceedings, child custody proceedings, and property disputes. Five sources of criminal law in the United States include federal legislation, state legislation, municipal ordinances, executive orders, federal and state constitutions, and treaties and other international conventions. Federal legislation operates with its own set of rules apart from individual states. To determine whether if the crime is a federal offense depends

The U.S Constitution sets all the general rules and laws for the United States of America. The U.S. Constitution is very general because it is covering everything for the entire country. It gives an understanding on how the nation’s government works. Provides the framework of the proper functions, responsibilities, and what each section of the government has to provide. The U.S. Constitution is important to the country, but state constitutions are also important. State constitutions go in more depth pertaining to their states laws. Both carry the same amount of information, but each state finds their constitution more significant than the entire nations.

The differences between legal rules and other kinds of rules is that criminal law refers to the consequences associated with breaking them. As the substantive law meaning that it is the law of crimes, referring that Criminal law is the code conduct that all in the society need to follow the rule, and the prohibitions on murder, assault, and burglary. Meaning that if an individual violates or commits these crimes they are going to be treated as a criminal by punishing act from the state. Civil law is refers to procedural law to follow the rule of the state from someone that has committed a crime. Which it is divided into 5 categories, for example torts, property, contract, family, and juvenile law.

There are different levels of seriousness for different crimes. Crimes are often classified according to the level of seriousness, such as the distinction between felony and misdemeanor crimes. A felony is a more serious crime such as murder, kidnapping and robbery. A felony carries a year or more in a state prison (Shoener, 2017). Felony cases and all other civil lawsuit are heard in trial courts of general jurisdiction (Cole, Smith, & DeJong, 2017). A misdemeanor is a less serious crime such as shoplifting or a DUI. A misdemeanor usually carries a fine and a jail sentence of less than a year, If at all (Shoener ,2017). It’s important to know that it’s different levels and meanings to crimes. It’s very clear that crimes are classified by how serious they are. Any crime a person decides to do will

These rights enshrined in constitutions are rarely absolute. Constitutions often limit rights by making references to external laws, narrowing their scope to the public sphere, invoking religion, and pointing out the supremacy of other constitutional provisions. In addition, states often condition such rights on subjective considerations, including rights of others, order, security, and public morals. Notably, these limitations can produce negative consequences by infringing on the international standards adopted from international instruments.

Constitution is the basic principles and laws of a nation, state or social groups that determine the powers and duties of the government and guarantee certain rights to the citizen (Merriam-Webster online dictionary, n.d). In other words, it is a set of guidelines for a government to exercise the given power.

People understand the difference between right and wrong and that there are going to be consequences for their actions. People also understand that a crime is doing something that is wrong or illegal that there are punishments that fit the crime. However, there are also times when the punishment does not fit the crime or is excessive. People that commit these crimes do so in hoping that they won’t get caught but when they do they know that they are going to have a punishment that fits the crime. This paper is going to look at the difference between misdemeanors and felonies and the punishment that go with the crimes, and the sentencing guidelines in which the courts are supposed to follow, and process in which a criminal can request a sentence reduction, or appeal their current sentence.