The Mythology Of Crime And Criminal Justice

The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice

Crime is defined as: commission of an act or act of omission that

violates the law and is punishable by the state. Crimes are considered

injurious to society and the community. As defined by law, a crime includes

both the act, or actus rea, and the intent to commit the act, or mens rea.

Criminal intent involves an intellectual apprehension of factual elements of the

act or acts commanded or enjoined by the law. It is usually inferred from the

apparently voluntary commission of an overt act. Criminal liability is relieved

in the case of insanity. Legal minors are also relieved of criminal liability,

as are persons subjected to coercion or duress to such a degree as to render the

commission of criminal acts involuntary. In most countries, crimes are defined

and punished pursuant to statutes. Punishments may include death, imprisonment,

exile, fines, forfeiture of property, removal from public office, and

disqualification from holding such office.

Unless the act of which a defendant is accused is expressly defined by

statute as a crime, no indictment or conviction for the commission of such an

act can be legally sustained. This provision is important in establishing the

difference between government by law and arbitrary or dictatorial government.

Under common law, a crime was generally classified as treason, felony,

or misdemeanor, but many offenses could not be defined exactly, and the rule was

adopted that any immoral act tending to the prejudice of the community was, per

se, a crime, and punishable by the courts. Crimes are now usually classified as

mala in se, which includes acts, such as murder, so offensive to morals as to be

obviously criminal; and mala prohibita, which are violations of specific

regulatory statutes, such as traffic violations, that ordinarily would not be

punishable in the absence of statutory enactments prohibiting the commission of

such acts. In most cases, crimes, including treason, that are mala in se are

called felonies and are punished more severely than those that are mala

prohibita, most of the latter falling into the category of misdemeanors.

Nearly everyone in America has been touched by crime in one way or

another. There are reports of murders, arson, robberies, etc. every night on

the news. However, the viewer is constant...

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...discussed petty

crimes. The media has made crime into a great moneymaking opportunity. By

viewing television shows like these, the viewer comes to believe that the only

crimes that exist are violent crimes. This is due to the fact that the media

spends so much time covering violent crimes here in the United States.

As you can see, there are many factors in deciphering crime today.

Different reports and different presentations by the media can lead the public

to believe that minorities commit crimes against the white majority, almost all

crimes committed today are violent, most crimes are committed by young, urban

black males, and the list goes on. The best way for people to understand crime

or a crime wave is through the use of statistics. Since most crime covered on

television, radio, or through other media sources focuses on violent crimes,

these statistics can be very confusing. As the authors point out in The

Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice by Victor E. Kappeler, Mark Blumberg,

and Gary W. Potter, crime can be perceived in nearly every fashion.

Unfortunately, crime is reported in ways that are not always accurate solely to

influence the public.