Crime is a term that refers to certain actions that are forbidden by law. Crime includes such conduct as committing murder, stealing a car, resisting arrest, driving while under the influence of alcohol, and possessing or selling illegal drugs. There are many different kinds of crime, which are determined by lawmakers at the federal, state, provincial, and local levels.
The list of acts considered crimes varies from country to country and is constantly changing. For example, people in Western countries are no longer charged with witchcraft, though many were accused of that crime in the 1600’s and 1700’s. Today, it is a serious crime to pollute the air and water. Pollution caused few problems and received little attention before the 1800’s. In England during the 1700’s, it was not a crime for people to steal money entrusted to their care by an employer. Today, this type of theft, called embezzlement, is a crime.
From a legal standpoint, crimes are violations of criminal law. Criminal law deals with actions considered harmful to society. For this reason, a crime is regarded as an offense against the state. Civil law involves actions that directly harm individuals, their money, or their property. Some overlapping occurs between the areas of criminal and civil law. For example, murder and rape are committed against individuals, but the law considers them crimes because they threaten society. Punishments for violations of civil law involve the payment of money to the injured person. But a person who violates criminal law may be imprisoned, fined, or receive some other punishment, according to the laws of the community in which the crime was committed or a trial was held.
An act is viewed as a crime if enough evidence exists to make a police officer, a prosecutor, or a judge believe that a violation of criminal law has taken place. A person who commits a crime is called a criminal. However, in the United States and many other countries, the law does not consider accused people to be criminals unless a judge or jury finds them guilty.
The study of criminal behavior is called criminology, and experts in this field are called criminologists. Criminologists may try to determine where, when, and why certain types of crime occur. They also seek the relationships between criminals and their victims, as well as the most effective ways to prevent crime. See Criminology .
Types of crimes
Crimes may be classified in many ways. For example, they sometimes are grouped according to the seriousness of the offense. Many governments divide crimes into offenses against people, against property, and against public order. Some social scientists classify crimes according to the motives of the offenders. Such crimes might include economic crimes, hate crimes, and political crimes. Other important kinds of crime include organized crime, white-collar crime, and computer crime.
Crimes are often divided between acts that most people would consider evil and acts that lawmakers decide should be regulated in the interest of the community. The first group includes such major crimes as arson, assault and battery, burglary, kidnapping, larceny, murder, rape, and robbery. The second group of crimes includes violations of income tax laws, liquor-control regulations, pure food and drug laws, and traffic laws. Crimes in the first group are called substantive offenses and usually involve severe punishments. Most of these crimes have long been forbidden by the English common law. This body of law is the source of the criminal law codes of the United Kingdom and of many former British colonies, including the United States and Canada (see Common law ). Offenses in the second group are called regulatory offenses and are generally punished by fines or notices to follow the court’s orders.
Felonies and misdemeanors.
In some countries, crimes are classified according to their seriousness as felonies or misdemeanors. Such a classification is used, for example, in the United States and in some of the states of Australia. Generally, felonies are more serious than misdemeanors. Under the U.S. federal and state criminal law systems, felonies are punishable by imprisonment for a year or more. In some cases, they are punishable by death. A misdemeanor is punishable by a fine or by imprisonment for less than a year. Most people convicted of felonies in the United States serve their sentence in state or federal prisons. People convicted of misdemeanors serve their sentence in city or county jails or houses of correction.
Although the classification of crimes as felonies or misdemeanors is common, many countries use different methods. The United Kingdom formally abolished the distinction between felonies and misdemeanors in 1967. It now classifies serious crimes as indictable offenses and less serious crimes as summary offenses. The classification of crimes as serious and less serious is inexact. Not all courts draw the same distinction between the two types. In addition, a serious crime in one country may be considered less serious in another country.
Crimes against people or property.
Crimes against people are crimes that physically harm a person or put a person in danger of being harmed. These include violent crimes such as assault and battery, kidnapping, murder, and sexual attacks. Such crimes usually bring severe punishment.
Crimes against property are crimes that might not physically harm a person but might cause the person to lose something of value. Such crimes include arson, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, fraud, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and vandalism. In most cases, these crimes are not punished as severely as crimes against people.
Crimes against public order
are offenses that are looked down upon by the general public or a community. These crimes include disorderly conduct, gambling, obscenity, prostitution, and public drunkenness. These offenses generally involve lighter penalties than do crimes against people or property.
