Question

Why do the criminal and civil law sometimes overlap?

Answer 1

Civil action is designed to address between individuals. Criminal action is designed to protect the community against any wrongdoing of the individual or a group of individuals or actors. A single event can give rise to both civil as well as criminal action. Civil and criminal law may just deal with different aspects or different issues that arise from a single event or single set of events.

To take an example of a criminal wrong, possession of drugs is a crime. A single individual in possession of drugs does not harm any other individual but it harms society in general. No individual can have a cause of action. However, the offender is punished on account of harm to society by way of fine, probation or imprisonment.

If someone spreads a rumor about a particular individual, society is not harmed, it only affects the individual concerned and this gives a cause of action to the concerned individual. The concerned person can file an action for damages. Thus, the individual concerned is compensated for the damage.  

In the above instances, civil law and criminal law may not overlap to a great extent.

However, in cases of murder, theft, rape, fraud, etc, not only affect the individual but also society as a whole. For example, even if a stranger is murdered, the damage is not only to the family of the said stranger, the community as a whole is threatened by the act and lives in fear of the occurrence of another incident.

Thus, when both the individual and society are both affected by a single act, it gives rise to both civil as well as criminal action leading to the overlap in civil law and criminal law.