Criminal law involves the government’s prosecution and punishment of a person for a criminal act: the two parties involved in a criminal case are the state and an individual. In a criminal case, the state (through a city, county, or federal prosecutor) initiates the suit by charging an individual with a specific crime. Persons convicted of a crime may be incarcerated, fined, or both.

A "crime" is any act (or omission of an act) in violation of a public law forbidding (or commanding) that act. Although there are some common law (court created) crimes, most crimes in the United States are established by local, state, and federal governments. Criminal laws vary significantly from state to state.

Crimes include felonies (more serious offenses -- like murder or rape), misdemeanors (less serious offenses -- like petty theft or jaywalking), and citations for traffic offenses. In general, felonies may carry sentences of a year or more, while misdemeanors are punishable by less than a year and citations carry no possible prison sentence.

All statutes describing criminal behavior can be broken down into discrete elements. Most crimes consist of two elements: an act, or "actus reus," and a mental state, or "mens rea." Prosecutors must prove each element of the crime before a person can be convicted. Furthermore, the prosecutor must persuade the jury or judge "beyond a reasonable doubt" that every element has been met in fact.

For the average person, the criminal process can be difficult to understand, manage, and negotiate. Because our attorneys’ practice focuses primarily on criminal law, the attorneys at Gulstrom, Henson & Petrie, PC, are intimately and uniquely familiar with the criminal process, each prosecutor, and every judge in the Treasure Valley. It is this familiarity that enables us to consistently achieve the best possible results for our clients.