English criminal law refers to the body of law in the jurisdiction of England and Wales which deals with crimes and their consequences, and which is complementary to the civil law of England and Wales.
Criminal acts are considered offences against the whole of a community. The state, in addition to certain international organizations, has responsibility for crime prevention, for bringing the culprits to justice, and for dealing with convicted offenders. The police, the criminal courts and prisons are all publicly funded services, though the main focus of criminal law concerns the role of the courts, how they apply criminal statutes and common law, and why some forms of behaviour are considered criminal.
The English legal system is common within other Commonwealth states, notably Australia, although government legislative practices and rare legal procedures, example being court hierarchy, may differ to both a significant and minor extent.
The fundamentals of a crime are known as the actus reus and the mens rea. These two Latin terms mean "guilty act" (doing that which is prohibited) and "guilty mind" (i.e. the intent to commit the crime). The traditional view is that moral culpability requires that one should have recognized or intended that one was acting wrongly.
Defences exist to some crimes. A person who is accused may in certain circumstances plead they are insane and did not understand what they were doing, that they were not in control of their bodies, they were intoxicated, mistaken about what they were doing, acted in self defence, acted under duress or out of necessity, or were provoked. These are issues to be raised at trial, for which there are detailed rules of evidence and procedure to be followed.
Read more about English Criminal Law: History, Not Codified, Bulk and Complexity, Growth, Criminal Law Elements, Criminal Offences, Criminal Law Defences, Criminal Procedure
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—17th-century English proverb, collected in J. Ray, English Proverbs (1670)
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—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)