Abogado

Criminal Law


Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. For those who don’t know me, my name is Tommy Gunn, and I’m taking the law programme at UNLaM. As you can see on the screen, our topic todayis: Criminal Law. The topic is very important for you because any of you could be a victim of a crime at any time and any where. I’ve divided my presentation into three parts. I’ll start off by, talkingto you about how the criminal law proceeds in the USA. Then, I’ll move on to explain the two levels of crimes: felonies and misdemeanors. I’ll end with some ideas about sentences and fines used tosimplify the prosecution. My talk should take about 10 minutes. Please, feel free to interrupt at any time with questions. Don’t worry about taking notes. I’ll be handing out copies of power pointslides.

Criminal law involves the prosecution by the state of wrongful acts which are considered to be so serious that they are a breach of the sovereign's peace. Generally, crimes can result inincarceration, but torts cannot. The majority of the crimes committed in the United States are prosecuted and punished at the state level. Federal criminal law focuses on areas specifically relevant to thefederal government like evading payment of federal income tax, drug trafficking and wire fraud.

Some states distinguish between two levels: felonies and misdemeanors (minor crimes). Generally, mostfelony convictions result in lengthy prison sentences, large fines, and orders to pay restitution directly to victims; while misdemeanors may lead to a year or less in jail and a substantial fine.State laws dealing with drug crimes still vary widely, with some states treating possession of small amounts of drugs as a misdemeanor offense or as a medical issue and others categorizing the sameoffense as a serious felony. To simplify the prosecution of traffic violations and other relatively minor crimes, some states have added a third level, infractions. These may result in fines and...