Criminal

Criminal law is an area of law that is more widely recognized than any other area. This kind of law involves prosecution by the US government of a person who commits an act that has been deemed a crime. A crime can be defined as an act or an omission of act that violates a public law which forbids it or commands it.

Elements

There are many, many elements that comprise criminal law. Crimes can be felonies (more serious offenses) or can be misdemeanors (less serious offenses). There are a wide range of elements that can be involved, although most crimes can typically be reduced to the elements explained below.

Actus reus and mens rea are important elements of criminal law. Actus reus means the voluntary commission of a guilty act, whereas mens rea is the guilty mind and the intent of the accused. These two elements are the founding elements of criminal law that prosecutors must prove in order to yield a conviction. These two elements must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Other elements of criminal include causation and concurrence of mental fault with the physical act. Causation has two main types - was the crime foreseeable and would the act have occurred if it weren't for the act of someone else. The concurrence of mental fault with the physical act is defined as the mens rea occurs concurrently with the actus reus - the guilty intent occurs at the time of the act or omission.

Social harm is an element of criminal law that distinguishes it from contract or tort law as it implies that society as a whole has been damaged by the criminal act.

Jurisdiction

Criminal laws are established by federal, local and state governments. Therefore, criminal laws can vary significantly between states and counties.  Understandably, the punishments for crimes can vary significantly as well between these areas of governing authorities.

For criminal law jurisdiction, if an act has been committed in an area under control by the federal government then it is deemed to be a federal criminal law. Therefore most criminal law is regulated by state governments. While the majority of criminal law is regulated by state law, most states do delegate some law-making authority to local districts, such as townships, counties etc.