By John L. Burris, Founder, Burris, Nisenbaum & Curry
Updated September 2026 · 4 min read
Whether a set of facts becomes a criminal case, a civil case, or both depends less on how serious the underlying conduct feels and more on who has legal standing to bring a claim and what body of law applies. As federal courts explain it, criminal cases involve conduct treated as harmful to society as a whole, prosecuted by the government; civil cases involve a dispute between private parties, brought by whoever was harmed. The same set of facts can sometimes generate both.
What Is a Criminal Case?
A criminal case is the government’s response to conduct that violates a criminal statute — charges are brought by a prosecutor on behalf of the state, not by the victim personally. If a defendant is convicted, sentencing can include fines, restitution to a victim, incarceration, probation, or some combination, depending on the offense and jurisdiction.
What Is a Civil Case?
A civil case begins when a person or organization — the plaintiff — claims that another party, the defendant, failed to meet a legal duty owed to them. The plaintiff can ask a court to order the defendant to perform that duty, pay compensation, or both. Civil cases cover a wide range: contract disputes, personal injury claims like car accidents or medical malpractice, and civil rights violations.
Civil rights claims are a distinct category worth knowing about: under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a person whose constitutional rights were violated by someone acting under government authority — a police officer, for example — can bring a civil lawsuit for damages, entirely separate from whatever happens in any related criminal case.
The Burden of Proof Is Genuinely Different
In a criminal trial, the prosecution has to prove guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” — the highest standard in American law, reflecting how much is at stake when the government seeks to take away someone’s liberty. In a civil case, the plaintiff only has to show a “preponderance of the evidence” — that their version of events is more likely true than not, which in practice means anything over roughly 50%. That gap in the standard of proof is the single biggest reason the same set of facts can produce different outcomes in criminal and civil court.
Why the Same Incident Can Produce Two Separate Cases
It surprises a lot of people that a defendant can be tried criminally and sued civilly over the same conduct without that being “double jeopardy.” It isn’t, because the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment only protects against being prosecuted twice, criminally, for the same offense — it doesn’t touch civil proceedings at all. A criminal case and a civil case are legally independent tracks: an acquittal in criminal court doesn’t prevent a civil case from moving forward, and it doesn’t determine how that civil case comes out, because the two proceedings answer different questions under different standards of proof.
A Look at How These Cases Play Out
A pattern like this comes up often in police misconduct litigation: an officer’s use of force during an arrest leaves someone seriously injured. The district attorney reviews the incident and, in some cases, files criminal charges against the officer — in others, declines to. Either way, that decision doesn’t end the matter for the injured person.
Independent of whatever happens in criminal court, the injured party can bring a civil rights claim under Section 1983, seeking compensation for medical costs, lost income, and the injury itself. That civil case is decided under the lower preponderance standard, by different fact-finders, on its own timeline — sometimes resolving in a settlement well before, or well after, any criminal proceeding concludes. The outcome of one case never dictates the outcome of the other.
This example reflects patterns seen across police misconduct litigation generally; details have been generalized and don’t describe a specific, identifiable case. Every case turns on its own facts.
When to Talk to a Lawyer
If an incident might involve both a possible crime and a personal injury or rights violation — most commonly in cases involving police use of force — the criminal case and the civil case need to be evaluated separately, since they run on different rules, different timelines, and different standards of proof. A civil rights and police misconduct attorney can help sort out what a civil claim looks like independent of whatever the criminal process does or doesn’t do.
Authorities & Sources
- Federal Courts and What They Do — U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, overview of civil vs. criminal cases.
- 42 U.S.C. § 1983 — Civil action for deprivation of constitutional rights.
- Double Jeopardy — Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, Wex.
Legal information can change, and how a specific set of facts is treated depends on the jurisdiction and circumstances involved. This article is for general informational purposes and is not a substitute for legal advice about a specific case.
