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Date: 2015-10-07; view: 455.

MODERN CRIMES

Crimes are acts that are forbidden and punished by law; they may threaten the well-being of society, or injure any of its members. Crime is found in most societies, and among all social groups within any society. People are most likely to commit a criminal act between the ages of 15 and 25.

All societies have to have rules, or laws, about what is right and wrong. Laws are necessary in order for people to live and work together in peace and security. But the idea of what makes a crime is different in various parts of the world. For example, today in some countries in the Middle East a man may legally have several wives at the same time. In North America and Europe that would be a crime. Changing times and social attitudes may lead to changes in the criminal law, so that behavior that was once criminal becomes lawful. Conceptions of crime vary so widely from culture to culture and change with time to such an extent that it may be difficult to name a specific act universally regarded as criminal.

Such acts as treason, murder, assault, stealing, forgery, lying under oath, and arson are, as the lawyers say, malum in se, which is Latin for “bad in themselves”. These crimes have been punished throughout history because they have always been thought to be against the moral and ethical standards of society – that is, what society regards as good or bad, right or wrong. They are called “traditional” crimes. Other acts have been declared by law to be crimes or malum prohibitum – acts that are bad because the law says they are. An example of such a crime is having a gun without a license.

One of the best known classifications of crimes comes from English common law. Crimes are classified according to their seriousness.

Generally, treason, murder, rape, arson, and stealing are classified as very serious crimes and are called felonies. They are punishable by imprisonment, and sometimes by death. Traffic offences, drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and other minor offences are classed as misdemeanours. They may be punished by a fine, a warning, some hours of community service or a short jail sentence. In the United States crimes are still classified like this. In England they are classified according to their seriousness as arrestable and non-arrestable.