The word crime comes from the Latin crimen (genitive criminis), from the Latin root cernō and Greek κρινω = "I judge". Originally it meant "charge (in law), guilt, accusation." Look up crime in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Latin (disambiguation). ... The root is the primary lexical unit of a word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Look up charge in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... “Guilty” redirects here. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Informal relationships and sanctions have been deemed insufficient to create and maintain a desired social order, resulting in formalized systems of social control by the government, or more broadly, the State. With the institutional and legal machinery at their disposal, agents of the State are able to compel individuals to conform to behavioural norms and punish those that do not. Various mechanisms are employed to regulate behaviour, including rules codified into laws, policing people to ensure they comply with those laws, and other policies and practices designed to prevent crime. In addition are remedies and sanctions, and collectively these constitute a criminal justice system. Not all breaches of the law, however, are considered crimes, for example, breaches of contract and other civil law offenses. The label of "crime" and the accompanying social stigma are normally reserved for those activities that are injurious to the general population or the State, including some that cause serious loss or damage to individuals. The label is intended to assert an hegemony of a dominant population, or to reflect a consensus of condemnation for the identified behavior and to justify a punishment imposed by the State, in the event that an accused person is tried and convicted of a crime. The term "crime" can also technically refer to the use of criminal law to regulate minor infractions, such as traffic violations. Usually, the perpetrator of the crime is a natural person, but in some jurisdictions and in some moral environments, legal persons are also considered to have the capability of committing crimes. The State can also technically commit crimes, although this is only rarely reflected in the justice system. Social order is a concept used in sociology, history and other social sciences. ... Social control refers to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior, in terms of greater sanctions and rewards. ... It has been suggested that Convention (norm) be merged into this article or section. ... Crime prevention is a term describing techniques used in deterring crime and criminals. ... Look up remedy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sanctions are usually monetary fines, levied against a party to a legal action or his attorney, for violating rules of procedure, or for abusing the judicial process. ... United States criminal justice system flowchart. ... Breach of contract is a legal concept in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other partys performance. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... It has been suggested that Labelling be merged into this article or section. ... Social stigma is severe social disapproval of personal characteristics or beliefs that are against cultural norms. ... Hegemony (pronounced or ) (Greek: ) is the dominance of one group over other groups, with or without the threat of force, to the extent that, for instance, the dominant party can dictate the terms of trade to its advantage; more broadly, cultural perspectives become skewed to favor the dominant group. ... In legal parlance, a trial is an event in which parties to a dispute present information (in the form of evidence) in a formal setting, usually a court, before a judge, jury, or other designated finder of fact, in order to achieve a resolution to their dispute. ... The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. ... In jurisprudence, a natural person is a human being perceptible through the senses and subject to physical laws, as opposed to an artificial or juristic person, i. ... A legal entity or artificial person is a legal construct with legal rights or duties such as the legal capacity to enter into contracts and sue or be sued. ...

