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7 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What is crime? |
- "wrongdoing punishable by the state" - Australian Legal Dictionary - an act committed or an omission of duty, injurious to the public welfare, for which punishment is prescribed by law, imposed in a judicial proceeding usually brought in the name of the state - excludes behaviours that are harmful but not forbidden by law - some behaviours cause no public harm but are forbidden - some behaviours are partially unlawful but not criminal - harm-based and human rights definitions of crime broaden our understanding of the concept - crime is not a natural phenomenon but a social and political construction |
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Hierarchy of offences |
1. criminal offences (breaches of criminal law) 2. regulatory offences (breaches of other forms of statutory regulation; such as traffic, tax and environmental laws) 3. private or ‘civil’ wrongs (committed by one person agains another, such as breach of contract or accidents) further one moves up the hierarchy, standard of proof will move from ‘the balance of probabilities’ to ‘beyond reasonable doubt' |
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Two types of criminal law violations |
1. felonies/indictable offences are most serious (judge and jury) 2. misdemeanour/summary offences (magistrate) |
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Trends in criminalisation |
- social change, technological change, evolving morality, reforms affect what behaviours are criminalised over time - leaving discretion to enforce or not enforce laws with police, prosecutors or other regulators can lead to unfairness, discrimination and corruption - criminal law is not set in stone but is continually evolving - characterised by ‘core crimes’ - murder, assault, sexual assault, robbery, extortion, blackmail, kidnapping and theft - criminal law can be used for public good, but can also be used to control and exploit and impose own morality on the whole community - can law be legitimate without full democratic involvement in law-making? |
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Sentencing |
- sentencing decisions are made by courts according to rules set out by legislation - punishment purpose (Penalties and Sentences Act 1992) - punishment - rehabilitation - deterrance - denunciation of the conduct involved - protection of the community - factors guide courts in penalty decision - seriousness of offence - harm done - age and intellectual capacity of offender - previous criminal history - willingness to participate in counselling or other rehabilitation discretionary sentencing = judges have some choice about the penalty conditional release = granted by corrections authorities and not by sentencing court mandatory sentencing = fixed sentences for different offences |
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Tokenism |
- criminalising behaviour is design to stop the behaviour (in theory) - the behaviour of the law - how effective is the law in changing human behaviour - gap between offences and convictions is wide |
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Prosecuting war crimes |
- three categories of crimes: crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity - war crimes = violations of the law or customs of war (murder or ill-treatment of POW, killing of hostages, destruction of cities, towns |
