In criminal law, it may criminalize actions that were legal when committed it may aggravate a crime by bringing it into a more severe category than it was in when it was committed it may change the punishment prescribed for a crime, as by adding new penalties or extending sentences or it may alter the rules of evidence in order to make conviction for a crime likelier than it would have been when the deed was committed.Ĭonversely, a form of ex post facto law commonly called an amnesty law may decriminalize certain acts. JSTOR ( January 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Īn ex post facto law (from Latin: ex post facto, lit.'After the fact') is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences (or status) of actions that were committed, or relationships that existed, before the enactment of the law.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: 'Ex post facto law' – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

Retroactive vs retrospective