The term „crime“ means, in England and Ireland, any crime or offence of throwing counterfeit or counterfeit coins or possessing counterfeit gold or silver coins, or the offence of obtaining property or money under false pretenses, or the offence of conspiracy to commit fraud, or any offence under the fifty-eighth section of the Theft Act 1861. These means of containing private quarrels did not always work and sometimes prevented the accomplishment of justice. But in the early days, the „state“ did not always provide an independent police force. Thus, criminal law emerged from what 21st century lawyers would call tort liability; And in reality, many acts and omissions that are classified as criminal offences actually overlap with civil law concepts. In the military field, the authorities can prosecute both ordinary crimes and certain acts (such as mutiny or desertion) under the laws of war, which replace or expand the Civil Code in time of war. A felony is a serious crime punishable by at least one year in prison. Some family crimes include abduction and interference with deprivation of liberty (in some States). In everyday language, a crime is an illegal act punishable by a State or other authority. [1] The term crime does not have a simple and generally accepted definition in modern criminal law,[2] although legal definitions are provided for some purposes. [3] The prevailing view is that crime is a legally created category; In other words, something is a crime if it is declared as such under the relevant and applicable law.
[2] One proposed definition is that a crime or misdemeanour is an act that harms not only an individual, but also a community, society or state („a public injustice“). Such acts are prohibited and punishable. [1] [4] A misdemeanor is a felony for which the penalty is usually a fine and/or up to one year in a county jail. Often, a crime that is a misdemeanor for the first offense becomes a crime for repeated offenses. All crimes that are not crimes are misdemeanors. The idea that acts such as murder, rape and robbery should be banned exists all over the world. [5] What exactly constitutes a crime is defined by the criminal law of each country. While many have a catalogue of crimes called the penal code, some common law countries do not have such a comprehensive law. A person commits a crime when he acts in a way that fulfills all the elements of a crime. The law defining the offence also sets out the constituent elements of the offence. In general, each offence has three elements: first, the act or conduct („actus reus“); second, the mental state of the individual at the time of action („mens rea“); and third, causality between action and effect (usually either „immediate causality“ or „but for causality“). In the case of law enforcement, the government has the burden of proof to establish all the elements of a crime beyond a doubt.
Some crimes are considered mala prohibita (bad because it is prohibited); These are prohibited by law, but not inherently evil. Other crimes are considered mala in se (bad in themselves); These are considered intrinsically bad by the common standards of the community. The idea of mala in was the original justification for common law crimes. However, many crimes that are prohibited by law today also fall into the category of mala in se. Scholars and commentators have divided the crimes into the following categories in addition to the above: The state (government) has the power to severely restrict the freedom to commit a crime. In modern societies, there are procedures to which investigations and processes must adhere. If an offender is convicted, he or she may be sentenced to some form of reparation, such as a community sentence or, depending on the nature of the offence, imprisonment, life imprisonment or, in some jurisdictions, execution. Congress codified federal criminal law and criminal procedure in Title 18 of the United States Code with sections 1 through 2725, which deal with crime. Title 18 refers to various behaviors as federal crimes, such as arson, use of chemical weapons, counterfeiting and tampering, embezzlement, espionage, genocide, and kidnapping. These laws generally prescribe an appropriate maximum penalty for a convicted person. For other federal regulations, see 28 C.F.R.
There are natural law theorists who have accepted the idea of imposing dominant morality as the primary function of law. [23] The problem with this point of view is that it makes any moral criticism of law impossible: if conformity with natural law is a necessary condition for legal validity, any applicable law must, by definition, be considered morally just. According to this reasoning, the legal validity of a norm necessarily implies its moral justice. [24] A criminal offence is an offence under a public law. This word encompasses all crimes in its most general sense, but is limited to crimes in its narrowest sense. Whether a particular act or omission constitutes a criminal offence does not depend on the nature of the act or omission; It depends on the nature of the legal consequences that may result. [11] An act or omission constitutes a criminal offence if it can be followed by so-called criminal proceedings. [12] [13] Many different causes and correlates of crime have been proposed with varying degrees of empirical support. They include socio-economic, psychological, biological and behavioural factors. Controversial topics include research on media violence and the impact of gun policy. Die Entwicklung des soziologische Denkens ab dem 19. Century led to new views on crime and delinquency and promoted the beginnings of criminology as the study of crime in society.
Nietzsche noted a link between crime and creativity – in The Birth of Tragedy he asserted: „The best and brightest that man can acquire, he must obtain through crime.“ In the 20th century, Michel Foucault examined criminalization as a coercive method of state control in Discipline and Punish. Under English common law, crimes were classified as treason, felony or misdemeanor, sometimes treason being part of the crimes.