are presumed innocent until proven guilty” “All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty” The State must prove that the accused performed a physical act that caused social harm with the intent to bring about the harm. 

In general, for an act to be a crime four elements must be present: Elements of a crime In general, for an act to be a crime four elements must be present: 1- a criminal act (physical act or omission) 2- a criminal state of mind, evil intent 3- concurrence of a criminal act and a criminal state of mind, And 4- causation.

1- Act (s) must be prohibited by a criminal law There must be an actual act committed (not just thought)

Conduct must be voluntary The accused is to be found guilty of a crime, his or her behaviour in committing the act must have been voluntary. Behavior will usually only be considered involuntary where the accused was not in control of his or her own body or where there is extremely strong pressure from someone else, such as a threat that the accused will be killed if he or she does not commit a particular offence.

2- There must be criminal intent . Intent: The state of mind referring to the willful commission of an act or the omission of an act.

3- Concurrence : a criminal act and criminal intent must occur at the same time, with the intent coming before the crime.

4- Causation is the element of a crime that requires the existence of a causal relationship between the offender’s conduct and the particular harmful consequences. Harm: There must be harm actually inflicted to an individual, property, or society before a crime can be established

Failure to act may also be a crime in some instances.

The physical act is usually not difficult to prove since the person accused either performed a physical act or did not. However proving the required mental state is usually the most difficult part. It is not always necessary to intend to cause the harm. There are some crimes that only require criminal negligence to satisfy the mental state requirement. Criminal negligence basically means that when the act was performed you should have known that the harmful result could occur. 

Criminal and Civil Responsibility Crime: An act or omission that the law makes punishable, generally by fine, penalty, forfeiture, or confinement. Civil Wrongs: A civil wrong can be classified as a tort - a wrongful act that results in injury and leaves the injured party entitled to compensation -or a breach of contract or trust.

Although criminal and civil law both involve holding individuals accountable for actions that the law deems inappropriate, there are two significant differences between criminal liability and civil liability.

First, a crime is committed against the community at large, whereas a tort is a wrong against specific individuals only. Therefore, the pursuit of a tort remedy (as through a lawsuit) involves not government action against individual defendants, but the action of one or more private citizens against another individual or individuals who have violated civil law.

Second, the consequences of tort liability are less than the consequences of criminal liability. A party in a civil suit does not face the possibility of punishment, such as loss of liberty or life. Although many people would consider punitive damages a form of punishment, it is not considered equivalent to incarceration.

A single act may constitute both a crime and a tort and thus may be punishable under both criminal and civil law. Suppose that a drunk driver kills a pedestrian. The driver can be prosecuted for vehicular homicide and sued in civil court for medical costs , funeral costs, and punitive damages.