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Criminal lawyers represent clients who are being prosecuted by the state or federal government for an act that has been classified as a crime. Any act or failure to perform an act as designated by public law is considered a crime.
With the exception of strict liability crimes, most crimes consist of three elements: an act (actus reus), a mental state (mens rea) and the intent to do social harm. Crimes are classified as "misdemeanors" (less serious offenses that are normally punishable by a fine like some traffic violations, petty theft, or possession of a small amount of marijuana) and "felonies" (more serious offenses that warrant imprisonment of one or more years, such as rape, grand theft, assault and battery, assault with a deadly weapon, or homicide/murder).
If you would like to learn more about a specific practice area, select a topic below.
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