Criminal Law
Criminal law is the branch of the law that aims to find out and acknowledge and punish the offenders. It educates the greater community about the consequences of a crime. Thus, would-be offenders refrain from indulging in any crime or illegal activity.
It is essential to have a stringent system of imposing criminal law in the country. A criminal lawyer Adelaide is a person, who acquires knowledge of criminal law. He studies each section and sub-section to interpret and make use of the law.
He defends the case on behalf of his client.
Criminal law has five purposes:
- Retribution
- Deterrence
- Incapacitation (Incarceration)
- Rehabilitation
- Restoration
It is important that every citizen knows about these purposes.
Retribution
When a person does a crime, it is not possible to teach him or her the lesson by doing the same thing. We are not living in a society that works on the concept of “eye for an eye”.
But at the same time, it is essential to make the person realize about his act. Therefore, the criminal law punishes him in such a way that he has to give up something in return for the offenses they committed.
This punishment takes away certain freedoms and rights. The punishment is often imprisonment.
A criminal lawyer Adelaide tries to put the case in the favor of his client so that he gets the least possible punishment.
Deterrence
The criminal law is imposed by the government so that people get discouraged from committing a crime. The biggest deterrence is the fear of punishment.
However, we should understand that deterrence is effective only when the person has the capacity to reflect.
While giving the judgment, the court considers various aspects. In some cases, the punishment may be less considering the intellectual, medical, and psychological circumstances.
A family lawyer Adelaide, for example, works with a criminal lawyer to underline the seriousness of the crime in case of child abuse of family violence.
Incapacitation
It is restricting the freedom of a person. It is given as punishment for their criminal activities. The offender is removed from society and kept in a designated facility. Since he is confined to one place, he cannot commit further crimes.
Rehabilitation
It is always the goal of the judicial and correctional system. Rehabilitation is the process of finding out factors that might have contributed to the crime.
Restoration
It is believed that a crime puts a lasting effect on the community and the families.
Hence, repairing the relationship is also a part of the law and justice system.
