criminal law, also known as penal law, pertains to crimes and punishment. it thus regulates the definition of and penalties for offences found to have a sufficiently deleterious social impact but, in itself, makes no moral judgment on an offender nor imposes restrictions on society that physically prevent people from committing a crime in the first place. investigating, apprehending, charging, and trying suspected offenders is regulated by the law of criminal procedure. the paradigm case of a crime lies in the proof, beyond reasonable doubt, that a person is guilty of two things. first, the accused must commit an act which is deemed by society to be criminal, or "actus reus" (guilty act). second, the accused must have the requisite malicious intent to do a criminal act, or "mens rea" (guilty mind). however, for so called "strict liability" crimes, an "actus reus" is enough. criminal systems of the civil law tradition distinguish between intention in the broad sense ("dolus directus" and "dolus eventualis"), and negligence. negligence does not carry criminal responsibility unless a particular crime provides for its punishment.