A felon commits a civil wrong, known as a tort, and can be sued in civil court. The civil justice system settles disputes between citizens, while the criminal justice system prosecutes those who violate the penal code. Penalties for civil offenses include compensatory payments and potential punitive damages. The burden of proof in civil court is lower than in criminal court.
A felon is a person who commits a civil wrong. A tort is a legal term used to describe a civil wrong. This means that a criminal commits an action that violates a legal duty and is sued for this action.
In the United States, there is a criminal justice system and a civil justice system. If a person commits an offense under the penal code, he is prosecuted and risks criminal penalties. Only a federal or state prosecutor can charge a person with a crime or prosecute someone in criminal court.
The civil court, on the other hand, allows citizens to settle disputes with each other. In the United States, people owe one another a certain duty of care. Under this duty, a person is not allowed to intentionally or negligently cause harm to someone else or someone else’s property.
If a person violates his duty of care and injures someone else or damages someone else’s property, he is a criminal. The intentional or negligent action that caused the damage is the offense committed by him. The victim of the willful or negligent act can sue him in civil court.
Potential penalties for committing a civil offense differ from criminal penalties. When a person is sued in a civil court, he may be forced to pay a fine, called a compensatory payment. He cannot be imprisoned or subjected to other penal sanctions, unless he is also prosecuted.
An offender who is found guilty may be required to pay actual damages. For example, if a driver negligently hits someone with a car, he may be required to pay medical bills. He may also be required to pay lost wages, car repair bills, or any other costs necessary to return the victim to the state she would have been in, had it not been for the accident.
A tort party may also be required to pay punitive damages. This means that if someone acts in a blatant manner and damages another person, the perpetrator of the damage can be punished in civil proceedings with a heavy pecuniary fine not specifically related to the actual value of the pecuniary damage. This is more common in cases of willful wrongdoing or behavior so careless that someone was sure they were going to get hurt.
The standards of proof in the civil court are also different than in the criminal court. The victim of a tort needs only to prove that a preponderance of evidence suggests that the perpetrator committed the tort. In criminal court, guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
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