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Interesting fact, but honest question: What's the usefulness of this distinction?
by traviscj 8y ago
Interesting fact, but honest question: What's the usefulness of this distinction?
- TylerE 8y agoPrivate citizens cannot initiate a criminal proceeding. They can SUE, but that's civil, not criminal.
- vkou 8y agoIt means that all criminal prosecution is political, or at least, politically-influenced.
- mikeash 8y agoIt changes who makes the decision, which can be really important. Consider, for example, an abused spouse who ends up in the hospital but doesn’t want to press charges. The prosecutor may consider this when making the decision to prosecute, but it’s ultimately not up to the victim.
- TylerE 8y agoAlso, prosecutors tend not to take on cases they aren't pretty sure about. The standard in a criminal trial is much higher ("beyond a reasonable doubt") than in a civil trial ("preponderance of the evidence"). Basically, in a civil lawsuit, if it goes to the jury they only need to be 50.0000000001% convinced. In a criminal trial it's more like 95%.