Criminal Defense Law is the specific law that deals with building a case and defending those who are accused of criminal offenses.  Criminal law and civil law are the two main branches of law. Criminal law refers to the crimes and punishment of people, and how the government prosecutes a defendant for breaching state or federal rules. Criminal defense law involves defending those defendants by practiced attorneys-at-law that have been prosecuted by the government.

In criminal law, the state itself renders legal action against the person breaching legal rules. The state is represented by the prosecutor who acts on its behalf as to bring charges against and instigates legal proceedings to the person who has been found to commit the criminal offense. Potential penalties vary from monetary fines to loss of liberty or loss of some legal rights or in some cases even the loss of life. Nevertheless, the equal principles that have been breached also guarantee that those who have done offenses are subject to due process of the law. The U.S. Constitution guarantees that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness without due process of law. The right to criminal defense, in which the person may prove his/her innocence in a court of law, is a part of due process of law. The U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment in the form of the Miranda rights declares that persons charged with criminal offenses have the right to a criminal defense attorney to help them defend their case.

Apart from building a defense case to prove the innocence of the accused the criminal defense law can also involve any subsequent appeals or plea bargains. They may also dispute a case in a court of law to assert that the charges are false or unfounded. Criminal defense law can cover two natures of defenses. The first refers to the procedures of proving the defendant innocent beyond reasonable doubt. And the second refers to the standard to proving any kind of doubt as to whether the defendant be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The other type of defense involved in criminal defense law is the affirmative defense. This particular type of defense is a defense that asserts that the person did commit the crime, but that it was justified. The two most common affirmative defenses used in criminal defense law are self defense and defense of others.