Criminal Law: You and the State
Criminal law is the name given to the branch of law that governs the criminal proceedings brought by the State of Texas against an individual. Criminal law includes the definitions of criminal offenses, and encompasses the rights of an accused and the criminal process, including arrest, arraignment, grand juries, pleas, discovery, pretrial hearings, trials, jury selection, evidence, motions, and post-trial remedies. The main purpose of the criminal law is to establish guilt and set forth the punishment for criminal offenses. In order to prove any crime, no matter how serious, the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed a criminal act.