What is the difference between a criminal case and a civil case?
The easiest way to look at it is that any case that is not a criminal case, is a civil case. [There are also administrative law cases that have aspects of both civil and criminal law. However, those are very complex and are beyond the scope of this article. If you are involved in an administrative law case, you should definitely retain the services of an attorney that is experienced in administrative law cases.] The main differences between a criminal case and a civil case are as follows:
- The nature of the case:
In a criminal case, the government (whether a city, state or federal) represented by the prosecutor, brings charges against an individual or entity for violating criminal laws or ordinances. The purpose is to punish the defendant (and to make an example of them to deter others) for their actions that are considered offenses against society. The following are a few examples of criminal cases:
- Murder cases
- Burglary cases
- Speeding tickets
- Rape cases
- Licensing violations (e.g., no driver’s license, no dog license, etc.)
- Drug possession and selling cases
- Perjury cases
- Bribery cases
- Stalking cases
- Prostitution cases
- Cruelty to animals cases
In a civil case, individuals or entities (which can be partnerships, corporations, governmental agencies, etc.) referred to as plaintiffs, bring legal action against other individuals or entities, referred to as defendants, to resolve disputes over rights, obligations, or damages. The goal is to seek compensation or resolutions of a particular issue. The following are a few examples of civil cases:
- Breach of contract cases
- Personal injury cases
- Divorces and child custody cases
- Juvenile Deprived cases
- Evictions
- Small claims court cases
- Collection cases
- Probate cases
- Malpractice cases
- Injunctions
- Real estate disputes
- The burden of proof:
In a criminal case, the burden of proof is “beyond a reasonable doubt”. That is the highest burden of proof in the law. It means that the prosecutor must prove each and every element of the crime charge beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecutor must present admissible evidence convincing a jury or judge that the defendant is guilty of the crime charged and there is no reasonable doubt of their guilt. It should be noted that in a criminal case, a defendant is neverfound innocent. The defendant is either found guilty or not guilty. A defendant that is acquitted (a/k/a found not guilty) is not necessarily innocent of perpetrating the event. Being found not guilty simply means that the government did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. It doesn’t mean that the defendant didn’t do it.
In a civil case, the burden of proof is usually “a preponderance of the evidence”. In other words, the plaintiff must prove the elements of his/her case by a preponderance of the evidence—that it is more likely than not. If the plaintiff can prove the case by 50+% (exactly 50% is not sufficient—it must be more than 50%), the plaintiff prevails. In some civil cases (rarely), the burden of proof is: clear and convincing evidence. That burden is higher than the preponderance standard but lower than beyond a reasonable doubt.
- The end result:
In criminal cases, if the defendant is found guilty, the penalty can be a fine, imprisonment or both a fine and imprisonment (or possibly death). Of course, a court can impose community service or other criminal sanctions in lieu of a fine or imprisonment.
In civil cases, if the plaintiff prevails, the defendant may be required to pay a money judgment generally known as damages. The defendant may be required to comply with a court’s order or to take certain actions. If it is a family law case, the court may grant a divorce and divide the parties’ property and award custody of the parties’ children. It all depends on the type of civil case that is filed.
Thus, there are substantial differences between civil and criminal cases.
