The Law

Stephen Hantos

Most of our early criminal law was based off of recognized patterns from human behavior. This
is the only way laws could be made because we needed to first track what was detrimental to our
societies well-being. Criminal Law can be considered ancient, since the day law has been around
it is constantly changing case after case. Without law our country would have no organization or
structure. Over time law has evolved into a whole legal system. At the start of time breaking the
law was punishable by death. Now in todays law we have programs and alternative solutions
rather than stoning someone to death or just hanging them.
The basic purpose of criminal law is to establish limits on certain human behavior or
activity considered harmful to society. Laws were created to ease the mind of tax paying citizens
who go to work every day. Law makes it possible for humans to not have to live in isolation all
the time. Laws prevent societal chaos within our communities. Unfortunately humans are
programmed to want to do things that they are told not to do. This is where making certain laws
becomes tricky. The first written law was in the form of cuneiform symbols chiseled into rock
tablets or impressed onto wet clay tablets then were baked so the writing was permanent. Our
American written law is made up from pieces of concepts from other countries that were doing it
before us for example Roman law and Spanish and French legal concepts.
The criminal law in this country comes from three primary sources 1. The United States
and state constitution. 2. Laws passed by congress, state legislatures and local governments. 3.
Prevailing decisions of the appellate courts in criminal cases, also the bill of rights and the
California constitution. Laws would hold no weight if there was no punishment for violating the

law. The punishments are necessary but it was not the first solution for keeping people from
breaking the law. Laws were originally established and define socially intolerable acts and keep
people within their limits. But still to this day the possibility of punishment is the true deterrent
when it comes to people considering to break the law. Some of those punishments in our society
today include 1.death 2.imprisonment. 3. Fine 4.removal from office or work place
5.disqualification to hold any government position or profit from the state. When these laws were
created we realized that humans are not capable of policing themselves so police officers were
created for one sole purpose and that is to enforce the law to ensure safety for law abiding
citizens. The power of a police officer exceeds a normal civilian on multiple levels and the
officer is given a huge responsibility and expected to be an upstanding citizen and follow the law
to a tee and be an example for society.
We could not give all the power to the police officers alone because there is no possible
way they can always get things perfectly right. This is why the judicial courts were created.
These courts decide whether the accused of a crime will be found guilty and also will choose the
punishment that suits the crime. There is a law against excessive punishments so the court does
not abuse their power either. The courts define crimes in 3 categories. 1. Felony 2.misdemeanor
3.infraction. Felony defined: A crime punishable by death or jail by more than 6 months usually
more serious than a misdemeanor for example Murder, rape, robbery are all felonies, and you are
arrested on the spot and have to post bail but entitled to a jury trial. Misdemeanor defined: A
minor wrong doing, punishable by jail up to 6 months and most of the time a hefty fine not a
mandatory jury trial. Infraction defined: referred to as a petty offense usually a ticket or small
fine not punishable by jail. Mostly traffic violations not jury trial provided.

There is a body to the mind of law and it is all based off concepts. The system we have
today was not created to put people in jail and let them rot even though some may deserve it.
There are 5 concepts that we base our system off today 1.Retribution: It is the concept of making
the criminals suffer for making other people suffer when they broke the law to benefit
themselves. Excessive punishment is not aloud but our prison system is no cake walk no matter
how long you are in there. 2. Deterrence: The punishment is aimed to deter the specific criminal
from committing crimes by evoking the fear of a big punishment or fine being brought down on
them when they are brought to justice. This is to protect the law abiding public from the criminal.
3. Incapacitation: Designed to keep criminals away from society by banishing them to jail for life
or giving them the death penalty if the crime was extreme enough. 4. Rehabilitation: Aims at
transforming the offender into a contributing member of society that can follow the law and not
disrupt the daily life of the public. 5. Restoration: The goal is to repair through state authority,
one who embezzles money must be required to pay back all of the money. One who commits a
mentally disturbing crime to a family must have to pay a compensation of money to write his or
her wrongs.
The more I read about the law and do research I realize that it is a giver and a taker and
there are many chances before being put away into the system and being forgotten by the normal
society. I dont think our system is perfect but as humans we will never achieve a perfect system
when there are people every day questioning it and trying to find every flaw. I believe that we
have the best justice system in the world and it can be improved but that will take time to do
because our law is based off human pattern