Some criminologists question whether certain offenses against public order should be considered crimes. For example, many experts believe that habitual drunkenness is a medical problem and that the offender should be given medical help instead of being put in jail. There is also disagreement about whether certain practices hurt society and should be considered crimes. Such acts include gambling, marijuana use, and prostitution. Some people refer to these activities as victimless crimes. They argue that no one who is involved in such activities is an unwilling participant and nobody is directly hurt by them.
Organized crime
refers to large-scale criminal activities by groups of gangsters, racketeers, and crime families. Such groups are often called the crime syndicate or the underworld. Organized crime groups usually provide illegal goods and services to other individuals. Typical activities include gambling, prostitution, the illegal sale of drugs, and loan-sharking (lending money at high rates of interest).
Organized crime activities often go unreported and can be difficult to detect. When the crime syndicate invades a legitimate business or labor union, it may use terror, blackmail, and other methods to keep people from going to the police. Even when illegal activities are discovered, prosecutors have difficulty convicting the gangsters because of the lack of reliable witnesses. In addition, the syndicate frequently tries to bribe witnesses or law officers and sometimes succeeds in doing so. The syndicate also furnishes bail money and lawyers for members who are arrested.
White-collar crime
originally included only acts committed by business and professional people while earning their living. The term referred to such crimes as stock market swindles and other kinds of fraud. Today, the term covers such acts as cheating in the payment of taxes—which may or may not be done in connection with one’s business. It may apply to petty thefts by employees or to million-dollar stock market swindles. It could also include a service station owner’s charging for an automobile repair that was not made, or a physician’s charging for services that were not performed.
Many consumer protection laws are aimed at white-collar crime. These laws regulate business and professional activities to protect consumers. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s, consumer protection became one of the fastest-growing fields of criminal law. In the United States, for example, the federal government developed new rules and penalties. The regulations were intended to control air and water pollution, to prevent fraudulent trade practices, and to alert people seeking loans about actual interest costs. See Consumer protection .
Computer crime,
sometimes called cybercrime, grew rapidly in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, as the use of computer technology in business created new opportunities for criminal activity. Computer crimes are often difficult to detect but may be easy to accomplish once a criminal learns the code or password that gives access to a computer system.
Computer operators called hackers may use their technical knowledge to illegally access companies’ computer files. Some hackers damage databases or attempt to steal information or electronic funds. Others may seek access to credit card numbers and other financial information. Many people are concerned about the security of credit card numbers used to make purchases over the Internet. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, many governments passed new laws to address the increased risk of computer crime.
Political crime
includes acts of terrorism against the public and assassinations of leading political figures. Political crime became a serious threat throughout the world during the late 1900’s and early 2000’s. Unlike criminals who seek money or personal gain through crime, most people who commit political crimes do so to make a political statement or to show support for a political cause. Political crimes include airplane hijackings, assassinations, bombings, and the taking of hostages.
Governments around the world take measures to protect civilians and public officials from political crimes. For example, security precautions are taken at airports, embassies, and other potential targets. Governments also maintain specially trained law enforcement or military units to deal with crisis situations. Punishment for these crimes is often severe.
Hate crime
refers to criminal acts committed by an offender because of the victim’s ethnic background, race, religion, or sexual orientation. Such crimes may include vandalism, assault and battery, or intimidation through threats or harassment.
Hate crime has long occurred worldwide, but the term did not come into widespread use until the 1980’s. In the United States, the first hate crime laws were passed during the 1980’s and early 1990’s. The Canadian government enacted Canada’s first hate crime laws in the 1970’s. Most hate crime laws increase the penalty for a crime when the victim is selected because of his or her race, religion, or other characteristics of a particular group.
Treason
is a crime that endangers the security of a country or the safety of its leaders. For example, a citizen of a country may commit treason by spying for its enemies in time of war or by attempting to assassinate its ruler. Treason is generally punished by long terms of imprisonment or, in some countries, by execution.
War crime
is a military violation of the basic rules of warfare. Since the late 1800’s, most nations have signed international treaties establishing rules of wartime conduct. Since World War II (1939-1945), the term war crime has been used to refer to any crime, atrocity, or persecution committed during the course of a war. Through the years, many people have been tried for war crimes. War criminals may be tried in the country in which the offenses occurred or by an international body.
