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Crime Law
The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any
of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose
common characteristic is the potential for unique and often
severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. Criminal
punishment, depending on the offense and jurisdiction, may
include execution, loss of liberty, government supervision
(parole or probation), or fines. There are some archetypal
crimes, like murder, but the acts that are forbidden are not
wholly consistent between different criminal codes, and even
within a particular code lines may be blurred as civil
infractions may give rise also to criminal consequences.
Criminal law typically is enforced by the government, unlike the
civil law, which may be enforced by private parties.
Criminal law history
The first civilizations generally did not distinguish between
civil and criminal law. The first written codes of law were
produced by the Sumerians. Around 2100-2050 BC Ur-Nammu, the
Neo-Sumerian king of Ur, enacted the oldest written legal code
whose text has been discovered: the Code of Ur-Nammu although an
earlier code of Urukagina of Lagash is also known to have
existed. Another important early code was the Code Hammurabi,
which formed the core of Babylonian law. These early legal codes
did not separate penal and civil laws.
The similarly significant Commentaries of Gaius on the Twelve
Tables also conflated the civil and criminal aspects, treating
theft or furtum as a tort. Assault and violent robbery were
analogized to trespass as to property. Breach of such laws
created an obligation of law or vinculum juris discharged by
payment of monetary compensation or damages.
The first signs of the modern distinction between crimes and
civil matters emerged during the Norman Invasion of England. The
special notion of criminal penalty, at least concerning Europe,
arose in Spanish Late Scolasticism (see Alfonso de Castro), when
the theological notion of God's penalty (poena aeterna) that was
inflicted solely for a guilty mind, became transfused into canon
law first and, finally, to secular criminal law. The development
of the state dispensing justice in a court clearly emerged in
the eighteenth century when European countries began maintaining
police services. From this point, criminal law had formalized
the mechanisms for enforcement, which allowed for its
development as a discernible entity.
Criminal sanctions
Criminal law is distinctive for the uniquely serious potential
consequences of failure to abide by its rules. Every crime is
composed of criminal elements. Capital punishment may be imposed
in some jurisdictions for the most serious crimes. Physical or
corporal punishment may be imposed such as whipping or caning,
although these punishments are prohibited in much of the world.
Individuals may be incarcerated in prison or jail in a variety
of conditions depending on the jurisdiction. Confinement may be
solitary. Length of incarceration may vary from a day to life.
Government supervision may be imposed, including house arrest,
and convicts may be required to conform to particularized
guidelines as part of a parole or probation regimen. Fines also
may be imposed, seizing money or property from a person
convicted of a crime.
Five objectives are widely accepted for enforcement of the
criminal law by punishments: retribution, deterrence,
incapacitation, rehabilitation and restitution. Jurisdictions
differ on the value to be placed on each.
* Retribution - Criminals ought to suffer in some way. This is
the most widely seen goal. Criminals have taken improper
advantage, or inflicted unfair detriment, upon others and
consequently, the criminal law will put criminals at some
unpleasant disadvantage to "balance the scales." This belief has
some connection with utilitarianism. People submit to the law to
receive the right not to be murdered and if people contravene
these laws, they surrender the rights granted to them by the
law. Thus, one who murders may be murdered himself. A related
theory includes the idea of "righting the balance."
* Deterrence - Individual deterrence is aimed toward the
specific offender. The aim is to impose a sufficient penalty to
discourage the offender from criminal behavior. General
deterrence aims at society at large. By imposing a penalty on
those who commit offenses, other individuals are discouraged
from committing those offenses.
* Incapacitation - Designed simply to keep criminals away from
society so that the public is protected from their misconduct.
This is often achieved through prison sentences today. The death
penalty or banishment have served the same purpose.
* Rehabilitation - Aims at transforming an offender into a
valuable member of society. Its primary goal is to prevent
further offense by convincing the offender that their conduct
was wrong.
* Restitution - This is a victim-oriented theory of punishment.
The goal is to repair, through state authority, any hurt
inflicted on the victim by the offender. For example, one who
embezzles will be required to repay the amount improperly
acquired. Restitution is commonly combined with other main goals
of criminal justice and is closely related to concepts in the
civil law.
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