PSCI100 Lecture : Class 1 - What is Criminal Law.docx

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Political Science
• Course: PSCI100
• Professor: John Jaworsky

Document Summary

If something is legally wrong, it does not mean necessarily that it is wrong. Factors of something being found as a crime or not: What can happen to you (go to jail, court, etc. ) A taint to it, it"s a big deal (there"s a label on that person that what they did was very wrong and distasteful, example: speeding isn"t as big a deal as a sexual assaulter). Criminal wrong often thought of as effecting more than one person/all of society. Civil wrong having a contract dispute is a civil legal wrong (someone breaks a contract to shovel your driveway, they don"t go to the police and jail, you both go to civil court). One act you do can be both a civil wrong and a criminal wrong. For example, driving down the street and hitting cars or children near a school it is a civil offense for speeding and also a criminal offence because it is dangerous driving.