CRIMINAL LAW NOTES
Lecture 1: Introduction to Criminal Law
Defining crime
It’s difficult to provide a definition of what is crime in the abstract.
It’s difficult to reach a definition that englobes every kind of crime.
o It should cover homicide, rape, money fraud, etc, at the same time,
Definitions change throughout time as society evolves.
o Ex: domestic violence.
o Private spheres weren’t covered for criminal law until pretty recently.
o Values and priorities of society changes through times.
There is diverse theories and definitions that have its own complexities.
o Moral perspectives.
There is a difficulty to distinguish between civil and criminal wrongs.
Parties involved: criminal law has an RV followed by the surname.
o R: rex or regina. The Crown against this person.
Crown Prosecution Services.
Prosecutions under criminal law involves the state.
o If there are two private parties involved, it is a civil case.
Courts involved.
o Magistrates Court.
o Crown Court.
o Supreme Court: it is for both.
Standards of proof: its much higher than any civil case.
o The standard should be beyond any reasonable doubt.
Outcomes.
o Criminal cases: guilty or not guilty.
o Civil cases: liable and not liable.
o Criminal sanctions are mainly prison or community orders.
Civil tend to involve monetary compensation.
There are situations in which civil and criminal law could overlap.
,Crime rates in England and Wales
From the beginning of 2000’s, there is a declining in crime.
It reaches its lowest point around 2013/14.
Since then, it has been increasing along recent years.
o It reached its highest rate in 2021/22.
The reported crime rate of England and Wales in 2020/21 was 106 crimes per
thousand population.
Since WW2, crime has been declining sustainedly.
It’s necessary to do a distinction between reported crime and unreported crime.
Reported crime: when people go to the police an filled a report.
Statistics of ONS: only around half of the offences are reported.
o Rise in crime rates: policing, rising of the denunciation of certain
crimes.
Around 11 million people in the UK have a criminal record under the age of 53.
9 percent of them are women, the rest are all men.
Around one third of men and 9 per cent of women will be convicted of a
criminal offence by the age of 53.
When should criminal law act?
Tendency to over criminalising actions just because society perceives it as incorrect.
Anthony Duff: It should act when there is a disturbance of the public order.
Criminal law should not be interested it is on the private space.
o Problematic issues: domestic violence.
o Criminal law should be interested on it only it is happen in the middle of
the street, but not behind close door.
It should act as a guarantee of public order.
Principle of vulnerability: criminal law should act just in the cases that people is
unable to protect themselves.
The state should protect the people that is vulnerable and act for them.
A response to how to distinguish between civil and criminal law.
o Criminal: when individuals cannot defend themselves through civil law.
A response to the issue of domestic violence.
,Theories that look to the principles that should guide action of criminal law:
Principle of autonomy: law should ONLY intervene when one’s right to act is affected
by third parties.
Justification of the existence of criminal law: without criminal law, other people
would not be able to conduct their lives as they want.
It is not true that everybody has the same right to conduct their lives.
o A person would be disabled, economic vulnerability, other social
issues.
Restriction to the use of criminal law.
Justification of censure.
Principle of harm: criminal law should only intervene to prevent harm to other.
Criminal law HAS THE DUTY TO prevent harm towards third parties.
o Intervention only when there’s harm being inflicted.
Problematic areas: defining harm. What is harm? How to define it?
o Physical, psychological?
o What happened when that harm is consented.
BDSM Practices.
How can we know when act If there is no clear definitions of it?
It does permit to limit the action of criminal law.
o John Stuart Mill: criminal law should not act based on moral principles.
o It limits the use of moralism in criminal law.
Dilemma with the inclusion of moral values and principles.
CL should be able to act when moral values are being infringed.
o Moral values play a role within our criminal law system.
Discussions in Parliaments usually takes them into account.
o Moral values are what sustain societies, so CL should act for them.
There are no clear criteria to decide what moral values should be protected.
o Some values could not be shared by a vast majority.
o The selected values could not be the election of all people.
Multicultural societies: what moral values should be included?
Principle of practicality: criminal law should criminalise only those things that can be
actually prosecuted, put through in court and get a sentence.
Restriction of the action of criminal lawyer.
o Over criminalisation should be avoided because all of those things
can’t actually be prosecuted.
o Justify conducts that should be criminalised.
, The resources of the state are so limited to criminalise everything.
These are only academic theories, but the practice of criminal law is different.
Main principles of criminal law
Principle of legality: a crime only is what it is legally defined as so.
Codified principle: European Convention on Human Rights.
o Translation into British law: Human Rights Act.
As a citizen, you should be able to find which conducts are being criminalised
and what are not.
o The law should be clearly formulated in writing.
o You cannot be punished for something that was not a crime when
acting.
Subprinciples of principle of legality.
Clarity of law: the law should be clear for all.
o It is not always the case in all criminal cases.
It must be publicly available to the country.
o Ex: judgement, a piece of legislation, etc.
It must have the capacity of being obeyed.
o Ex: breathing in public cannot be punished.
It must be prospective.
o It is not retrospective: if the law its created today, people who
committed that crime yesterday could not be penalised.
Principle of responsibility: you should be guilty of those actions for which you’re
responsible.
If you’re not responsible enough for yourself for any reason, you must not be
penalised for your actions.
o Children.
o Mental illnesses.
Ex: if you’re having an epileptic fit and commit a criminal act, you cannot be
accountable for those crimes.
Principle of minimal criminalisation: it should only act when it’s strictly necessary.
It comes from the idea that criminal law it’s a several restrictions of liberty.
o The most severe sanction that the law can impose on you.
It shouldn’t be used if there is any other less several legal options.
o Civil law, administrative law, etc.
Current tendence to over criminalise: deal with complex social problems with
criminal law instead of looking for the roots.
