Ex post facto law: Difference between revisions

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An '''ex post facto law''' (from the [[Latin language|Latin]] for "from something done afterward") or '''retroactive law''' (or '''retrospective law''') is a [[law]] that retroactively changes the legal consequences of acts committed or the legal status of facts and relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law. In reference to [[criminal law]], it may [[Criminalization|criminalize]] actions that were legal when committed; or to aggravate a [[crime]] by bringing it into a more severe category than it was at the time it was committed; or to change or increase the punishment prescribed for a crime, such as by adding new penalties or extending terms; or to alter the [[rules of evidence]] in order to make conviction for a crime more likely than it would have been at the time of the action for which a defendant is prosecuted. Conversely, an ''ex post facto'' law may decriminalize certain acts or alleviate possible punishments (for example by replacing the death sentence bywith life-long imprisonment) retroactively.

A hypothetical example: someone committed a high-profile, brutal [[murder]], but the public thinks the existing laws will not punish the murderer severely enough; so the [[legislature]] enact laws that will more severely punish those who have committed the crime of murder ensuring that ''this specific murderer'' will get a prison sentence longer than that prescribed at the time he committed the crime.