The
Law Offices of Jeffrey A. Herzog, P.A. represents individuals accused of the
following types of Criminal Defense cases:
According to criminal law, crimes are offences against the social
order. In common law jurisdictions, there is a legal fiction that
crimes disturb the peace of the sovereign. Government officials, as
agents of the sovereign, are responsible for the prosecution
of offenders. Hence, the criminal law "plaintiff" is the sovereign,
which in practical terms translates into the monarch or the people.
The major objective of criminal law is deterrence and
punishment. Criminal offences consist of two distinct
elements:
-
Physical act (the actus reus, guilty act)
-
Requisite mental state with which the act is done (the
mens rea, guilty mind)
For example, in
murder the 'actus reus is the unlawful killing of a person, while
the 'mens rea is malice aforethought (the intention to kill or cause
grievous injury). The criminal law also details the defenses that
defendants may bring to lessen or negate their criminal
responsibility and specifies the punishment which may be inflicted.
Criminal law neither requires a victim, nor a victim's consent, to
prosecute an offender. Furthermore, a criminal prosecution can occur
over the objections of the victim and the consent of the victim is
not a defense in most crimes.
St Petersburg
Criminal Defense Attorney - Lawyer providing professional
Criminal Defense Legal Services in
Palm Harbor, Clearwater, Tampa, St. Petersburg and throughout
the Southwest Florida area.
