Crime
IGCSE Global Perspectives
Etymology
The word crime originates from
the Latin crīmen (genitive: criminis),
from the root of Latin cernō = "I decide, I
give judgement" and
Greek κρινω = "I judge".
Originally the Latin word crīmen meant
"charge (in law), guilt, accusation".
Crime
• A normative definition views crime as
deviant behavior that violates prevailing
norms.
• An act or omission that violates the law
and is punishable by a sentence of
incarceration.
• An offence against the state that is
punishable.
Offence
• A crime.
• The modern tendency is to refer to crimes
as offences.
• Offences may be classified as indictable or
summary and as arrestable or
nonarrestable.
Property crime
• Crimes that affect another person's rights of ownership
(or in some cases possession or control).
• Property crime is a category of crime that includes,
among other crimes, theft, burglary, larceny, robbery,
motor vehicle theft, arson, forgery, forcible entry, criminal
damage, deception, and vandalism.
• Property crime only involves the taking of money or
property, and does not involve force or threat of force
against a victim.
Public order crime
• It is behaviour that has been labelled
criminal because it is contrary to shared
norms, social values, and customs.
• Generally speaking, deviancy is
criminalized when it is too disruptive and
has proved uncontrollable through informal
sanctions.
Violent crime
• A violent crime or crime of violence is a crime in which
the offender uses or threatens to use violent force upon
the victim.
• This entails both crimes in which the violent act is the
objective, such as murder, as well as crimes in which
violence is the means to an end, such as robbery.
• Violent crimes include crimes committed with and
without weapons.
• With the exception of rape (which accounts for 6% of all
reported violent crimes), males are the primary victims of
all forms of violent crime.
Crime against international law
• Crimes that affect the proper functioning of
international society.
• Some authorities regard so-called international
crimes as crimes of individuals that all or most
states are bound by treaty to punish in
accordance with national laws passed for that
purpose.
Examples of this type of crime are piracy,
hijacking, and war crimes.
• The International Law Commission (UN) has formulated
Draft Articles on State Responsibility, which attempt to
define international crimes for which individual states are
liable.
• It gives as examples:
(1) a serious breach of an international obligation
essential to safeguard international peace (e.g.
aggression) or peoples' rights to self-determination (e.g.
colonial domination by force);
(2) a widespread and serious breach of obligations
essential to safeguard individuals (e.g. slavery,
genocide, or apartheid) or the environment (e.g. massive
pollution).