An accessible and lively introduction to the field, Law, Justice, and Society: A Sociolegal Introduction explores the relationship between legal systems and other social institutions using a distinctive sociological point of view.
Authors Anthony Walsh and Craig Hemmens provide detailed discussio...
‘LAW, JUSTICE, AND SOCIETY; A SOCIOLEGAL
INTRODUCTION’ BY ANTHONY WALSH AND CRAIG HEMMENS
CHAPTER V: CRIME AND CRIMINAL LAW
Criminal law, or substantive law, is the law of crimes as compared to procedural law, which
are the rules the state must follow when investigating suspects or prosecuting someone who
has committed a crime. Substantive law is defined by statute, and it prescribes (what we
should do) and proscribes (what we should not do) various types of conduct.
Criminal laws are enforced by the state, and violation of the criminal law is treated as an act
against the state and the individual victim.
The primary purpose of criminal law is thus to protect the public from harm by punishing
harmful acts that have occurred and seeking to forestall harm by forbidding conduct that may
lead to it.
WHAT IS CRIME?
Crime is “an intentional act in violation of the criminal law committed without defense or
excuse, and penalized by the state”. Thus crime is an:
1. Act in violation of;
2. A criminal law for which;
3. A punishment is prescribed; the person committing it must have;
4. Intended to do so and to have done so without legally acceptable;
5. Defense or justification;
But this might differ from every other culture, due to social attitudes that surrounds this
culture. Nevertheless, according to Interpol, acts such as murder, rape, assault, and theft are
criminalized in every one of its 125 member nations. These are crimes we define as mala in se
crimes, or crimes that are inherently harmful because they generate strong emotional
responses in all victims of them.
There is a distinction between mala in se and mala prohibita in terms of three concepts that
are arrayed on continua from low to high: consensus, seriousness (corresponding to severity
of penalty), and harm. This distinction is also made in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s
annual report: the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). Part I contain major mala in se crimes:
murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft, and
arson). Part II contain offenses that are a mixture of mala prohibita, such as gambling and
prostitution, and a number of other offenses that are less serious male in se offenses, such as
simple assault.
There are similarities that traverse jurisdictional boundaries. Common characteristics of
criminal law include:
a. A description of prohibited conduct;
b. A list of the penalties prescribed for those who violate the law;
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