UNIT 3: CRIMES

What is crime?
A wrong against society set forth in a law and if committed, punishable by society through fines
and/imprisonment and in some cases, death.

A crime is an act or an omission prohibited by law, the violation of which is prosecuted by the
state in a judicial proceeding in its own name. It is a public wrong as distinguished from a
private wrong.

What is deviance?
Deviance is human activity that violates social norms in one society, but may be normal for
another society. Social norms differ from culture to culture.

The overlap between crime and deviance

What is criminology?
An interdisciplinary profession built around the scientific study of crime and criminal behaviour,
including their forms, causes, legal aspects, and control.

What do criminologists do?

A criminologist is one who studies crime, criminals, and criminal behaviour.

What is corpus delicti?

Corpus delicti is a term from Western jurisprudence referring to the principle that a crime must

have been proven to have occurred before a person can be convicted of committing that crime.

Corpus delicti is one of the most important concepts in a murder investigation. When a person
disappears and cannot be contacted, many police agencies initiate a missing person case. If,
during the course of the investigation, detectives believe that he/she has been murdered, then a
"body" of evidentiary items, including physical, demonstrative, and testimonial evidence, must
be obtained to establish that the missing individual has indeed been murdered before a suspect
can be charged with homicide. The best and easiest evidence establishment in these cases is the
physical body of the deceased. However, in the event that a physical body is not present or has
not yet been discovered, it is possible to prove a crime took place if sufficient circumstantial
evidence is presented to prove the matter beyond a reasonable doubt. For example, the presence
at a missing person's home of spilled human blood, identifiable as that person's, in sufficient
quantity to indicate exsanguinations, demonstrates — even in the absence of a corpse — that the
possibility that no crime has occurred, and the missing person is merely missing, is not
reasonably credible.

Criminal Liability

Two elements must exist simultaneously for a person to be convicted of a crime:

1) The performance of a prohibited/criminal act
2) A specified state of mind or intent on the part of the actor

1) The Criminal Act: Crimes require an act of commission or guilty act, meaning that a
person must do something in order to be accused of a crime.

2) State of Mind: A wrongful mental state generally is required to establish criminal

liability. What constitutes such a mental state varies according to the wrongful action.
For murder, the act is the taking of life and the mental state is the intent to take life. For
theft, the guilty act is the taking of another person’s property, and the mental state
involves both the knowledge that the property belongs to another and the intent to deprive
the owner of it.

Homicide
The killing of a human being, caused by the act of another.

Excusable
A - By an individual incapable of crime (account of 2 or 3 year old who pounded nail in ear of
his 4 or 5 day old sister)
B - Result of an accident or mistake as a result of ordinary negligence

Criminal homicide
Homicide that was neither justifiable nor excusable.
- First degree murder (premeditation)
- Second degree murder (malice)
- Voluntary manslaughter (general intent)
- Involuntary manslaughter (recklessness)
- Statutory manslaughter (general negligence)

Assault
Any un-consented touching of another, no matter how slights the injury.
- Knowledge of the victim is essential
- Words are sufficient – the accuser’s conduct must have created an apprehension of
immediate un-consented touching

Assault categories
- Simple assault
- Aggravated assault
- Verbal assault
- Assault with a dangerous weapon
- Assault with a deadly weapon
- Assault on a law enforcement officer
- Stalking
- Domestic assault
- Sexual assault

Types of Crimes

1) Violent Crime
Crimes against persons, because they cause others to suffer harm or death, are referred to
as violent crimes. Such as;
 Robbery: defined as the taking of cash, personal property, or any other article of
value from a person by means of force or fear. (Aggravated robbery-robbery with
the use of a deadly weapon)
 Murder
 Sexual Assault

2) Property Crime
The most common type of criminal activity is property crime-crimes in which the goal of
the offender is to obtain some form of economic gain or to damage property.
 Robbery
 Burglary: The unlawful entry or breaking into a building with the intent to
commit a felony/crime.
 Larceny/Theft: The wrongful taking and carrying away of another person’s
personal property with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the
property. (Robbery involves force and fear, larceny does not)
(Grand Theft, Petty theft)
 Obtaining goods by false pretenses: It is a criminal act to obtain goods by means
of false pretenses (false pretenses-faking) For example: buying groceries with a
 check knowing that you have insufficient funds to cover it or offering to sell
someone or offering to sell someone the latest iPad knowing that you do not
actually own the iPad.
 Receiving Stolen Goods: It is a crime to receive stolen goods. The recipient of
such goods needs to know the true identity of the owner or the thief. All that is
necessary is that the recipient knows or should have known that the goods are
stolen.
 Arson: The willful and malicious burning of a building or personal property
owned by another is the crime of arson. At common law, arson traditionally
applied only to burning down another person’s house. But today, arson law have
been extended to cover the destruction of any building, regardless of ownership,
by fire or explosion.
 Forgery: The fraudulent making or altering of any writing in a way that changes
the legal rights and liabilities of another. Forgery also includes changing
trademarks, falsifying public records, counterfeiting and altering legal document.

