If you took a bachelor’s degree related to law, you likely had a course in criminal law. Criminal law is the system that concerns the punishment of those who commit crimes. Britannica defines it as the body of law that defines criminal offences and regulates suspects’ apprehension, charging, and trial. Criminal law also fixes penalties and treatment applicable to the offenders.
In other words, criminal law is the governing device that protects an individual’s security in society. Without it, many heinous crimes and injustices would prevail in society today. I mentioned earlier that if you went to college to study law, you’re familiar with and knowledgeable about it. However, many aspire to pursue law school with a bachelor’s degree that does not cover criminal law.
Others only learned about criminal law for one semester and never revisited it because they plan to continue a different law endeavour and focus on another aspect. Whether you’ve encountered it before or not, studying criminal law and familiarising yourself with it is helpful to lawyers. In this post, let’s look at the advantages of learning it.
1 – You become more knowledgeable about the categories of crime.
The first intuition of a regular citizen when witnessing a crime is to label which one is the offender and the victim. If you’re not knowledgeable about it, it’s easy to make a rash decision and intrude on the commotion. However, there are different scenarios for every crime where you can become a part of it without knowing.
Criminal lawyers are knowledgeable about the crime categories, making them the best professionals to reach out to when involved in one. And even though you don’t plan to become a criminal lawyer, knowing the actions you can take to help your client in various crime categories will help you tremendously in your career.
2 – You become more adept with the punishments that are fit for a specific crime.
Concerning my previous point, learning about criminal law will help you become more adept with the punishments that are fit for a specific crime. Aside from knowing the different crime categories, you also get to educate yourself about all the penalties that various crimes could have.
It’s very essential, especially if you’re a starting lawyer. Whether you’re planning to practise divorce or family law, having additional knowledge and information about the offences related to criminal law will help you win cases and provide the best options that benefit your clients.
3 – You become more knowledgeable about human behaviour and threats.
Aside from knowing the punishments and crimes under criminal law, you’ll also learn more about human behaviour. Criminal law is not only about crimes but also about studying human behaviour. There are various reasons why people commit such heinous crimes, and criminal lawyers unlock them to understand where offenders are coming from.
With criminal law, you’ll understand specific threats and how humans could react to them. Whether you’ll practise a different law niche, learning this helps you read clients better and ask questions that will lead you to the conclusion of various versions of the stories you hear.
4 – Exposure and knowledge about criminal law is an advantage if you want to become a partner.
Many aspiring lawyers aspire to become criminal lawyers because it gives them an edge in becoming law firm partners. Clio.com defines a law firm partner as a lawyer who buys into a firm and generates revenue in exchange for a share of ownership and profits. They say the duties of a law firm partner focus more on the firm rather than representing clients.
If you aspire to become a partner, exposure and knowledge about criminal law is an advantage. Many people working in law firms confirm this and say that knowledge and experience in criminal law is a massive advantage that could help you become a partner in the future. If that’s your dream, don’t miss out on learning about criminal law to help people and benefit your future career.
5 – Help innocent people and victims to go on with their lives with peace of mind.
If you aspire to become a criminal law defence attorney, knowledge about it will get you far. Aside from that, you get to change the trajectory of people’s lives, especially those who are innocent and are victims of criminal offences.
Criminal law focuses on the legal ramifications of crime rather than the social aspects of it. It means you get to charge the most appropriate punishments for an offence concerning your client. Studying criminal law is the best tool to guide you if you wish to defend innocent people and victims of such offences.
6 – It can lead to a variety of careers in law.
Lastly, studying criminal law can open many opportunities for various law careers. Typically, people who take criminal law pursue becoming a defence attorney. But aside from that, you can also become a paralegal, mediator, probation officer, police officer, detective, legislator, and more.
To cut it short, if you realise along the way that being a lawyer is no longer for you, you can pursue many other career options. There are also opportunities outside the field of law, including careers in business, education, and counselling.
Overall, it’s not only insightful, but it can also be life-changing.
Indeed, studying criminal law provides a lot of advantages for aspiring lawyers. Overall, the benefits I shared all conclude that learning about criminal law is not only insightful but also life-changing. You won’t only master the appropriate measures concerning various offences but also help people who need justice.
Written by Bianca Banda
