Legal Characteristics of a Crime Essays

Legal Characteristics of a Crime Essays Legal Characteristics of a Crime Essay Legal Characteristics of a Crime Essay Legal Characteristics of a crime are: -There must be a failure to act (an omission) which breaks the law. -The act or omission must be seen harmful to the whole community. Summary Offences – are those heard and decided by a magistrate sitting without a jury. They are relatively minor and include motor traffic offences and offensive behaviour. Indictable Offences- are serious criminal offences and may be heard by a judge or jury. They include murder, sexual assault and malicious wounding. The federal government legislates for some criminal offences such as tax evasion, social security fraud and importation of illegal drugs. However most criminal law is state law. Criminal law is found in both common and statute law. Common law still covers many areas of criminal law, for example, conspiracy, and the courts play a major role in interpret ting statutes. The major statute in Australia is the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) which lists offences and prescribes maximum penalties. Other statutes include the Summary offences Act 1988 (NSW) which mostly deals with public order offences and the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 (NSW) which covers drug offences. Elements of a crime. -Actus Reus is the guilty act. This is the voluntary commission of an act, or voluntary omission of a duty that breaks the law. The important features of the actus reus are: -The act or omission actually took place -It was done by the accused person -That it was voluntary. If a person have a muscular spasm and hit someone during that spasm, they would not be acting voluntarily and therefore the actus reus could not be proved. -Mens Rea is the guilty mind, this means that the person must have committed the act or omission with the intention to do so recklessly or with gross negligence. This shows that the actus reus must have been committed by a person with one of the following states of mind: -The intention or specific desire to commit the act or omit the duty. -Recklessness – the person could foresee the probability of harm, but acted anyway. -Negligence – person failed to exercise the degree of care. Causation: The act or omission must have caused the specific injury complained of. The principle of causation mainly applies in murder and manslaughter charges. In these cases, if the accused had the mens rea and the actus reus to to commit the murder, but the victims death resulted from other means, then the offence of murder is not proved. In Blaue v R (1975) WLR, the victim was stabbed and upon reaching the hospital refused a blood transfusion, because of her religious beliefs as a Jehovah’s witness. The victim died as a result of refusing the treatment. The accused was convicted of murder for the stabbing, because the stabbing was and ‘operative and substantial’ cause of death. Issues and Remedies Education about why laws are established, how they function and why certain acts are illegal is one of the best crime prevention techniques and should begin in early childhood and continue throughout life. The morals and ethics of certain groups in society might make crime education difficult. Social and economic disadvantage might also make it difficult for people to break a cycle of crime through education. Regulation can also prevent crime. This means that because society has made an action illegal, for example, stealing, that members of society will not steal. Regulations of actions are established by common and statue law and are enforced by the police and the court system. In this way, social order is maintained. Coercion is crime that can be prevented through force. If you steal a car in NSW, then police and the legal system will enforce the law that you are breaking. You will be punished and you would be aware of this before you steal a car. Crime Prevention Social Crime Prevention-Crime can be prevented by changing the social factors which cause people to be criminals. Some criminals come from low socio-economic, minority or disadvantaged backgrounds and may have been surrounded by crime from a young age so that the differential theory comes into play. It is argued that the best crime prevention is through education, employment and a viable social security system. To truly prevent crime, the social causes of a cycle of crime should be broken. Situational Crime prevention –Situations where crime could occur are legislated upon or avoided. For example, parents may stop their children from going to a party where a criminal matter could occur.