The extent of crime
Crime is one of the world’s oldest social problems. Throughout history, people have felt threatened by crime and violence. Today, countries vary greatly in their definition of crime and in their tracking of crime statistics. In addition, no country has yet developed completely reliable methods for measuring crime. As a result, the full extent of crime throughout the world cannot be precisely determined.
Crime in the United States.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the primary source of crime information in the United States. The FBI has maintained national crime statistics since 1930. Reporting procedures between 1930 and 1958 gave only an inexact national estimate of crime. Since 1958, improved reporting methods have provided increasingly reliable figures. The FBI receives monthly and annual crime reports from law enforcement agencies throughout the country. It summarizes and publishes this information in a number of reports, including its annual Crime in the United States.
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program gathers information about the amount and distribution of serious crime in the United States. The program assesses the volume and rate of eight crimes that the FBI considers serious offenses likely to be reported most accurately to the police. Four of these offenses are classified as violent crimes—aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, and robbery. The other four are crimes against property—arson, burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. In addition, the UCR Program collects arrest data for a variety of crimes.
FBI reports show that the total crime rate for serious crimes in the United States tripled between 1960 and 1980. After 1980, the total crime rate leveled off and, in the 1990’s and early 2000’s, the rate of serious crime decreased. Criminologists and police authorities find it hard to determine how much of the increase between 1960 and 1980 actually occurred and how much resulted from improved crime-reporting procedures. People report millions of serious crimes in the United States each year. Property crimes account for most of these offenses.
Crime around the world.
Conditions that affect the amount of crime vary from one country to another. These conditions include the proportion of people living in cities, the proportion of young and old people in the population, and the degree of conflict among various cultural, economic, and racial groups.
Studies have shown that crime rates for both violent crimes and property crimes rose in most countries during the late 1900’s. For example, from 1983 to 1997, the property crime rate in England and Wales increased more than 38 percent, and the violent crime rate increased about 64 percent. Many countries experienced decreases in crime rates in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. However, many developing nations continue to experience increasing amounts of crime.
Comparisons of the crime rates across multiple nations indicate that increases in crime accompany increases in the rate of social change. Crime rates stay relatively stable in traditional societies where people believe their way of life will continue. Crime rates tend to rise in societies in which there are rapid changes in where people live and what they do for a living. Crime rates are particularly high in industrial nations that have large cities.
Unreported crime.
Statistics about crime are based on complaints to the police, offenses observed by the police, and arrests of suspects. Much crime goes unreported. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the U.S. Department of Justice conduct an annual survey called the National Crime Victimization Survey. This survey reveals that about half of all violent crime goes unreported to the police. Many other types of crimes also remain unreported, including offenses against businesses, organizations, and public agencies, and against public order and morality.
The cost of crime
to its victims is impossible to determine accurately. Any estimate based on existing data will probably underestimate the cost considerably. For example, a dishonest business scheme may cost consumers or investors millions of dollars, but no records are kept of such losses. Similarly, there is no way to determine how much money organized-crime groups make from gambling, loan-sharking, drug sales, and prostitution.
The cost of crime prevention and control measures is also difficult to determine. Expenditures for law enforcement and criminal justice agencies total many billions of dollars annually. However, these agencies also deal with numerous noncriminal matters, such as traffic control. Similarly, most courts handle civil cases as well as criminal ones.
Causes of crime
People commit crimes for a variety of reasons. For example, many people steal things they could not obtain otherwise. Others, such as drug addicts, steal to get money to buy narcotics or other wants. Some shoplifters steal for excitement, but others do so because they are poor. Many automobile thieves take cars for joy-riding, but others break up the stolen autos and sell the parts. Many embezzlers take money from their employers to meet a personal emergency, intending to return the money.
The motives also vary in crimes of violence. A robber may kill the victim to avoid detection. Some gangsters torture people to obtain money.
Biological and psychological explanations.
Many studies have sought to explain crime. Most of them compare habitual criminals with people who have not been convicted of crimes to try to find important differences between the two groups.
Since the late 1800’s, for example, researchers trained in the biological sciences have searched for physical differences. Such studies involve differences in body type, brain waves, and genes. None of these studies has proved that criminals have any physical traits that make them different from other people.
