Criminal Law: Purpose, Function, and Impact on Society

This assignment explores the fundamental purposes and functions of criminal law. It begins by defining criminal law as the legal regulations imposed by a state to prevent criminal activities and protect its citizens. The assignment highlights the importance of criminal law in establishing boundaries for societal conduct, thereby enforcing social control and preventing harmful behaviors. It emphasizes the role of criminal law in maintaining social order, protecting property rights, and ensuring fair market operations. Furthermore, the assignment underscores the significance of criminal law in restoring equity and justice by providing compensation to victims and addressing their suffering. The assignment also acknowledges the importance of rehabilitating offenders and preventing further crimes. Finally, it concludes by stating that criminal law sets the limits of the code of conduct of the society and the behavior of the citizens of the country. References from Ashworth, Bergman, Cole and Werle are used to support the discussion.

The purpose of criminal law
Criminal Law is comprised of all the legal regulations which the state authority of various
countries imposes. These legal regulations are imposed so that the criminal activities can be
prevented under the specific state territories. With the enactment of this law, a guard is provided
over the body, mind and the environment of the people of a country (Ashworth, 2013). This law
put some boundaries on the conduct of the society which helps to enforce the social control
among the citizens of the country, and the unfavorable behavior of the people can be eliminated.
In addition to this, the criminal law also helps in maintaining the social order in the country
(Bergman, 2015). The transfers of the property are protected and hence the market operations are
controlled that creates an effective environment. Thus, the market practices remain fair and non-
biased. Another purpose of this law is to restore the equity and justice in the society (Werle,
2014). When the people get victimized due to any crime, this law helps them in getting the
adequate compensation and helps them to recover from the pain and loss that they have suffered.
It not only aims to protect the people from suffering and prevents the unlawful practices, but this
law also considers the offenders as valuable affiliations of the society (Bergman, 2015). So, it
focuses on their rehabilitation and tries to prevent the further crimes from those offenders.
Finally, the limits of the code of conduct of society and the behavior of the citizens of the
country are set and can be changed by criminal law (Cole, 2015). By restricting the unlawful and
unacceptable behavior, conduct and attitude, the law prevents the activities that can pose harm to
the people of the country. These are the basic purposes of the criminal law, and they are very
important in the society.
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References:
Ashworth, A., & Horder, J. (2013). Principles of criminal law. Oxford University Press.
Bergman, P., & Berman, S. J. (2015). The criminal law handbook: Know your rights, survive the
system. Nolo.
Cole, G. F., Smith, C. E., & DeJong, C. (2015). Criminal justice in America. Cengage Learning.
Werle, G., & Jessberger, F. (2014). Principles of international criminal law. OUP Oxford.
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