Definition

A normative definition views crime as deviant behaviour that violates prevailing norms, specifically, cultural standards prescribing how humans ought to behave. This approach considers the complex realities surrounding the concept of crime and seeks to understand how changing social, political, psychological, and economic conditions may affect the current definitions of crime and the form of the legal, law enforcement, and penal responses made by the State. These structural realities are fluid and often contentious. For example, as cultures change and the political environment shifts, behaviour may be criminalised or decriminalised, which will directly affect the statistical crime rates, determine the allocation of resources for the enforcement of such laws, and influence the general public opinion. Similarly, changes in the way that crime data are collected and/or calculated may affect the public perceptions of the extent of any given "crime problem". All such adjustments to crime statistics, allied with the experience of people in their everyday lives, shape attitudes on the extent to which law should be used to enforce any particular social norm. There are so many ways in which behaviour can be controlled without having to resort to the criminal justice system. Indeed, in those cases where there is no clear consensus on the given norm, the use of criminal law by the group in power to prohibit the behaviour of another group may be considered an improper limitation of the second group's freedom, and the ordinary members of society may lose some of their respect for the law in general whether the disputed law is actively enforced or not. In philosophy, normative is usually contrasted with positive, descriptive or explanatory when describing types of theories, beliefs, or statements. ... For other uses, see Definition (disambiguation). ... Deviant redirects here. ... It has been suggested that Convention (norm) be merged into this article or section. ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Society (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Politics (disambiguation). ... Psychological science redirects here. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... For the band, see The Police. ... Structuralism as a term refers to various theories across the humanities, social sciences and economics many of which share the assumption that structural relationships between concepts vary between different cultures/languages and that these relationships can be usefully exposed and explored. ... Criminalization or criminalisation is the process by which an act which was previously legal becomes a criminal offense by the passing of legislation or by increased enforcement of legislation when the act was previously condoned. ... Decriminalization is the process of making an action no longer a criminal act in the relevant jurisdiction. ... This article is about the field of statistics. ... This graph shows the rate of non-fatal firearm-related crime in the United States from 1993 to 2003. ... This article is about law in society. ... It has been suggested that Crime rate be merged into this article or section. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. ... Much of the recent sociological debate on power revolves around the issue of the constraining and/or enabling nature of power. ... For other uses, see Freedom. ...

Laws that define crimes which violate social norms are set by legislatures, and are called mala prohibita. These laws vary from time to time and place to place, such as gambling laws. Other crimes, called mala in se, are nearly universally outlawed, such as murder, theft and rape. A legislatureis a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to ratify laws. ... Malum prohibitum (plural mala prohibita, literal translation: wrong because prohibited) is a Latin phrase used in law to refer to crimes made so by statute, as opposed to crimes based on English common law and obvious violations of societys standards which are defined as malum in se. ... Caravaggio, The Cardsharps, c. ... Malum in se (plural mala in se) is a Latin phrase meaning wrong in itself; it is an act that is illegal from the nature of the act, i. ... A young waif steals a pair of boots “Stealing” redirects here. ...

Criminalization

• Criminalization might be intended as a pre-emptive, harm-reduction device, using the threat of punishment as a deterrent to those proposing to engage in the behavior causing harm. The State becomes involved because they usually believe costs of not criminalizing (i.e. allowing the harms to continue unabated) outweigh the costs of criminalizing it (i.e. restricting individual liberty in order to minimize harm to others).
• Criminalization may provide future harm reduction even after a crime, assuming those incarcerated for committing crimes are more likely to cause harm in the future.
• Criminalization might be intended as a way to make potential criminals pay for their crimes. In this case, criminalization is a way to set the price that one must pay (to society) for certain actions that are considered detrimental to society as a whole. In this sense criminalization can be viewed as nothing more than State-sanctioned revenge.

The process of criminalization is controlled by the State because: Deterrence is a theory of justice whereby the aim of punishment is to prevent or deter future mischief. ... For other uses, see Liberty (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Revenge (disambiguation). ...

• Even if the victims recognize that they are victims, they may not have the resources to investigate and seek legal redress for the injuries suffered: the enforcers formally appointed by the State have the expertise and the resources.
• The victims may only want compensation for the injuries suffered, while being indifferent to a possible desire for deterrence: see Polinsky & Shavell (1997) on the fundamental divergence between the private and the social motivation for using the legal system.
• Victims or witnesses of crimes might be deterred from taking any action if they fear retaliation. Even in policed societies, fear may inhibit reporting or co-operation in a trial.
• Victims do not have economies of scale to administer a penal system, let alone collect any fines levied by a court (see Polinsky (1980) on the enforcement of fines). Garoupa & Klerman (2002) warn that a rent-seeking government's primary motivation is to maximize revenue and so, if offenders have sufficient wealth, a rent-seeking government is more aggressive than a social-welfare-maximizing government in enforcing laws against minor crimes (usually with a fixed penalty such as parking and routine traffic violations), but more lax in enforcing laws against major crimes.
• The victims may be incapacitated or dead as a result of the crime.

