Natural Crime and Legal Crime
Natural Crime and Legal Crime
Abstract
A crime is a wrongdoing classified by the states or Congress as a felony of misdemeanor. For every crime committed, there’s a label that it must go under. After the arrest is made, the information is gathered and any investigation is conducted, there has to be a decision made whether it is a natural or legal crime.
A crime is an offense against a public law. This word, in its most general sense, includes all offenses, but its more limited sense is confined to a felony. The term offense may be considered as having the same meaning, but is usually understood to be a crime not indictable but punishable, summarily or by the forfeiture of a penalty (Cohen 1985). A felony is a serious crime punishable by at least one year in prison. People convicted of felonies lose certain rights, such as the right to vote or hold public office. During the term of sentence, the convicted person may also be prohibited from making contracts, marrying, suing or keeping certain professional licenses.
A misdemeanor is a crime for which the punishment is usually a fine and up to one year in a county jail. Often a crime which is a misdemeanor for the first offense becomes a felony for repeated offenses (Cohen 1985). All crimes that are not felonies are misdemeanors. Crimes are defined and punished by statutes and by the common law. Crimes are 'mala in se,' or bad in themselves and these include all offences against the moral law; or they are 'mala prohibita, bad because prohibited, as being against sound policy which, unless prohibited, would be innocent or indifferent.
Natural and Legal crimes, are crimes can be divided into two distinct categories under the law (Encyclopedia 2009). Natural crime is a crime against the basic laws of nature or personal crimes that may or may not be against the laws of the land. Mala in se is another term used to describe natural crime. Mala in se are...