How do civil and criminal law differ?

Civil matters are private matters, which involve the plaintiff suing the defendant for a money award, often in combination with other orders of the court, like an injunction to make a party stop a course of action.
A crime is considered a wrong against the public. Although a criminal defendant may have injured only one victim directly, any violation of the criminal laws harms society. Criminal cases are always initiated by the government, which has a monopoly on bringing charges. The defendant in criminal cases is usually a person and very rarely a corporation. While victims of crime may be consulted, they have no power to make the prosecutor bring charges or to prevent the prosecutor from dropping charges. A convicted defendant may be ordered to pay a fine, given probation, given community service, or sentenced to jail or prison, or even death.
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