Deterrence is a theory from behavioural psychology about preventing or controlling actions or behavior through fear of punishment or retribution. ... In economics, rent seeking occurs when an individual, organization, or firm seeks to make money by manipulating the economic environment rather than by making a profit through trade and production of wealth. ... A social welfare function, in welfare economics, is a function which gives a measure of the material welfare of society, given a number of economic variables as inputs. ...

History

The first civilizations had codes of law, containing both civil and penal rules mixed together, though these codes were not always recorded. According to Oppenheim (1964), the first known written codes were produced by the Sumerians, and it is known that the king Urukagina had an early code that does not survive. A later king, Ur-Nammu left the earliest code that has been discovered, creating a formal system of prescribed penalties for specific cases in 57 articles, the Code of Ur-Nammu. The Sumerians later issued other codes including the "code of Lipit-Ishtar" (last king of Isin - 20th century BCE). This code contains some fifty articles and has been reconstructed by the comparison among several sources. As Kramer (1971: 4) states: "The Sumerian was deeply conscious of his personal rights and resented any encroachment on them, whether by his King, his superior, or his equal. No wonder that the Sumerians were the first to compile laws and law codes." For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... Look up Civil in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The word Civil is derived from the Latin word civilis, from civis (citizen). Used as an adjective, it may describe several fields, concepts, and people: Civil death Civil defense Civil disobedience Civil engineering Civil law Civil liberties Civil libertarianism Civil marriage Civil... Sumer (or Å umer; Sumerian: KI-EN-GIR [1]) was the earliest known civilization of the ancient Near East, located in lower Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), from the time of the earliest records in the mid 4th millennium BC until the rise of Babylonia in the late 3rd millennium BC. The term... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ur-Nammu (or Ur-Namma, Ur-Engur, ca. ... The Code of Ur-Nammu is the oldest known tablet containing a law code surviving today. ... Lipit-Ishtar, belonging to a family of shepherds and farmers from Nippur, currently in Iraq, became ruler of Isin, and ruled from around 1868 BC to 1857 BC. He made several legal pronouncements, amongst the earliest ones in the recorded human history, and preceded only by the Code of Hammurabi...

Driver and Mills (1952-55) and Skaist (1994) describe the successive legal codes in Babylon, including the code of Hammurabi, which reflected Mesopotamian society's belief that law was derived from the will of the gods (see Babylonian law). Many states at this time were theocratic, and their codes of conduct were religious in origin or reference. For other uses, see Babylon (disambiguation). ... An inscription of the Code of Hammurabi. ... The material for the study of Babylonian law is singularly extensive. ... Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      For the metal band, refer to Theocracy (band). ...

Sir Henry Maine (1861) studied the ancient codes available in his day and failed to find any criminal law in the 'modern' sense of the word. While modern systems distinguish between offences against the "State" or "Community", and offences against the "Individual", what was termed the penal law of ancient communities was not the law of "Crimes" (crimina); it was the law of "Wrongs" (delicta). Thus, the Hellenic laws (see Gagarin: 1986; and Garner: 1987) treated all forms of theft, assault, rape, and murder as private wrongs, and action for enforcement was up to the victim or their survivors (which was a challenge in that although there was law, there were no formalized courts in the earliest system). It was the Romans who systemized law and exported it to their Empire. Again, the initial rules of Roman Law were that assaults were a matter of private compensation. The significant Roman Law concept was of dominion (see Daube: 1969). The pater familias was in possession of all the family and its property (including slaves). Hence, interference with any property was enforced by the pater. The Commentaries of Gaius on the Twelve Tables treated furtum (modern theft) as a tort. Similarly, assault and violent robbery were allied with trespass as to the pater's property (so, for example, the rape of a slave would be the subject of compensation to the pater as having trespassed on his "property") and breach of such laws created a vinculum juris (an obligation of law) that could only be discharged by the payment of monetary compensation (modern damages). Similarly, in the consolidated Teutonic Laws of the Germanic tribes (see Guterman: 1990), there was a complex system of money compensations for what would now be considered the complete range of criminal offences against the person from murder down. Sir Henry James Sumner Maine (August 15, 1822 - February 3, 1888) was an English comparative jurist and historian, son of Dr James Maine, of Kelso, Borders, Scotland. ... A young waif steals a pair of boots “Stealing” redirects here. ... Using the term Roman law in a broader sense, one may say that Roman law is not only the legal system of ancient Rome but the law that was applied throughout most of Europe until the end of the 18th century. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Ordinary Magistrates Extraordinary Magistrates Titles and Honors Emperor Politics and Law The Law of the Twelve Tables (Lex Duodecim Tabularum, more informally simply Duodecim Tabulae) was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. ... Not to be confused with torte, an iced cake. ... “Unlawful entry” redirects here. ... In law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a claimant (as it is known in the UK) or plaintiff (in the US) following their successful claim in a civil action. ... The term Germanic tribes (or Teutonic tribes) applies to the ancient Germanic peoples of Europe. ...

