Laws serve several purposes in the criminal justice system. The primary purpose of criminal law is to protect, serve, and limit human actions and help guide human conduct. Furthermore, the laws provide sanctions and punishments against those who are guilty of committing crimes against property or people. In the modern world, there are three choices in dealing with criminals: criminal punishment, private action, and executive control. Although both private action and executive control are advantageous in terms of cost and speed, they present major dangers that discourage their use except in exceptional situations. The second purpose of criminal law is to punish the perpetrator of the crime. Punishing the offender is the most important purpose of criminal law since by doing so; it discourages him from committing a crime again while making him pay for his crimes. Punishment does not mean inflicting physical punishment only through incarceration, but can also include things like rehabilitation and financial punishment, among other things. The ultimate purpose of criminal law is to protect the community from criminals. Criminal law serves as a means by which society protects itself from those who are harmful or dangerous to it. This is achieved through sentences intended to act as a way to deter the offender from repeating the same crime in the future. Criminal law serves several purposes depending on how people view it. Some of the functions of criminal law are to divide criminals from society, rehabilitate criminal and punish criminals. However, the two main functions of criminal law are to create an understanding of right and wrong in society and to punish those who break the law. Properties of criminal law include natural law... middle of paper... .immunity. There is simply no system of laws alternative to “the law” that can maintain a calm and peaceful environment for the people of the world. One can easily see the need for each nation to apply its own set of rules. Although all countries in the world have their own individuality, they all have one notable feature which is a system of law. It doesn't matter what type of government is in charge, the rules are all appropriate to the people in their community. Works Cited http://www.hg.org/crime.html. (2012). Criminal law-Guide to criminal law. Retrieved February 18, 2012, from HG.Org.Legal Information Institute. (2010, August 9). Retrieved February 17, 2012, from Cornell University Law School: http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/criminal_lawSchmalleger, F. (2012). Criminal justice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.