Crime

Crime, commission of an act or act of omission that violates the law and is punishable by the state. Crimes are considered injurious to society or the community, as distinguished from torts and breach of contract, which tend to wrong only private individuals or corporations and not society as a whole.

As defined by law, a crime includes both the act, or actus reus, and the intent to commit the act, or mens rea. Criminal intent involves an intellectual apprehension of factual elements of the act or acts commanded or enjoined by the law. It is usually inferred from the apparently voluntary commission of an overt act. There are also crimes of strict liability, in which it is not usually necessary for the prosecution to prove any mental element: such crimes are created by statute.

Criminal liability is relieved in the case of insanity. Legal minors are also relieved of criminal liability, as are people subjected to coercion or duress to such a degree as to render the commission of criminal acts involuntary. In most countries, crimes are defined and punished according to statutes. Punishments may include death, imprisonment, exile, fines, forfeiture of property, removal from public office, and disqualification from holding such office.

Unless the act of which a defendant is accused is expressly defined by statute or common law as a crime, no indictment or conviction for the commission of such an act can be legally sustained. This provision is important in establishing the difference between government by law and arbitrary or dictatorial government.

English law formerly distinguished between a felony and a misdemeanour, but this distinction was abolished in 1967, and the significant practical difference now rests on the type of trial applicable for the offence. Crimes can be divided into the most serious, which are triable only on indictment (before a jury), the least serious, which are triable only summarily (before magistrates), and those triable either way (before either jury or magistrates). The first category includes rape and murder; the second category the majority of motoring offences; and the third category theft and assault.

See Civil Law; See also Crime Detection; Criminal Law; Criminal Procedure; Criminology.