Awards for mental suffering and punitive damages flow out of civil causes of action, not misdemeanors, where it is one party (usually a person) suing another party (usually a person) for a civil wrong, e.g. a trespass, a breach of contract, a tortious damage to person or property. Misdemeanors, on the other hand, offend the crown or the lord or the law in general, and are punishable by the imposition of a duty to pay a sum, not to an injured party but to the crown or the lord or the court. Make sense?