Why criminal law is substantive

Substantive law deals with people’s rights and responsibilities.
For example, substantive law dictates the kind of punishment that someone may receive upon being convicted at the conclusion of his criminal trial.
Substantive law also defines types of crimes and their severity.

Substantive criminal law specifically defines what constitutes certain crimes, as well as prescribed penalties when someone is convicted of those crimes.
Substantive civil law deals with such things as laying out the rules of formal agreements between citizens, as well as the citizens’ rights and responsibilities in such agreements.

Substantive law also defines types of crimes and their severity.
For example, substantive law is used to decide whether a crime was a hate crime, whether a murder was committed in self-defense, and so on.
Substantive law is then relied upon to determine the rights that are afforded to the accused.

Substantive criminal law defines those crimes and the punishments for those crimes.
Procedural criminal law are the actual procedures at work to investigate and prosecute criminal behavior.
Nowadays, substantive criminal law is based on tweaking older past laws, enacting new laws as new criminal activity emerges, and abolishing unnecessary laws.