Role of Penal codes and Regulatory Statutes in Criminal Law
. Explain the role of penal codes and regulatory statutes in criminal law.
Criminal law describes the events relating to a criminal offense, regulating the apprehension and trial of the defendants, and the sentencing and penalties applicable to the perpetrators. Regulatory states and penal codes regulate criminal law. A penal code constitutes a compilation of laws, detailing the offenses recognized by the state, with the outline of consequential penalties for these offenses (Steffen, 2019). The laws are codified in Title 18 of the US code, with variations from one state to another. However, they share similarities concerning the American Law Institute Model Penal Code. This disclosure seeks to highlight the roles of regulatory statutes and penal codes in criminal law.
The codes play an imperative role in providing the guiding principles that apply for a specific offense, such as for defense, inchoate offenses. Therefore they provide clarity by simplifying the rule of law. Secondly, it gives the lawyers, judges, and jurors an analytical structure to determine the offense liability. They ascertain the blameworthy of the crime, thus passing deserving judgment without favor. Thirdly, the codes contain ambiguous language that clearly defines offenses. The comprehensive nature of the code allows scholars to interpret the contents of the codes and relate to criminal law, thus regulating criminal law from the judiciary (Garland, 2017). Moreover, the penal code adopts the systems of offenses whereby offenses are grouped; thus, the penalties associated with each offense reflect the viciousness of the crime related to the other offenses. Thus the classification crimes into categories such as offenses against a person are further divided into assault, homicide, kidnapping, sexual offenses, and secondly offenses against property such as theft and burglary and vandalism. This categorization eliminates unwarranted disparities in sentencing (Masferrer, 2018).
Additionally, penal codes and regulatory statutes define the elements of a crime. The three elements include the act, the mental state of the crime offender at the time of the act, and finally, the act’s reason. This will determine the criminal prosecution whereby the criminal justice has to establish the misconduct element beyond a reasonable doubt. The penal code is vastly used in the criminal justice system to outline the sentencing and correction forms and other reprimands (Masferrer, 2018). However, many courts criticize the penal code as a form of persuasive authority to define the existing statutes rather than a powerful formulation of criminal law. Moreover, the critics question the viability of the regulatory statutes and the penal codes following the increase in overcriminalization in the US, blaming it in the many incoherent and unrelatable laws, thus the increase in crimes (Tonry, 2016).
Conclusion
The penal codes and regulatory statutes have stood the test of time is revolutionizing the American criminal law by ensuring sanity in grading inchoate offenses and eliminate grading disparities. Despite the many reforms in the codes, no state has managed to undertake wholesome reforms on the criminal codes, albeit not agreeing with its provisions. Criminal law is a broad aspect of the law that required regulation to ensure that the provisions are adhered to without partiality. It is one of the sectors with many ethical dilemmas, but h regulations keep in in order while keeping every player accountable for their actions and decisions.
References
Garland, D. (2017). Penal power in America: Forms, functions and foundations. Journal of the British Academy, 5, 1-35.
Masferrer, A. (2018). Tradition and Foreign Influences in the 19th Century Codification of Criminal Law: Dispelling the Myth of the Pervasive French Influence in Europe and Latin America. The Western Codification of Criminal Law (pp. 3-50). Springer, Cham
Steffen, J. C., Korver, M. R., Wyder-Harshman, E., Baumert, M., & Hayes, E. (2019). Blockchain Regulation and Criminal law. J. Marshall J. Info. Tech. & Privacy, L., 34, 31.
Tonry, M. H. (2016). Sentencing fragments: Penal Reform in America, 1975-2025. Oxford University Press.
