刑法涵盖了我们法律结构的广阔领域。与许多其他学习领域不同，学生进入法学院时会从一些以往的大学课程，新闻，报告，个人经历，小说，电影和电视中获得有关该学科的知识和想法。但是，刑法的实际实践不仅包括审判室的戏曲或警察的遭遇。刑法理论从刑法理论到刑法理论和政治学，这些刑法理论为定义犯罪的法律创造提供了依据，通过起诉和辩护这些法规来规范法院的程序和规则，再到刑法的理论和政治，触及刑法的各个方面。法律教育。与大多数其他法律研究领域不同，刑法是公法，这意味着国家既是控告人又是受害人，国家管理法院，并经常向被告提供律师
Criminal law covers a vast area of our legal structure. Unlike many other areas of study, students enter law school with some exposure to and ideas about the subject, gathered from past courses in college, news, reports, personal experiences, novels, movies, and television. However, the actual practice of criminal law includes much more than the courtroom drama or police encounter. From the theories of punishment which inform the creation of laws that define crime, through the procedures and rules which regulate the courts through the prosecution and defense of those statutes, into the theory and politics of punishments, the study of criminal law touches every aspect of legal education. Unlike most other areas of legal study, criminal law is public law, meaning that the state is both the accuser and the victim, the state manages the courts and often supplies the attorneys of the accused. Therefore, the good of the generalized population is the touchstone of criminal law, rather than the vindication of the harm against an individual. To that end, criminal law starts with the creation of statutes defining crimes, procedural rules enacted by legislatures or courts, and administrative laws regulating the punishment and incarceration of wrongdoers. Add on top of all of this the state and federal constitutional provisions that ensure that the awesome power of the state, once turned toward a citizen, is restrained and applied equally and fairly. In some cases, international laws and treaties will also act as a check on the ill use of power against an accused.