Lecture 1: Introduction to Criminal Law
Defining crime
It’s difficult to provide a definition of what is crime in the abstract.
It’s difficult to reach a definition that englobes every kind of crime.
o It should cover homicide, rape, money fraud, etc, at the same time,
Definitions change throughout time as society evolves.
o Ex: domestic violence.
o Private spheres weren’t covered for criminal law until pretty recently.
o Values and priorities of society changes through times.
There is diverse theories and definitions that have its own complexities.
o Moral perspectives.
There is a difficulty to distinguish between civil and criminal wrongs.
Parties involved: criminal law has an RV followed by the surname.
o R: rex or regina. The Crown against this person.
Crown Prosecution Services.
Prosecutions under criminal law involves the state.
o If there are two private parties involved, it is a civil case.
Courts involved.
o Magistrates Court.
o Crown Court.
o Supreme Court: it is for both.
Standards of proof: its much higher than any civil case.
o The standard should be beyond any reasonable doubt.
Outcomes.
o Criminal cases: guilty or not guilty.
o Civil cases: liable and not liable.
o Criminal sanctions are mainly prison or community orders.
Civil tend to involve monetary compensation.
There are situations in which civil and criminal law could overlap.
,Crime rates in England and Wales
From the beginning of 2000’s, there is a declining in crime.
It reaches its lowest point around 2013/14.
Since then, it has been increasing along recent years.
o It reached its highest rate in 2021/22.
The reported crime rate of England and Wales in 2020/21 was 106 crimes per
thousand population.
Since WW2, crime has been declining sustainedly.
It’s necessary to do a distinction between reported crime and unreported crime.
Reported crime: when people go to the police an filled a report.
Statistics of ONS: only around half of the offences are reported.
o Rise in crime rates: policing, rising of the denunciation of certain
crimes.
Around 11 million people in the UK have a criminal record under the age of 53.
9 percent of them are women, the rest are all men.
Around one third of men and 9 per cent of women will be convicted of a
criminal offence by the age of 53.
When should criminal law act?
Tendency to over criminalising actions just because society perceives it as incorrect.
Anthony Duff: It should act when there is a disturbance of the public order.
Criminal law should not be interested it is on the private space.
o Problematic issues: domestic violence.
o Criminal law should be interested on it only it is happen in the middle of
the street, but not behind close door.
It should act as a guarantee of public order.
Principle of vulnerability: criminal law should act just in the cases that people is
unable to protect themselves.
The state should protect the people that is vulnerable and act for them.
A response to how to distinguish between civil and criminal law.
o Criminal: when individuals cannot defend themselves through civil law.
A response to the issue of domestic violence.
,Theories that look to the principles that should guide action of criminal law:
Principle of autonomy: law should ONLY intervene when one’s right to act is affected
by third parties.
Justification of the existence of criminal law: without criminal law, other people
would not be able to conduct their lives as they want.
It is not true that everybody has the same right to conduct their lives.
o A person would be disabled, economic vulnerability, other social
issues.
Restriction to the use of criminal law.
Justification of censure.
Principle of harm: criminal law should only intervene to prevent harm to other.
Criminal law HAS THE DUTY TO prevent harm towards third parties.
o Intervention only when there’s harm being inflicted.
Problematic areas: defining harm. What is harm? How to define it?
o Physical, psychological?
o What happened when that harm is consented.
BDSM Practices.
How can we know when act If there is no clear definitions of it?
It does permit to limit the action of criminal law.
o John Stuart Mill: criminal law should not act based on moral principles.
o It limits the use of moralism in criminal law.
Dilemma with the inclusion of moral values and principles.
CL should be able to act when moral values are being infringed.
o Moral values play a role within our criminal law system.
Discussions in Parliaments usually takes them into account.
o Moral values are what sustain societies, so CL should act for them.
There are no clear criteria to decide what moral values should be protected.
o Some values could not be shared by a vast majority.
o The selected values could not be the election of all people.
Multicultural societies: what moral values should be included?
Principle of practicality: criminal law should criminalise only those things that can be
actually prosecuted, put through in court and get a sentence.
Restriction of the action of criminal lawyer.
o Over criminalisation should be avoided because all of those things
can’t actually be prosecuted.
o Justify conducts that should be criminalised.
, The resources of the state are so limited to criminalise everything.
These are only academic theories, but the practice of criminal law is different.
Main principles of criminal law
Principle of legality: a crime only is what it is legally defined as so.
Codified principle: European Convention on Human Rights.
o Translation into British law: Human Rights Act.
As a citizen, you should be able to find which conducts are being criminalised
and what are not.
o The law should be clearly formulated in writing.
o You cannot be punished for something that was not a crime when
acting.
Subprinciples of principle of legality.
Clarity of law: the law should be clear for all.
o It is not always the case in all criminal cases.
It must be publicly available to the country.
o Ex: judgement, a piece of legislation, etc.
It must have the capacity of being obeyed.
o Ex: breathing in public cannot be punished.
It must be prospective.
o It is not retrospective: if the law its created today, people who
committed that crime yesterday could not be penalised.
Principle of responsibility: you should be guilty of those actions for which you’re
responsible.
If you’re not responsible enough for yourself for any reason, you must not be
penalised for your actions.
o Children.
o Mental illnesses.
Ex: if you’re having an epileptic fit and commit a criminal act, you cannot be
accountable for those crimes.
Principle of minimal criminalisation: it should only act when it’s strictly necessary.
It comes from the idea that criminal law it’s a several restrictions of liberty.
o The most severe sanction that the law can impose on you.
It shouldn’t be used if there is any other less several legal options.
o Civil law, administrative law, etc.
Current tendence to over criminalise: deal with complex social problems with
criminal law instead of looking for the roots.
