What is the difference between a criminal charge and civil charge and why are they treated differently if the crime remains the same?
In: Other
A charge is “criminal” if it can result in you being imprisoned. Criminal charges require that you be found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt” – which is a very high standard as far as what the prosecution needs to prove.
A charge is a “civil violation” if you’ve violated a law of some sort, but the maximum penalty does not include jail time (IE, there is no way for you to go to jail if convicted). Civil charges just require that the prosecution prove that its likely that you broke the law. This is a pretty low standard for what the prosecution needs to prove and its usually pretty easy for them to do that.
If you’re charged with a criminal offense then you *almost always* have the right to a lawyer and a jury trial. If you’re charged civilly you don’t have a right to either of those things – they may still be provided to you but it does not violate your constitutional rights if they aren’t.
The laws that are considered criminal are typically things that you would associate with serious crimes – theft, rape, murders, ect…
The laws that are considered civil violations are typically minor things like traffic violations or violating administrative laws.
Civil violations can become criminal, but that typically requires you to *really* violate the law in some way. IE, there is a regulation that says that your business is only allowed to dump 10 tons of waste into the river. If you dump 11 tons of waste one year then that’s probably going to be a civil infraction. If you dump 1000 tons of waste then that civil infraction will likely be bumped up to a criminal charge for whoever was responsible for disposing the business’ waste.
OJ was found innocent in criminal court meaning that he could not be arrested for murder. But the civil court found him guilty so he owed his victims money but was already acquitted of the murder charge and you can’t get charged again for the same crime in America
Latest Answers