A civil case involves private disputes between persons or organizations whereas criminal cases involve an action that is considered to be harmful to society as a whole.
Example:
Civil: One person or organization suing another for not living up to a written contract. The claimant must prove his/her case with a '; preponderence of the evidence.';
Outcome: Judgement awarded, dismissed with or without predudice.
Criminal: One person or several people breaking into the house of another person and stealing tools. The prosecutor must prove his/her case ';beyond a reasonable doubt';
Outcome: Dismissal, guilty, not guilty, hung jury, mistrial.
Result: Prison, jail, fine, probation, acquitted, appealWhat is the difference between a civil case and a criminal case?
The main difference is the evidence in a criminal court has to be beyond a reasonable doubt so therefore if a juror has any doubt about their guilt they can either have a mistrial or be found not guilty.
In a civil court the defendant isn't facing incarceration so the evidence can have reasonable doubt this is why their is usually a civil case after a high profile individual is found not guilty in a criminal court.
Such as the OJ Simpson case and Robert Blake's both were found innocent of murder in criminal court but found guilty of wrongful deaths in civil courtWhat is the difference between a civil case and a criminal case?
The first, really long answer above doesn't seem to apply to this question. The second one is correct, but the easiest way to remember the difference is this:
criminal: jail time/fees from government.
civil: sue for money.
If, let's say, OJ Simpson killed his wife, then in the criminal case, the state would determine his GUILT and decide whether to jail him or not. But in a totally different action, the wife's family could sue OJ civilly for him being LIABLE for money damages (let's say for wrongful death or intentional tort or something).
Does that make sense?
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