Even though Rome abandoned England sometime around 400 AD, the Germanic mercenaries who had largely been enforcing the Roman occupation, stayed on and continued to use a mixture of Roman and Teutonic Law, with much written down by the early Anglo-Saxon Kings (see Attenborough: 1963). But, it was not until a more unified Kingdom emerged following the Norman invasion and the King was attempting to assert power over the land and its peoples, that the modern concept emerged, namely that a crime is not only an offence against the "individual", it is also a wrong against the "State" (see Kern: 1948; Blythe: 1992; and Pennington: 1993.). This is a common law idea and the earliest conception of a criminal act involved events of such major significance that the "State" had to usurp the usual functions of the civil tribunals and direct a special law or privilegium against the perpetrator. All the earliest criminal trials were wholly extraordinary and arbitrary without any settled law to apply, whereas the civil delictual law was highly developed and consistent in its operation (except where the King wanted to raise money by selling a new form of Writ). The development of the idea that it is the "State" dispensing justice in a court only emerges in parallel with or after the emergence of the concept of sovereignty. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Anglo-Saxon. ... Bayeux Tapestry depicting events leading to the Battle of Hastings The Norman Conquest was the conquest of England by William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy), in 1066 at the Battle of Hastings and the subsequent Norman control of England. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... In law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction. ... This article is about the concept of justice. ...

In continental Europe, Vinogradoff (1909) reports the persistence of Roman Law, but with a stronger influence from the Church (see Tierney: 1964, 1979). Coupled with the more diffuse political structure based on smaller State units, rather different legal traditions emerged, remaining more strongly rooted in Roman jurisprudence modified to meet the prevailing political climate. In Scandinavia, the effect of Roman law was not felt until the 17th century, and the courts grew out of the things, which were the assemblies of the people. The cases were decided by the people (usually largest freeholders dominating) which later gradually transformed into a system of a royal judge nominating a number of most esteemed men of the parish as his board, fulfilling the function of "the people" of yore. For the jurisprudence of courts, see Case law. ... A thing or ting (Old Norse and Icelandic: þing; other modern Scandinavian: ting) was the governing assembly in Germanic societies, made up of the free men of the community and presided by lawspeakers. ...

