CRIMINAL LAW

Criminal Law



Criminal Law

Introduction

The establishment of the criminal law is to ensure that no person commits an act that is not accepted by the society and is illegal. The law does not allow such acts; therefore, should not be committed. There are various reasons why a person should not commit such acts. Every country has its own criminal law and has different sets of rules and regulations. It is not necessary that every country has the same criminal act. There are instances where one act is deemed as unlawful in one country and are legal in another country. This paper will discuss the UK criminal laws and will also discuss the impact of Coroners Justice Act 2009, with respect to the current case study.

Discussion

English Criminal Law

The English criminal law is a law body in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. This jurisdiction deals with the crimes and their impacts. The English legal system is common with other countries of the Commonwealth states. In the English Criminal law, there are fundamentals of crime known as actus reus, which means unlawful act, and mens ra, which means guilty mind. These are two Latin words that should the intention of a person to commit a crime. There are few defences that exist for people who commit crime (Cotterill 2007, pp. 119-271). Such cases require a trial. There may be cases when a person claims that the person who committed a crime is insane or was not in control of him, while committing the crime or were intoxicated. Trial is held in such cases where issues are raised evidences are presented and then the judges' give their decision (Hall 2005, pp. 551-642).

Theories of Criminal Law

There are a lot of criminological theories. A lot of theories have been presented to show that crime is committed by individuals due to various reasons. Different perspectives help us to understand the mentality of the criminals. The different criminological theories are (The Stationery Office 2009, pp. 168-272):

Biological Theories

Psychological Theories

Social Learning Theory

Social Bonding and Control Theories

Labelling Theory

Social Disorganization, Anomie, and Strain Theories

Conflict Theory

Marxist and Critical Theories

Feminist Theories

Integrating Criminological Theories

The philosophical theories of criminal law can be normative as well as analytical. The analytical theorists only seek to understand the concept of criminal law. They do not seek strict definitions of criminal law to understand what it contains and what crimes. They seek to explain the fundamental features of criminal law so that everyone is clear about what criminal law is. On the other hand, the normative theorists not only focus on the explanation of the criminal law, but also on what it ought to be (Glasson 2010, pp. 332-400). They ask the question whether a criminal law system should be maintained or not, and for answering this question, many other questions need to be answered.

The Coroner

The name Coroner appeared in 1194, which means "representative, guarantor of interests of the crown. In some countries, Coroner is an authorized officer, who specifically investigates the deaths that occur in unusual circumstances, and ...