Criminal law deals primarily with criminal acts committed by someone against the state or people within the State.  Crimes would include:

• murder,
• rape,
• robbery,
• theft,
• arson,
• fraud

Crimes are prosecuted, either in term of the existing common law, case law or legislation, by a state prosecutors under the direction of the Attorney General.

In most cases, an act is a crime because the person committing it intended to do something wrong. This mental state is generally referred to as Mens Rea, or guilty mind and makes the act or omission (Actus Reus) blameworthy and deserving of punishment.

The criminal law also contains specific rules of criminal procedure. Criminal Procedure ensures the processing of criminal matters and addresses methods used to deal with people accused of committing a crime, when they can be searched, when evidence can be seized, when eyewitnesses can be investigated.

Criminal lawyers represent persons who have been charged with crimes.