Definition of crime
Etymology
Latin crimen from cernere
Pronunciation
Noun
crime (countable and uncountable; plural crimes)
- (countable) A specific act committed in violation of the law.
- (uncountable) The practice or habit of committing crimes.
Crime doesn't pay.
See also
Further reading
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority (via mechanisms such as police power) may ultimately prescribe a conviction. While every crime violates the law, not every violation of the law counts as a crime; for example: breaches of contract and of other civil law may rank as "offences" or as "infractions".
When informal relationships and sanctions prove insufficient to establish and maintain a desired social order, a government or a sovereign state may impose more formalized or stricter systems of social control. With institutional and legal machinery at their disposal, agents of the State can compel populations to conform to codes, and can opt to punish or to attempt to reform those who do not conform.
Authorities employ various mechanisms to regulate (encouraging or discouraging) certain behaviors in general. Governing or administering agencies may for example codify rules into laws, police people to ensure they comply with those laws, and implement other policies and practices designed to prevent crime. In addition, authorities provide remedies and sanctions, and collectively these constitute a criminal justice system. Legal sanctions vary widely in their severity, they may include (for example) incarceration of temporary character aimed at reforming the convict. Some jurisdictions have penal codes written to inflict permanent harsh punishments: legal mutilation, capital punishment or life without parole.
The label of "crime" and the accompanying social stigma normally confine their scope to those activities seen as injurious to the general population or to the State, including some that cause serious loss or damage to individuals. Those who apply the labels of "crime" or "criminal" intend to assert the hegemony of a dominant population, or to reflect a consensus of condemnation for the identified behavior and to justify any punishments prescribed by the State (in the event that standard processing tries and convicts an accused person of a crime).
Often a natural person perpetrates a crime, but legal persons may also commit crimes.
Types
Researchers and commentators may classify crime into categories, including:
Analysts can also group crimes by severity, some common category-terms including:
References:
- Wiktionary. Published under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
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