criminal law - punishment

A detailed Summary of criminal law - punishment

One of the main problems faced when studying Criminal Law is getting an actual definition of crime. Crime is a common occurrence in today?fs society, people and organizations rely on it as a means of survival. Many attempts have been made to define ?ecrime?f but there isn?ft a single definition that can be used. Paul Tappan, a criminologist has attempted to define crime as follows, ?hCrime is an intentional act or omission in violation of the criminal law?c. committed without defence or justification and sanctioned by the state as a felony or misdemeanor.?h In the following analysis of crime, it will be discussed mainly on Tappan?fs definition focusing on the limitations of this statement.

Whenever a criminologist gives their opinion on what a crime is, it raises more questions and complicates the issue even further. In the present, all the opinions of many criminologists and judicial members reflect on a special statement made by Lord Atkin.

?gThe criminal quality of an act cannot be discerned by intuition; nor can it be discovered by reference to any standard but one: Is the act prohibited with penal consequences.?h

A similar yet more understanding to modern times view is the opinion of Gla

A similar meaning of crime is the one given by the Concise Oxford English Dictionary which gives this definition ?gcrime: act (usually grave offence) punishable by law; evil act; ?cshameful act.?h Both these definitions are both saying the same thing as Tappan?fs theory of what a crime is, yet is not a very useful definition because it limits itself and isn?ft broad enough.

Therefore, in summing up this essay, when trying to define crime it is nearly impossible. There isn?ft one single definition, making it a very difficult term to define. A definition would have to come from the opinions of many criminologists that put together a thesis on what crime actually is. Crime isn?ft only covered by law because the influence beliefs, culture, tradition and religion have on it. In saying this, I do not agree with Tappan?fs very narrow definition of crime due to the fact that it is actually a lot more complicated.

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Approximate Word count = 1217
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Politics

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criminal law - punishment

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