From the Hellenic system onwards, the policy rationale for requiring the payment of monetary compensation for wrongs committed has been to avoid feuding between clans and families (note the concept of pater familias as a unifying factor in extended kin groups, and the later practice of wergild in this context). If families' feelings could be mollified by compensation, this would help to keep the peace. On the other hand, the threat of feudal warfare was played down also by the institution of oaths. Both in archaic Greece and in medieval Scandinavia, the accused was released if he could get a sufficient number of male relatives to swear him unguilty. This may be compared with the United Nations Security Council where the veto power of the permanent members ensures that the organization is not drawn into crises where it could not enforce its decisions. These means of restraining private feuds did not always work or prevented the fulfillment of justice but, in the earliest times, the "States" were not prepared to provide an independent police force. Thus, criminal law grew out of what is now tort and, in real terms, many acts and omissions that are classified as crimes overlap civil law concepts. Ancient Greece is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. ... For other uses, see Clan (disambiguation). ... a family of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in 1997 Family is a Western term used to denote a domestic group of people, or a number of domestic groups linked through descent (demonstrated or stipulated) from a common ancestor, marriage or adoption. ... Weregild (Alternative spellings: wergild, wergeld, weregeld, etc. ... Endemic warfare is the state of continual, low-threshold warfare in a tribal warrior society. ... Middle age is the period of life beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. ... For other uses, see Scandinavia (disambiguation). ... “Security Council” redirects here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A feud is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. ...

Natural law theory

The consistent theoretical problem has been to justify the State's use of force to coerce compliance with its laws. One of the earliest justifications was the theory of natural law. This posits that the standards of morality are derived from or constructed by the nature of the world or of human beings. Thomas Aquinas said: "the rule and measure of human acts is the reason, which is the first principle of human acts" (Aquinas, ST I-II, Q.90, A.I), i.e. since people are by nature rational beings, it is morally appropriate that they should behave in a way that conforms to their rational nature. Thus, to be valid, any law must conform to natural law and coercing people to conform to that law is morally acceptable. William Blackstone (1979: 41) describes the thesis: Natural law or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis) is an ethical theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity everywhere. ... Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P.(also Thomas of Aquin, or Aquino; c. ... William Blackstone as illustrated in his Commentaries on the Laws of England. ...

"This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original."

But John Austin, an early positivist, applied utilitarianism in accepting the calculating nature of human beings and the existence of an objective morality, but denied that the legal validity of a norm depends on whether its content conforms to morality, i.e. a moral code can objectively determine what people ought to do, the law can embody whatever norms the legislature decrees to achieve social utility, but every individual is free to choose what he or she will do. Similarly, Hart (1961) saw the law as an aspect of sovereignty with lawmakers able to adopt any law as a means to a moral end. Thus, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the truth of a proposition of law were simply that the law was internally logical and consistent, and that State power was being used with responsibility. Dworkin (2005) rejects Hart's theory and argues that fundamental among political rights is the right of each individual to the equal respect and concern of those who govern him. He offers a theory of compliance overlaid by a theory of deference (the citizen's duty to obey the law) and a theory of enforcement, which identifies the legitimate goals of enforcement and punishment. Legislation must conform to a theory of legitimacy, which describes the circumstances under which a particular person or group is entitled to make law, and a theory of legislative justice, which describes the law they are entitled or obliged to make. John Austin (1790 - 1859) was a jurist, served in the army in Sicily and Malta, but, selling his commission, studied law, and was called to the Bar 1818. ... Legal positivism is a school of thought in jurisprudence and the philosophy of law. ... This article discusses utilitarian ethical theory. ... H. L. A. Hart (Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart) (1907-1992) is considered one of the most important legal philosophers of the twentieth century. ... Look up deference in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Indeed, despite everything, the majority of natural law theorists have accepted that a primary function of the law is to enforce the prevailing morality. The problem with this view is that it makes any moral criticism of the law impossible in that, if conformity with natural law is a necessary condition for legal validity, all valid law must, by definition, be morally just. Thus, on this line of reasoning, the legal validity of a norm necessarily entails its moral justice. The solution to this problem is to admit some degree of moral relativism and to accept that norms may evolve over time and, therefore, the continued enforcement of old laws may be criticized in the light of the current norms. The law may be acceptable but the use of State power to coerce citizens to comply with that law is not morally justified. In more modern conceptions of the theory, crime is characterized as the violation of individual rights. Since so many rights are considered as natural, hence the term "right", rather than man-made, what constitutes a crime is also natural, in contrast to laws, which are man-made. Adam Smith illustrates this view, saying that a smuggler would be an excellent citizen, "...had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to be so." For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... In philosophy, moral relativism is the position that moral or ethical propositions do not reflect objective and/or universal moral truths, but instead make claims relative to social, cultural, historical or personal circumstances. ... Individual rights represent the moral rights of individuals in society prior to government. ... In jurisprudence and law, a right is the legal or moral entitlement to do or refrain from doing something or to obtain or refrain from obtaining an action, thing or recognition in civil society. ... For other persons named Adam Smith, see Adam Smith (disambiguation). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Natural law theory therefore distinguishes between "criminality" which is derived from human nature, and "illegality" which is derived from the interests of those in power. The two concepts are sometimes expressed with the phrases malum in se and malum prohibitum. A crime malum in se is argued to be inherently criminal; whereas a crime malum prohibitum is argued to be criminal only because the law has decreed it so. This view leads to a seeming paradox, that an act can be illegal that is no crime, while a criminal act could be perfectly legal. Many Enlightenment thinkers such as Adam Smith and the American Founding Fathers subscribed to this view to some extent, and it remains influential among so-called classical liberals and libertarians. Malum in se (plural mala in se) is a Latin phrase meaning wrong in itself. ... Malum prohibitum (plural mala prohibita, literal translation: wrong [as or because] prohibited) is a Latin phrase used in law to refer to conduct that constitutes a crime only by virtue of statute, as opposed to conduct evil in and of itself, or malum in se. ... Look up paradox in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... ... “Founders” redirects here. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ...

