What is criminal law?

Answer 1

Civil law is designed to restore the victim, to make the victim whole, with restitution, putting them back into the position they were in before the civil offense. There is no punishment. There is a clear victim, a person.

In contrast, criminal law requires no actual victim at all, which is why we have "victimless crimes" such as drug laws. A crime is considered an offense against society, and the goal is unrelated to restitution to real victims (other than with Victim's rights legislation), but to punish. the penalty is raw punishment, to inflict pain onto the criminal defendant, either with fines, financially or incarceration, jail or prison. The criminal defendant usually requires some "guilty mind" (apart from strict liability offenses like DUIs or littering). There must be some intent, or at least criminal negligence.

Historically, crimes were the same as civil torts, but as legislatures expanded crimes, they have come to encompass much more. Basically, if the legislature calls an offense a crime, it's a crime. Civil offenses are more common law. Crimes are now by written statutes, although they tend to a large extent the original common law definitions.

There's some overlap. "Punitive damages" or exemplary damages are allowed in civil cases, where the sole purpose is to "punish" the loser in a civil offense. Some argue that should really require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but as in OJ's civil case, all the jury found was a preponderance of the evidence before punishing OJ with millions of dollars in punitive damages.

Still, the basic difference is the court punishes a criminal defendant for a crime, while the court only awards damages to restore the real victim to his position prior to the civil offense.