What's the difference in the laws and penalties between a civil judgment and a criminal conviction? What type of crimes is a civil and criminal conviction applicable for?
What is the difference between a civil judgment and criminal conviction?
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Answer: (1)
In civil law, a private individual (a person or a corporation, for example) files the lawsuit and is known as the plaintiff. In criminal law, the government always files the complaint, and is referred to as the prosecution.
The burden of proof in a criminal court is beyond a reasonable doubt. If the defendant is convicted in criminal court, the punishment is either punishment or jail time, a fine paid to the government, or in extreme cases, execution.
The burden of proof in a civil trial is the preponderance of the evidence, a lesser burden than “beyond a reasonable doubt.” A defendant losing a civil suit compensates the plaintiff for the losses he has caused—no jail time is involved.
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Posted by Jan Hill on 25 Feb 2010