Reasons

Antisocial behaviour is criminalised and treated as offences against society which justifies punishment by the government. A series of distinctions are made depending on the passive subject of the crime (the victim), or on the offended interest(s), in crimes against: For other uses, see Society (disambiguation). ...

• Personality of the State.
• Rights of the citizen.
• Public administration.
• Administration of justice.
• Religious sentiment and faith.
• Public order.
• Public economy, industry, and commerce.
• Public morality.
• Person and honour.
• Patrimony.

Or they can be distinguished depending on the related punishment with sentencing tariffs prescribed in line with the perceived seriousness of the offence with fines and noncustodial sentences for the least serious, and in some States, capital punishment for the most serious. In jurisprudence and law, a right is the legal or moral entitlement to do or refrain from doing something or to obtain or refrain from obtaining an action, thing or recognition in civil society. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Public administration can be broadly described as the study and implementation of policy. ... This article is about the concept of justice. ... Various Religious symbols, including (first row) Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Bahai, (second row) Islamic, tribal, Taoist, Shinto (third row) Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Jain, (fourth row) Ayyavazhi, Triple Goddess, Maltese cross, pre-Christian Slavonic Religion is the adherence to codified beliefs and rituals that generally involve a faith in a spiritual... For other uses, see Faith (disambiguation). ... In urban planning, the notion of public order refers a city containing relatively empty (and orderly) spaces; which allow for flexibility in redesiging the citys layout; such perceptions played an important role in the establishments of suburbs. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Morality (from the Latin manner, character, proper behaviour) has three principal meanings. ... For other uses, see Honour (disambiguation). ... 1. ... In law, a sentence forms the final act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. ... Tax rates around the world Tax revenue as % of GDP Economic policy Monetary policy Central bank   Money supply Fiscal policy Spending   Deficit   Debt Trade policy Tariff   Trade agreement Finance Financial market Financial market participants Corporate   Personal Public   Banking   Regulation        For other uses of this word, see tariff (disambiguation). ... FINE was created in 1998 and is an informal association of the four main Fair Trade networks: F Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) I International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) N Network of European Worldshops (NEWS!) and E European Fair Trade Association (EFTA) // The aim of FINE is to enable these... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ...

Types

Crime is generally classified into categories, including violent crime, property crime, and public order crime. A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which the offender uses or threatens violent force upon the victim. ... Property crime is a category of crime that includes burglary, larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, shoplifting, and vandalism. ... In criminology public order crime is defined by Siegel (2004) as ...crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently, i. ...

