Opening the Doors to Justice: What is Criminal vs Civil Law?

We know “lawyer speak” can be confusing, so we’re here to clear up one of the fundamentals. When something bad happens, which door do you go through to see justice? Is it criminal or civil?

Let’s take a look.

Criminal law is most like the courtroom drama you’ve seen on shows like Law & Order or Criminal Minds: the good guys chase down the bad guys, capture them, and bring them to a trial where 12 jurors hear testimony from both sides and ultimately assign a verdict.

The defendant (aka bad guy) enters the courtroom shackled and, if found guilty, faces the consequences—prison time, fines, or worse. This may be a satisfying conclusion, but it is just one door to justice.

Now, imagine going through a completely different door.

Civil law isn’t focused on just punishing an individual but on holding powerful corporations, organizations, and institutions accountable for the harm they’ve caused.

Think Erin Brockovich, Spotlight, or Bombshell: these cases shine a light on how entire systems can fail victims by cutting corners to maximize profit, leaving people like you to pick up the pieces.

In civil law, you’re not just looking for punishment—you’re seeking real accountability. Suppose a company is found guilty or reaches a settlement. In that case, they’ll not only pay compensation to those harmed, but they may also be forced to change policies, remove dangerous products, or even overhaul their practices. The harm could have been prevented if the organization had put safety over profits but, with civil law, you have the power to demand that change.

So, while criminal law opens one door to justice, civil law gives you a chance to walk through a completely different door—a door that leads to lasting change, accountability, and a fairer system for everyone.

Why settle for just locking up one person when you can challenge the entire system that allowed the harm to happen in the first place?

What Is A Simple Definition of Civil Law?

In the United States, civil law is a legal system and branch of law that presides over disputes between private individuals and entities like those mentioned above. Civil law is also referred to as private law (non-government). Regularly, civil law involves a slew of plaintiffs and a collective defendant, aka, the formidable powers in charge of harmful products or sketchy hires.

Think Boy Scouts of America, a once-revered organization that for decades succeeded in hiding rampant grooming and sexual assault of minors in thousands of Scout troops nationwide.

How Does Civil Law Compare to Criminal Law?

People who bring charges (like you) are called plaintiffs, from the word complaint. They file lawsuits alleging that grievous wrongdoing has befallen them because their safety was neglected.

The collective entity accused is the defendant, the organization that cared more about its deep pockets than the safety of the very same consumers who made its pockets deep.

In civil law, the burden of proof is not as high as in criminal law. Civil law requires that the defense show only evidence of “reasonable doubt.”
The consequences are also different. Civil law digs into those silk-lined pockets for substantive (often massive) financial amends to be distributed among those harmed on the company’s watch.
The entity may also be forced to change its internal policies or workplace culture or even spend substantial amounts of money out of its own pocket to help clean up a mess it created (both literally and figuratively).

What Is An Example of a Civil Lawsuit?

To give you a good idea, here are a few national lawsuits we’ve championed:

Big Pharma – Essure defective birth control implants were marketed as safe.
Universities – Doctors like Larry Nassar assaulted young women for far too long;
Organizations – Boy Scouts of America covered up pervasive child sexual abuse for decades.
Service industries like Uber & Lyft have heavily marketed their services as “safe” when an avalanche of sexual assault reports say otherwise.
“Nice” hotels harbored Sex Trafficking.

Our bottom line: Whether it’s exposure to defective products, toxic chemicals, or the systemic cover-up of assault, a successful civil outcome will require that a corporation must pay big-time out of its precious assets, as well as push to bring about positive social change. This method of punishment not only helps those who were injured pay for medical and psychiatric treatment and/or cover lost wages, but it hits the entity where it hurts the most – in the wallet – to deter a repeat performance and protect future consumers.

Can the Same Conduct Result in Both Civil & Criminal Cases?

Yes. Not to confuse you, but sometimes (rarely) civil lawsuits involve an individual wrongdoer who is also the entity. Although criminal and civil cases are treated differently, many people do not know that the same conduct can produce both kinds of cases.

Said another way, wrongdoers can be the subject of both criminal and civil lawsuits. One of the most famous examples is the O.J. Simpson trial: a murder trial (criminal) and a wrongful death trial (civil). Despite not producing satisfying evidence to convince the jury Simpson was guilty “beyond the shadow of a doubt” in the federal criminal murder case, the civil (non-government) trial found that he wrongfully caused his wife’s death.

Other more recent examples of double charging: Sean “Diddy” Combs, Harvey Weinstein, R. Kelly, and Mike Jeffries.

Why Does Civil Law Matter?

The #MeToo movement and our own #icouldntsayno campaign have raised awareness about just how rabidly sexual assault, harassment, and trafficking abound in every corner of the US.

Cases involving toxic chemicals or defective medical devices, etc., likewise raise universal awareness. Though cases may drag on for months or years because the defendant employs every trick in the book to avoid steep penalties, the plaintiff lawyers we team up with are always working hard to help achieve the best possible outcome for their clients.

Civil law can change society.

Last, survivors derailed by institutional wrongdoing often need financial assistance to recover from the physical and traumatic fallout, so financial awards to plaintiffs are the main objective of the civil system.

Does ACFW Work with Criminal or Civil Lawyers?

Civil. We engage in civil law, and we only work with civil lawyers. ACFW believes civil law is the best way to help change our society for the better: both arms of the law have their place, but it is helpful to know the difference and how the two approaches differ and/or work synergistically.

Civil contingency lawyers allow everyday American women (+ every other American) to access civil justice without paying steep criminal attorneys’ fees costing hundreds or thousands of dollars per hour.

We only work with lawyers who operate on a contingency fee basis. This means the firms we collaborate with:

Bet the farm on the strength of your case, risking their own time and money because they believe they can achieve a positive result for you.
Either hand you a victory (money and/or sweeping commitment to change) in the end, or you owe them nothing.

Why ACFW?

We were founded in 2016 by women, exclusively for women, not realizing the boundless scope of the lost niche we set out to fill. We’ve fought every day since and are spurring some coast-to-coast conversation. Please contact us 24/7/365 if you’ve been harmed by corporate oversight. We’re here to help you.

We want to calm you, ground you, and show you how to join a civil lawsuit.

For our many services, we charge you nothing. Ever.

If you’ve been waylaid by a tragedy that could have been avoided with reasonable prevention, your pain may linger on many levels – physical, emotional, spiritual, financial. But when you take the first baby step and ask for help, you can lose that sack of bricks crushing your brain.