You may have heard about UK criminal law or at least the basics. You have probably seen lots of cops arrest criminals in movies and lock them up. Easy right? Well, wrong!!!
The truth is, UK criminal law generally goes beyond what movies tell us, and that is what this article would be telling you about.
So, what exactly is UK Criminal law? Let’s read on to learn more.
What is UK Criminal law?
UK Criminal law has to do with offenses, their prevention, and their consequences.
Criminal conduct is seen as doing wrong against the entire community instead of just the affected private individuals.
The state, alongside specific international organizations, is responsible for preventing crime and bringing culprits to book. It is also responsible for dealing with offenders who have been convicted.
The criminal courts, police, and prisons are services that public funds run.
Although the primary emphasis of criminal law has to do with the court’s role, how they apply common law and criminal statutes, and why some kinds of behavior are deemed unlawful, the basics of a crime are a guilty mental state and a guilty act.
Intrigued? Well, there is more.
The usual view is that moral culpability means that a defendant should have observed or noticed that their behavior was wrong.
But in the current regulation, a huge number of offenses have to do with environmental damage. Road traffic, among others, creates a strict liability that the guilty act can only prove.
Some crimes have existing defenses. For example, an accused individual may, in specific circumstances, claim they are insane and were not aware of what they were doing; they were intoxicated and not in charge of their bodies.
They could also claim they acted under duress, self-defense, was provoked, or as a result of necessity.
These are issues that can bring up at trial for which there are elaborate rules of procedures and evidence to be.