U.S. classification

In the United States since 1930, Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) have been tabulated annually by the FBI from crime data submitted by law enforcement agencies across the United States^[1]. This data is compiled at the city, county, and State levels into the Uniform crime reports (UCR). Violations of laws, which are derived from common law, are classified as Part I (index) crimes in UCR data, and further categorised as violent and property crimes. Part I violent crimes include murder and criminal homicide (voluntary manslaughter), forcible rape, aggravated assault, and robbery, while Part I property crimes include burglary, arson, larceny/theft, and motor vehicle theft. All other crimes are classified as Part II crimes. The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) contain official data on crime that is reported to law enforcement agencies across the United States, who then provide the data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ... F.B.I. and FBI redirect here. ... For the band, see The Police. ... The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) are crime indexes, published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which summarize the incidence and rate of reported crimes within the United States. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

Crimes are also grouped by severity, some common categorical terms being: felonies (US and previously UK), indictable offences (UK), misdemeanors (US and previously UK), and summary offences (UK). For convenience, infractions are also usually included in such lists although, in the U.S., they may not be the subject of the criminal law, but rather of the civil law. For the record label, see Felony Records The term felony is a term used in common law systems for very serious crimes, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. ... In many common law jurisdictions (e. ... A misdemeanor, or misdemeanour, in many common law legal systems, is a lesser criminal act. ... In the law of many common law jurisdictions, a summary offence (or summary offense) is an offence which can be tried without an indictment. ... For the similarly spelled medical term referring to a blocked artery, see infarction. ... In the common law, civil law refers to the area of law governing relations between private individuals. ...

Spheres

Under international law, certain acts are defined as criminal and may be persecuted by extraodinary procedures, such as This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

• Crime against humanity
• War crime
• Hate Crimes

The relationship between religion and crime notions is a complex one. Not only have many secular jurisdictions been influenced by the (socially accepted or from the top imposed) religious morality, while the actual corrolary in that sphere is answerable only to one's conscience and divinity, often in the aftermath), in various historical and/or present societies or institutionalized religions, systems of earthly justice have been established which punish crimes against the divine will and/or specific religious (devotional, organisational and other) rules under a specific code, such as Islamic sharia or canon law (notably within the Roman Catholic church). In international law, a crime against humanity consists of acts of persecution or any large scale atrocities against a body of people, as being the criminal offence above all others. ... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... A hate crime (bias crime), loosely defined, is a crime committed because of the perpetrators prejudices. ... This article is about Islamic religious law. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Canon law is the term used for...

In the (para)military sphere, both 'regular' crimes and specific ones, such as mutiny, can be persecuted by special procedures and/or codes. Mutiny is the act of conspiring to disobey an order that a group of similarly-situated individuals (typically members of the military; or the crew of any ship, even if they are civilians) are legally obliged to obey. ...

