Crime :: essays research papers

Crime refers to many types of misconduct forbidden by fair play. Crimes include such things as murder, stealing a car, resisting arrest, possessing or selling illegal drugs, appearing nude on a public street, sottish driving, and bank robbery. The list of acts considered offenses is constantly changing. For example, at one time, mass were supercharged with witchcraft, but this is no longer illegal. Today, it is becoming a serious crime to pollute the air and water. In colonial days, pollution received bittie attention because it caused few problems. During the 1700s in England it was not a crime for people to steal money entrusted to their c ar by an employer. Today, this type of theft, embezzlement, is a crime. Crimes whitethorn be classified in various ways. For example, they sometimes are group according to the seriousness of the offense, according to the motives of the offenders. Such crimes may include stinting crimes, political crimes, crimes of passion, organized crime , and white collar crime. Crimes are often change integrity between acts that approximately people would consider evil and acts that lawmakers decide should be regulated in the interest of the community. The first group includes such major crimes as arson, assault, breach of the peace, burglary, kidnapping, larceny, murder, rape, and robbery. The second group includes crimes of a "rapidly festering urban society." These crimes include violations of income tax laws, liquor control regulations, pure provender and drug laws, and traffic laws. Crimes in the first group usually contract severe punishments while crimes in the second group are generally punished by fines, notices to follow the courts orders, or other relatively brighten penalties. Crimes are frequently classified according to their seriousness as felonies or misdemeanors. Generally, felonies are more serious than misdemeanors. Under the federal criminal law system, felonies are crimes for which the punishm ent is death or imprisonment for more than a year. A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine or by imprisonment for less than a year. In most states persons convicted of felonies are sent to state prisons, while those quilty of misdemeanors serve their sentence in city or county jails or houses of correction. Crimes against people include assault, kidnapping, murder, and sexual attacks. Such crimes usually bring severe punishments. Crimes against property include arson, automobile theft, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, larceny, and vandalism. In most cases, these crimes carry lighter penalties than do crimes against persons.