Crime
Definition of crime in general.
The systematic study of the causes (artiology), prevention, control and penal responses to crime is called criminology. For these purpose, the definition of crime depends on the theoretical stance taken. The nature of crime could be viewed from either a legal or normative perspective. A legalistic definition takes as its starting point the common law contained in the laws enacted by the sovereign government. A crime is any culpable action or omission prohibited by law and punished by the state. This is an uncomplicated view: a crime is a crime because the law defines it as such. A normative definition views crime as cultural standarts specifying 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 effect 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 a decriminalised which will directly affect the statistical crime rates determine the allocation of resources for the enforcement of such laws, and influence public opinion. Similary, changes in the way that crime data is collected or calculated may affect the public perceptions of the extent of any given “crime problem”. All such 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 many ways in which behaviour can be controlled without having to resort to using the criminal law. 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 prohobit 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 ingeneral whether the disputed law is actively enforced on not.