See also

The actus reus — sometimes called the external element of a crime — is the Latin term for the guilty act which, when proved beyond a reasonable doubt in combination with the mens rea, i. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... Case law (also known as decisional law) is that body of reported judicial opinions in countries that have common law legal systems that are published and thereby become precedent, i. ... In the common law, civil law refers to the area of law governing relations between private individuals. ... A studio photograph of Tasmanian convict Bill Thompson, showing the convict uniform and the use of leg irons. ... Corrections refers to one of the components of the criminal justice system. ... The Crime Library is an online collection of feature stories about crimes, criminals, and trials by various writers. ... Crime mapping is a key component of crime analysis and the CompStat policing strategy. ... This graph shows a sharp drop-off in violent crime since 1993. ... United States criminal justice system flowchart. ... This article is about the crime term. ... Gumshoe redirects here. ... DEA Operation Mallorca, 2005 Drug deal Illegal drugs are related to crime in multiple ways. ... F.B.I. and FBI redirect here. ... The fear of crime refers to the fear of being a victim of crime. ... // When one conjures up an image of street gangs in the U.S. it is usually influenced by media portrayals of gun-toting youths engaged in disputes over territory and disrespect. ... Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the cafeteria at Columbine High School, shortly before committing suicide. ... A Jewish cemetery in France after being defaced by Neo-Nazis. ... In criminal trials, the insanity defenses are possible defenses by excuse, by which defendants argue that they should not be held criminally liable for breaking the law, as they were legally insane at the time of the commission of alleged crimes. ... International crime may refer to: Crime against international law Crime against humanity Crime against peace War crime It may also refer to trans-national crimes such as: Smuggling Trafficking in human beings Arms trafficking Drug trafficking Money laundering See also Interpol This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles... In politics, law and order refers to a political platform which supports a strict criminal justice system, especially in relation to violent crime and property crimes, through harsher criminal penalties. ... Malum in se (plural mala in se) is a Latin phrase meaning wrong in itself; it is an act that is illegal from the nature of the act, i. ... Malum prohibitum (plural mala prohibita, literal translation: wrong because prohibited) is a Latin phrase used in law to refer to crimes made so by statute, as opposed to crimes based on English common law and obvious violations of societys standards which are defined as malum in se. ... The mens rea is the Latin term for guilty mind used in the criminal law. ... Organized crime or criminal organizations are groups or operations run by criminals, most commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit. ... For other senses of this word, see outlaw (disambiguation). ... A penis colony is a colony used to detain prisoners and generally use them for penal labor in an economically underdeveloped part of the states (usually colonial) territories, and on a far larger scale than a prison farm. ... Within law, the principle of proportionality is used to describe the idea that the punishment of a certain crime should be in proportion to the severity of the crime itself. ... Racial profiling, also known as ethnic profiling, is the inclusion of racial or ethnic characteristics in determining whether a person is considered likely to commit a particular type of crime (see Offender Profiling). ... Sex crimes are forms of human sexual behavior that are crimes. ... Social policy is the study of the welfare state, and the range of responses to social need. ... Strict liability crimes are offenses against the state (crimes) in which no mental state or mens rea is necessary. ... This box:      The underground economy or shadow economy consists of all commerce that is not taxed. ... United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a United Nations agency which was founded in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention with the intent to fight drugs and crime on an international level. ... Victimology is the study of why certain people are victims of crime and how lifestyles affect the chances that a certain person will fall victim to a crime. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with public order crime. ... Massive mark-ups for drugs, areas/drugs/index. ...

Statistics

• Crime index
• Crime rate
• List of countries by murder rate
• United States cities by crime rate

Crime indexes are generated to analyze crime statistics. ... This graph shows the rate of non-fatal firearm-related crime in the United States from 1993 to 2003. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... The following table of 2005 homicides is based on Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports statistics that initially became available in September 2006. ...

Bibliography

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• Kern, Fritz. (1948). Kingship and Law in the Middle Ages. Reprint edition (1985), Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
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• Oppenheim, A. Leo (and Reiner, Erica as editor). (1964). Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization. Revised edition (September 15, 1977). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-63187-7
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• Polinsky, A. Mitchell & Shavell, Steven. (1997). "On the Disutility and Discounting of Imprisonment and the Theory of Deterrence", NBER Working Papers 6259, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [1]
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Michel Foucault (IPA pronunciation: ) (October 15, 1926 – June 25, 1984) was a French philosopher, historian and sociologist. ... is the 258th day of the year (259th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ...

References

1. ^ FBI: Uniform Crime Reports

External links

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Crime

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• The Old Regime Police Blotter (Crime in Pre-Revolutionary France)
• Crime Magazine
• MyStreet Neighborhood Watch Organisation (Operated in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, U.K. and U.S.A.)
• Anti Crime Advocate
• Internet Crime Archive
• POSTACRIME - Online Crime Prevention Network
• Local Crime News