Types of crime

Every crime is made up of certain elements. Elements are the conditions that make an act a crime. A crime cannot be committed unless all its elements are fulfilled. For example, robbery is defined as the unlawful taking of goods or money from someone's person by force or intimidation. Thus, the elements of robbery are (1) the tak­ing of goods or money, (2) the use of force or intimidation, and (3) the lack of consent of the person from whom the goods or money are taken.

Almost all crimes require an act and an intent. Criminal intent means that the person intended or meant to commit a crime. If a person acts because of a mistake or some other innocent reason, there is no criminal intent.

A few crimes are strict liability offenses. These crimes do not re­quire criminal intent. Strict liability offenses make the act itself a crime regardless of the knowledge of the person committing the act. For example, the law makes it illegal to sell alcoholic beverages to minors. This is true regardless of whether or not the seller knew the buyer was underage.

In the USA there are both state and federal criminal laws. Some acts, such as simple assault, disorderly conduct, drunk driving, and shoplifting, can be prosecuted only in a state court unless they occur on federal property, such as a national park. Other acts, such as failure to pay federal taxes, mail fraud, espionage, and international smuggling, can be prosecuted only in a federal court. Certain crimes, such as illegal possession of dangerous drugs and bank robbery, can violate both state and federal law and can be prosecuted in either state or federal court.

Crimes are classified as either felonies or misdemeanors. A felony is a crime for which the penalty is imprisonment for more than one year. Felonies are usually the more serious crimes. A misdemeanor is any crime for which the penalty is imprisonment for one year or less. Minor traffic violations are not considered crimes, although they are punishable by law.

Parties to Crimes. The person who commits a crime is called the principal. For example, the person who fires the gun in a murder is the principal. An accomplice is someone who helps another person to commit a crime. An accomplice may be charged with and convicted of the same crime as the principal. A person who orders a crime or who helps the principal commit the crime but who is not present is known as an accessory before the fact. This person can usually be charged with the same crime, and can receive the same punishment, as the principal. An accessory after the fact is a per­son who, knowing a crime has been committed, helps the principal or an accomplice avoid capture or escape. A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime. The designation of conspiracy as a crime is meant to prevent other crimes and to strike against criminal activity by groups.

Punishment

There are several kinds of punishment available to the courts. In civil cases, the most common punishment is a fine, but specific performance and injunctions may also be ordered. For criminal offenses fines are also often used when the offense is not a very serious one and when the offender has not been in trouble before. Another kind of punishment available in some countries is community service. This requires the offender to do a certain amount of unpaid work, usually for a social institution such as a hospital. For more serious crimes the usual punishment is imprisonment. The length of sentences varies from a few days to a lifetime. However, a life sentence may allow the prisoner to be released after a suitably long period if a review (parole) board agrees his detention no longer serves a purpose.

In some countries there is also corporal punishment (physical). In Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Zambia, Zimbabwe, among others, courts may sentence offenders to be caned or whipped. In Saudi Arabia theft and possession of alcohol may be punished by cutting off the offender's hand or foot.

The ultimate penalty is death (capital punishment). It is carried out by hanging (Kenya, for example); electrocution, gassing or lethal injection (U.S.); beheading or stoning (Saudi Arabia); or shooting (China). Although most countries still have a death penalty, 35 (including almost every European nation) have abolished it; 18 retain it only for exceptional crimes such as wartime offences; and 27 no longer carry out executions even when a death sentence has been passed. In other words, almost half the countries of the world have ceased to use the death penalty.

Supporters of capital punishment believe that death is a just punishment for certain serious crimes. Many also believe that it deters others from committing such crimes. Opponents argue that execution is cruel and uncivilized. Capital punishment involves not only the pain of dying (James Autry took ten minutes to die of lethal injection in Texas, 1984) but also the mental anguish of waiting, sometimes for years, to know if and when the sentence will be carried out. Opponents also argue that there is no evidence that it deters people from committing murder anymore than imprisonment does. A further argument is that, should a mistake be made, it is too late to rectify it once the execution has taken place. In 1987, two academics published a study showing that 23 innocent people had been executed in the United States. As the debate about capital punishment continues, the phenomenon of death row (people sentenced but still alive) increases. In 1991, no one was executed in Japan, but three people were sentenced to death, bringing the total number on death row to fifty. Sakae Menda lived under sentence of death for thirty three years before obtaining a retrial and being found not guilty. The debate also involves the question of what punishment is for. Is it revenge or retribution? Is it to keep criminals out of society? Or is it to reform and rehabilitate them?

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