Criminal Law
 

Criminal law deals with "public" wrongs, rather than disputes between individuals. Governmental bodies, including the federal government, states, and cities, define and prosecute crimes from traffic violations to misdemeanors, to felonies. Lawyers may represent defendants, for example, in prosecutions for drug violations, drunk driving (DUI/DWI), sex offenses, fraud, racketeering (RICO Act) and white collar crimes. The lawyers who conduct the prosecution bring the charges, many times after the case goes through grand jury proceedings. Lawyers must follow a complex set of rules known as criminal procedure to assure a fair trial. Recently, victims' rights provisions have been added to this process. A person convicted of a crime may receive probation, be sentenced to a prison term followed by parole, be sentenced to a straight term of years in prison, or be sentenced to death. Juvenile crimes are handled by a separate criminal system, which uses a less formal form of adjudication.

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