Research by psychiatrists and psychologists stresses personality differences resulting from experiences in childhood or later. This research shows that many people who became criminals were neglected by their parents or were given harsh or uncertain discipline. Such treatment left them insecure and demanding in their relations with others. Their own wants made them ignore the needs or rights of others. But researchers have had difficulty making a direct connection between emotional needs and crime because many people with emotional problems find acceptable ways of solving them.
Social conditions and crime.
Sociologists have conducted crime studies that focus on the neighborhood and community rather than on the individual. Some of these studies deal with how a person becomes committed to a career of crime, and others try to explain differences in crime rates. Many studies focus on crime that is committed by gangs.
The highest crime rates occur in the most deprived sections of large cities. These are the areas where it is most difficult to train children to become law-abiding citizens. Such areas have the highest rate of broken homes. Even in many homes where both parents are present, emotional conflicts and health and financial problems disrupt family life. Slum areas usually have the poorest schools and the highest unemployment rates. These neighborhoods have much rundown, overcrowded housing and poor recreation facilities.
For many young people, the excitement of the streets provides the principal escape from boredom and seemingly unsolvable problems. These streets are also the scene of much vice and crime—gambling, prostitution, narcotics use and sale, public drunkenness, and acts of violence. Law enforcement in the inner city is difficult, partly because there are so many people and relatively few police officers. In addition, many of the residents of these areas fear or distrust the police and refuse to cooperate with them.
Many property crimes are committed by people 18 years old or younger. There are several reasons why young people commit so many of these crimes. Young people have fewer job opportunities. The unskilled jobs available to them seem dull when compared to the quick and exciting returns from theft. Young people are also more willing to risk arrest because they have less stake in things as they are. As people become older and settled in their jobs and families, they acquire a stake in society that they would not care to risk for momentary gain.
In addition, men and women differ in the kinds of crimes they most frequently commit. For example, men are arrested most often for driving under the influence of alcohol and for drug abuse violations. Women are arrested most often for theft.
Many violent crimes are committed by people who are acquainted with their victims. In most murders, for example, the killer and the victim know each other. In numerous cases, because so many murderers know their victims, the police have a relatively easy time identifying the killer. As a result, the arrest and conviction rate for murders is high. Police have a much harder time identifying robbers and burglars, few of whom know the victims.
Crime prevention
For hundreds of years, criminal law has been built around the idea that wrongdoers must be punished for their crimes. The most basic argument for punishment is that it preserves law and order and respect for authority. From this point of view, punishment does two things. It upholds the law, and it prevents others from thinking they can get away with doing the same thing. Many criminologists stress the need for improving the performance of criminal justice agencies—the police, the courts, and correctional institutions. For example, they point out that better educated, equipped, and coordinated police forces are more effective in controlling crime.
One of the best ways to reduce crime would be to reform or rehabilitate habitual criminals. The main problem is not the first offender or the petty thief but the repeat offender who commits increasingly serious crimes. But prisons have had little success in rehabilitating inmates. About two-thirds of the people arrested in any year have a previous criminal record.
Rehabilitation of criminals could probably be improved greatly if experts could provide the right kind of program for different types of offenders. Criminals vary widely in the kinds of crimes they commit, their emotional problems, and their social and economic backgrounds. Not all offenders can be helped by the same treatment. Many require the aid of physicians, psychiatrists, or psychologists. Others respond well to educational or vocational training.
Society spends billions of dollars to operate prisons and related institutions yearly, but only a small fraction of this sum goes to provide treatment. Nearly all the funds are used to feed and clothe prisoners and to keep them under control.
In the United States and some other countries, there has been a trend since the late 1970’s toward punishment rather than rehabilitation of offenders. Prison sentences are longer. Capital punishment has been used more frequently since the Supreme Court of the United States lifted a death penalty ban in 1976. In some Islamic countries, judges order mutilation or death for a number of offenses.
Most experts agree that crime prevention should aim to prevent people from becoming criminals in the first place. Such a goal probably would benefit from reform programs in urban slums. These programs would include improved housing, schools, and recreation programs and increased job opportunities.
There are many other ways to reduce crime. People can be educated or persuaded to take greater precautions against crime. They can be taught, for example, how to protect their homes from burglary. Automobile thefts would drop sharply if more drivers simply removed their keys and locked their cars when leaving them. Better lighting helps discourage purse-snatchings and other robberies on city streets and in parks. Many experts believe that strict gun-licensing laws greatly reduce crime.