3) Public Order Crime

Societies have always outlawed activities that are considered to be contrary to public
values and morals. Most common public order crimes include public drunkenness,
gambling, prostitution, and illegal drug use. These crimes are sometimes referred to as
victimless crimes because they normally harm only the offender.

4) White-Collar Crimes
Crimes that typically occur only in the business context are popularly referred as white-
collar crimes. It is a non-violent crime committed by individuals or corporations to obtain
a personal or business advantage.
 Embezzlement: When a person who is entrusted with another person’s funds or
property fraudulently appropriates it, embezzlement occurs. It is carried out by an
employee who steals funds. Banks are particularly prone to this problem, but
embezzlement can occur in any firm.
 Mail Fraud: One of the most potent weapons against white-collar criminals is the
Mail Fraud Act of 1990. Under this act, it is a federal crime (mail fraud) to use the
mails to defraud the public. Illegal use of mails must involve mailing or causing
someone else to mail a writing - something written, printed, or photocopied - for
the purpose of executing a scheme to defraud.
 Bribery: The crime of bribery involves offering to give something of value to
someone in an attempt to influence that person, who usually, but not always, is a
public officials, to act in a way that serves a private interest. There are three types
of bribery (i) bribery of public officials (ii) commercial bribery (iii) bribery of
foreign officials. Realize that the crime of bribery occurs when the bribe is offered
– it is not required that the bribe be accepted. Accepting a bribe is a separate
crime.
5) Organized Crime
Organized crime operates illegitimately by, among other things, providing illegal goods
and services.
  Money Laundering: Engaging in financial transactions to conceal the identity,
source or destination of illegally gained funds.
6) Drug crimes
It is a crime to knowingly and intentionally possess and/or distribute controlled
substances without authorization. The big three at present are:
 Marijuana
 cocaine/crack
 heroin

7) Computer Crime
Any wrongful act that is directed against computers and computer parts or that involves
the wrongful use or abuse of computers or software.

Cyber crime

Definition
 When Internet was developed, the founding fathers of Internet hardly had any inclination
that Internet could also be misused for criminal activities. Today, there are many
disturbing things happening in cyberspace. Cybercrime refers to all the activities done
with criminal intent in cyberspace.
 Cyber crime refers to any crime that involves a computer/mobile and a network. The
computer may have been used in the commission of a crime, or it may be the target.

Various categories of cyber crime

Cyber Crime may be basically divided into 3 categories-

 Against Persons
 Cybercrimes committed against persons include various crimes like transmission of
child-pornography, harassment of any one with the use of a computer such as e-mail,
and cyber-stalking.
 The distribution, posting, and dissemination of obscene material including
pornography, indecent exposure, and child pornography, constitutes one of the most
important Cybercrimes known today. The potential harm of such a crime to humanity
can hardly be overstated..

 Against Property
The second category of Cybercrimes is that of Cybercrimes against all forms of
property. These crimes include unauthorized computer trespassing through
cyberspace, computer vandalism, transmission of harmful programs, and
unauthorized possession of computerized information.

 Against Government
The third category of Cybercrimes relate to Cybercrimes against Government.
Cyber Terrorism is one distinct kind of crime in this category. The growth of
Internet has shown that the medium of Cyberspace is being used by individuals
 and groups to the international governments as also to threaten the citizens of a
country. This crime manifests itself into terrorism when an individual "cracks“
into a government or military maintained website.

Examples of cyber crimes

Hacking, malware, phishing, rootkits, spam, spyware, Trojans, viruses

Online defamation
 Publication of a false statement of fact that seriously harms someone’s reputation.
 Five elements:
Publication, false, statement of fact, serious harm, an identifiable person

 In cases of libelous statements on the Internet, the degree of liability of Internet service
providers depends on the degree to which the ISP exercises editorial control over
comments made.
Someone defamed on Twitter or Facebook could sue the person who made the comment but
probably not the website

Cyber laws
 There is absolutely no comprehensive law on Cybercrime any where in the world. This is
reason that the investigating agencies like FBI are finding the Cyberspace to be an
extremely difficult terrain.

How to tackle such activities?

 Awareness is the first step in protecting yourself, your family and your business.
 Invest in Anti-virus, Firewall, and SPAM blocking software for your PC.
 Detect secure websites when conducting transactions online.
 Do NOT respond or act on emails sent from unknown sources.

The childrens Online Privacy Protection Act (CORPA)

• The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") specifically protects the
privacy of children under the age of 13 by requesting parental consent for the collection
or use of any personal information of the users.
• Main requirements of the Act
• The Act was passed in response to a growing awareness of Internet marketing techniques
that targeted children and collected their personal information from websites without any
parental notification.
• In the 1990s, children began to access the Web more and more. Marketers would track
information kids gave out in chat rooms or while playing games (such as addresses, full
names, ages, etc.) and would retain this data in order to sell to third parties. It became
very easy for anyone to simply send money to one of these companies and receive lists of
children’s addresses and personal information.
• COPPA applies to any website directed specifically at children, any general site which
has a children’s section, and any foreign websites aimed at U.S. children
• On each website, there must be an easily accessible privacy policy
• A web operator must obtain parental permission via credit card, digital signature, or a
signed and faxed consent form.
• The operator must also make available any information collected about the child to the
guardians of the child.