What is criminal law and what about economic criminal law?

Legislation is designed to maintain order and respect in society. At times, many people take incorrect attitudes, which can damage the integrity, economy and stability of citizens. For these people who are outside the law, there is criminal law, a tool capable of providing judgements and penalties for anyone who commits a crime.

What is criminal law?

Criminal law can be considered and defined from different points of view. From the most traditional point of view, criminal law is understood as the legal system that governs the legal provisions related to crimes and criminal conduct that threaten the economic resources and integrity of individuals.

Characteristics of criminal law

The panel law is made up of a set of fundamentals that provide guarantees and order when imparting justice. These are as follows:

• Equality before the law: is one of the fundamental precepts in the rule of law, according to this principle any individual must be treated equally before the law. This foundation ensures that all persons, regardless of their religion, social status, race, political inclination, sex ... can face the law with equal rights. All persons who commit a crime must face trial and receive sentences in accordance with the laws in force, without presenting in these proceedings benefits or prejudices associated with the social status of the person.
• Presumption of innocence: on this basis, any individual brought to justice is presumed innocent until proven guilty. For this reason, it is the duty of the interested party (prosecution, accusers...) to provide evidence that effectively proves the guilt of the accused.
• Proportionality in punishment: this precept highlights the level of punishment that the person should receive in accordance with the crime they have committed. Thus, the more serious the crime, the greater the punishment. This principle also establishes that minors will receive a lesser punishment in proportion to their degree of maturity and the seriousness of the crime committed.
• Legality of law: This principle states that any penalty or punishment meted out to a person who has committed a crime must be in accordance with the rule of law and must not violate any existing law. In other words, sentences handed down by the courts and other state bodies should not themselves be considered a violation of the law.
• Respect for due process: any accused person who is brought to court for trial must have rights that guarantee him or her a legitimate criminal defence. This allows any accused individual to give his or her version of events and even to present evidence to prove that version. Similarly, the accused may make use of criminal law experts in his or her defence.
• Human rights: is a principle through which any individual is guaranteed his or her fundamental and universal rights during a trial or conviction, regardless of the crime he or she has committed, his or her social conditions or the degree of his or her guilt in the crime. Every person accused of a crime or offence has the right to a criminal lawyer. This principle must be respected even if the individual violated the human rights of another person.

Economic criminal law

This branch of criminal law provides the necessary legal framework to deal with crimes associated with fraud, corporate corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and other crimes against the economic resources of the state and individuals. These types of crimes have become more complex over the last decade, therefore, the state has separated economic criminal law as an individual branch associated with criminal law. This is due to the complexity of the new crimes of so-called "white-collar crime", crimes that require more thorough investigations as well as expertise in economic crime and corporate compliance.

Examples of criminal law

• A young man loses control of his car and hits another car that was crossing a roundabout in the right way. In this case, criminal law will have to create the necessary legal avenues to try and convict the driver in a way that is proportionate to the crime he committed.
• Two young women argue in a restaurant for personal reasons, one picks up a sharp object and injures the other.
• A young immigrant from a Muslim country in North Africa is severely beaten by a local youth, the immigrant in self-defence injures the local citizen. In this case, criminal law must be applied fairly, taking into account all the facts, influence peddling and ensuring equality before the law for both subjects.

Ejemplos de derecho penal económico

• A young man loses control of his car and hits another car that was crossing a roundabout in the right way. In this case, criminal law will have to create the necessary legal avenues to try and convict the driver in a way that is proportionate to the crime he committed.
• Two young women argue in a restaurant for personal reasons, one picks up a sharp object and injures the other.
• A young immigrant from a Muslim country in North Africa is severely beaten by a local youth, the immigrant in self-defence injures the local citizen. In this case, criminal law must be applied fairly, taking into account all the facts, influence peddling and ensuring equality before the law for both subjects.

Who exercises criminal law?

In order to know who exercises criminal law, we must first know the elements that make up criminal law:

• Offender: is the person who has committed the offence or crime.
• Offence: is the punishable act that has been violated.
• Penalty: is the punishment awarded in accordance with the gravity of the offence.
• Judge: is the authority charged with dispensing justice in accordance with the principles or fundamentals of criminal law. This authority took the evidence provided by the defence and the prosecution as well as their statements in order to provide a fair verdict in accordance with the guilt and crimes committed.

In this sense, who exercises criminal law? It can be said that criminal law is practised by those persons who are in charge of ensuring a fair, orderly and transparent process during the application of the law. Therefore, from the criminal law lawyer in charge of prosecuting or defending the person who commits the crime to the judge who will issue the sentence will be the persons who practice criminal law.

What is the purpose of criminal law?

Criminal law aims to implement procedures, ordinances and legislation with the intention of providing punishment for persons who have committed a crime. This objective brings with it the opportunity to remove individuals from society, who represent a danger to society, its citizens and its economic resources.

This removal is effected by a sentence that would keep them in prison for a time proportionate to the crime or offence they have committed. It is a sentence that is designed to provide a punishment that will cause the offender to reconsider his or her behaviour and prepare him or her for subsequent re-entry into society.

People facing trial for crimes they have committed can engage the services of a criminal law firm, where a criminal law specialist will provide them with the support and advice they need to tell their side of the story.