Criminal Law Definitions

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CIVIL LAW is concerned with relationships between individuals and is addressed in civil court.

CRIMINAL LAW pertains to the relationship between an individual and the state. Cases that are prosecuted are heard in criminal court.

Depending on the circumstances, a single event may be tried in both civil and criminal courts. This is not considered double jeopardy.

AIDING AND ABETTING is a theory of criminal liability. You can be guilty of a crime either as a principal perpetrator or as an aider and abettor.
Aiding and abetting applies to someone who assists in or facilitates the doing of a crime. To be held accountable as an aider and abettor, you must know of the criminal objective and do something to make it succeed. For example, if you drive your friend to a meeting where you know your friend is going to buy drugs, you may be an aider and abettor in the drug transaction.

The key here is knowledge. While the level of participation of the aider and abettor may be relatively minor, the prosecution must show more than presence in a vehicle carrying drugs or association with conspirators known to be involved in a crime.

In other words, mere presence at the scene of a crime, even with guilty knowledge that a crime is being committed, isn't enough to make you liable for the crime itself, unless and until you do something to help the crime succeed.

Under federal law, the punishment for someone who aids and abets a crime is the same as the punishment for the person who principally committed the crime. In some states, the punishment may be less.

FLEEING OR ELUDING POLICE occurs when a police officer gives you a visual or audible signal to stop, whether by hand, voice, emergency light or siren, and you don't obey.
In most states, it's unlawful for a driver of a vehicle to disobey a police officer's signal to stop if the officer is in uniform and his badge or similar sign of his authority is prominently displayed, or the officer is in a marked police vehicle, regardless of whether he's in uniform.

It's also unlawful for a person who's neither driving or in an vehicle to disobey an officer's order to stop, by fleeing on foot or by any other means.

While the precise definition can vary from state to state, a person commits CRIMINAL TRESPASS when she enters or remains on another's property without the owner's consent. In Tennessee, the law assumes that the person knew they didn't have the owner's consent if the owner or someone with the authority to act on behalf of the owner personally communicates this fact to her, or if there's a fence around the property, or if there's a sign or other posting on the property that's likely to be seen by intruders.
You may have a defense against criminal trespass if the property was open to the public, or your conduct didn't substantially interfere with the owner's use of the property, or you immediately left the premises when requested.

STALKING is a crime of harassment. The exact definition of stalking, and the acts that may be held to be stalking, are likely to vary from state to state. Generally, a person commits the offense of stalking if he or she makes a credible threat to another person and, in connection with the threat, repeatedly follows that person or repeatedly makes any form of communication with that person or a member of that person's immediate family, whether or not a conversation occurs.

A CREDIBLE THREAT is considered to be one that would cause a reasonable person to be in fear for the person's life or safety of his or her immediate family. If the stalking occurs by virtue of repeated communications, it isn't necessary that the communications be made at the same time as the threat to be considered 'in connection' with the threat. They might occur before, during or after the threat is made, so long as the communication is related to, a part or in furtherance of the credible threat.

Stalking can also occur when a person repeatedly makes obscene comments or gestures to another person with the intent to harass them, either personally or by telephone- and includes acts done in public as well as those directed to someone in the privacy of his or her home.

Stalking statutes have been challenged on the grounds that they're unconstitutionally vague and infringe on protected areas of free speech. However, at least 48 states have enacted some variation of a stalking statute. While the statutory language isn't identical in every case, the majority of these courts have upheld stalking statutes against such attacks.

The definition of stalking, as well as the penalty, differs from state to state. If you or someone close to you is concerned about being charged with such an offense, you should contact a criminal defense attorney in your area who can advise you of the precise conduct the law prohibits in your state, and the penalties.

FELONY MURDER means that all persons engaged in a felony are liable for murder if one of them kills a person during the crime. The precise definition of felony murder varies from state to state. Generally, someone is liable for murder if, during the course of committing a serious felony with another person, someone other than one of the participants is killed.

A SERIOUS FELONY is one like arson, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, or rape.

Most states also apply the felony murder rule to situations where the death occurs during the immediate flight from the crime. It can also be applied if the perpetrators didn't complete the underlying crime and only attempted to commit the crime, if someone dies during the attempt.

In some states, it's a defense to felony murder if the defendant was unarmed and had no reason to believe that any of his co-conspirators was either armed or intended to engage in any conduct dangerous to life.