The Difference between Civil and Criminal Cases

Laws are the system of restrictions that our society has put into place in order to prevent and punish individuals and organizations for venturing outside what we consider acceptable behavior. Legal violations all follow the same pattern, with a person violating the law, then the justice system bringing the person to trial for their behavior and the person being punished or not punished for their actions. Despite this similarity amongst all legal cases, laws can be divided into two categories: criminal and civil. These different areas of law follow the same pattern, but they differ essentially in the kind of outcome that they have have. Civil cases focus largely on restoring an injured party to the state they were in before the accused damaged them, while criminal cases focus more on disciplining the accused for their behavior. This difference in result means that it's important for a person to read more about the areas of law to better understand the charges.

Basic Difference

In civil cases (things like divorce, accident, injury) an individual who is found at fault will be penalized by requiring that they cease their behavior or that they pay for the damage that they have done. In a criminal case, the individual who is found at fault and guilty of a crime will be confined to prison or put on probation for a certain length of time. Criminal cases (things like murder, assault, theft) are unique because they don't require the person at fault be disciplined with money, but with their freedom. An individual who is found guilty in a criminal case is forced to forfeit some of their freedoms as punishment for their actions. This is why it is important for a person to read more about criminal cases so that they understand what is at stake. A person needs to know that if they are found guilty in a criminal case, they can be confined to prison. If a person doesn't understand what the consequence is for breaking the law in a criminal manner, then they will be unprepared for the potential loss of freedom as a consequence for their actions.