Criminal law is the part of the Australia legal system that is enforced by the government as punishment for individuals who break laws designed to protect society and people living within it.
Criminal law is the set of regulations that define and govern criminal offenses, including misdemeanors and felonies. It regulates the charging of individuals suspected of committing certain crimes. It also regulates apprehension and is designed to put suspected offenders in court trials. Likewise, it fixes punishments for individuals who are found guilty of committing crimes beyond reasonable doubt.
Australian criminal law is based on the English common law which has evolved between the states and, unlike the civil law which may be enforced by private parties, it is government dependent. In Australian criminal law, punishments and charges are generally administered by individual jurisdictions on a state-by-state basis with only a very small number of criminal cases left for the Commonwealth government to prosecute.
Those charged with a crime in Australia and entitled to the 'innocent before proven guilty' style of justice with the criminal lawyers job to maintain their client's innocence while the prosecutor tries to prove guilt.
Criminal law covers a wide range of crimes and it one of the most diverse areas of the law with criminal lawyers even specifying within the Australian criminal law system. Criminal law can be broken down into several areas such as White collar crimes, Drug offences, Sexual offences, Homicides, Extradition and more recently, Terrorism.
Criminal law punishments are dependent on the seriousness of the crime and the guilty party. Criminal law punishments may include gaol time, government supervision (parole or probation), or fines.
A criminal lawyer or a criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer who specifically works within the criminal law system in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal conduct.
Criminal lawyers are especially trained and are well-equipped with knowledge concerning criminal offenses and the laws which govern them and can either be working within a private practice or they can be what are called public defenders, meaning they are actually employed by government entities with cases allocated to them.
Those in need of a criminal lawyer are those who have been charged with a crime under the Australian criminal law, or penal law, with are generally defined as a crime against society and the public ranging from murder and manslaughter to larceny to petty theft. Furthermore, a criminal lawyer can work on cases in non-police prosecutions such as Australian Securities and Investment Commission or the Australian Tax office.
A criminal lawyer will handle a client's case through all stages of a criminal prosecution including preliminary hearings, plea bargains, pre-trial conferences, and during trials before a jury or judge, and in any appeals.
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