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113-522: The following is a complete episode list for the criminal dramedy television series Monk . It premiered on the USA Network on July 12, 2002 in the United States and ended with a two-part series finale on November 27 and December 4, 2009. The complete series has a total of 125 episodes, including three 2-part episodes and four Christmas specials. A follow-up film, entitled Mr. Monk's Last Case

226-416: A Criminal Code , though such an enactment has been often recommended and attempted (see English Criminal Code ). Many criminal offences are common law offences rather being specified in legislation. In 1980, a Committee of JUSTICE said that, upon conducting a search, they found over 7,200 offences, and that they thought that there were probably many more. They said that "it is now impossible to ascertain

339-399: A homeless person and set fire to him. They were cleared of murder, but were still convicted of manslaughter , since that is a crime of basic intent. Of course, it can well be the case that someone is not drunk enough to support any intoxication defence at all. On the other hand, if someone becomes involuntarily intoxicated, because his drink is laced or spiked, then the question is whether

452-470: A mattress . He failed to take action, and after the building had burned down, he was convicted of arson . He failed to correct the dangerous situation he created, as he was duty bound to do. In many countries in Europe and North America , Good Samaritan laws also exist, which criminalize failure to help someone in distress (e.g. a drowning child). On the other hand, it was held in the U.K. that switching off

565-460: A mens rea coincide. For instance, in R v Church , For instance, Mr. Church had a fight with a woman which rendered her unconscious. He attempted to revive her, but gave up, believing her to be dead. He threw her, still alive, in a nearby river, where she drowned . The court held that Mr. Church was not guilty of murder (because he did not ever desire to kill her), but was guilty of manslaughter . The "chain of events", his act of throwing her into

678-402: A playful slap on the head, but Q suffers from a rare cranial condition and dies, then P can be guilty of manslaughter regardless of how unlucky he is to have bickered with Q. This is known as the thin skull rule . Between the defendant's acts and the victim's harm, the chain of causation must be unbroken. It could be broken by the intervening act ( novus actus interveniens ) of a third party,

791-409: A bank to repay it, because that choice implies free will. Intoxication is irrelevant to duress, but one cannot also say one is mistaken about duress, when intoxicated. Then a number of cases turn on the choice to join a gang, and inevitably do bad things. The rule is that where one is aware of the gang's nature and puts himself in a position where he could be threatened, duress is not a defence - joining

904-495: A company's accountability to a broader public and the conscientiousness of its behaviour must rely also, in great measure, on its governance. Parts 1 to 3 of Schedule 3 to the Serious Crime Act 2007 list numerous statutory offences of assisting, encouraging, inciting, attempting or conspiring at the commission of various crimes. Motor vehicle document offences: The defences which are available to any given offence depend on

1017-402: A crime can be resolved through financial compensation varies depending on the culture and the specific context of the crime. Historically, many societies have absolved acts of homicide through compensation to the victim's relatives. If a crime is committed, the individual responsible is considered to be liable for the crime. For liability to exist, the individual must be capable of understanding

1130-445: A crime is found guilty of the crime, the state delivers a sentence to determine the penalty for the crime. Authorities may respond to crime through corrections, carrying out punishment as a means to censure the criminal act. Punishment is generally reserved for serious offenses. Individuals regularly engage in activity that could be scrutinized under criminal law but are deemed inconsequential. Retributive justice seeks to create

1243-481: A crime, the "act of doing something criminal" ( actus reus ) must – with certain exceptions  – be accompanied by the "intention to do something criminal" ( mens rea ). While every crime violates the law, not every violation of the law counts as a crime. Breaches of private law ( torts and breaches of contract ) are not automatically punished by the state, but can be enforced through civil procedure . The exact definition of crime

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1356-461: A crime. In many cases, disputes over a crime in this system lead to a feud that lasts over several generations. The state determines what actions are considered criminal in the scope of the law. Criminalization has significant human rights considerations, as it can infringe on rights of autonomy and subject individuals to unjust punishment. The enforcement of criminal law seeks to prevent crime and sanction crimes that do occur. This enforcement

1469-627: A criminal's unlawful action to prevent recidivism . Different criminological theories propose different methods of rehabilitation, including strengthening social networks , reducing poverty , influencing values , and providing therapy for physical and mental ailments. Rehabilitative programs may include counseling or vocational education . Developed nations are less likely to use physical punishments. Instead, they will impose financial penalties or imprisonment. In places with widespread corruption or limited rule of law , crime may be punished extralegally through mob rule and lynching . Whether

1582-523: A defence to crimes of specific intent (such as murder , wounding or causing grievous bodily harm with intent, theft , robbery and burglary ). But automatism is no defence to other crimes (i.e. of basic intent , e.g. manslaughter , assault and battery ) if the defendant was reckless in becoming automatismic or it happens through alcohol or illegal drugs . Only where the defendant does not know his actions will lead to an automatismic state where he could harm something can self-induced automatism be

1695-487: A defence to these crimes. For example, in R v Hardie Mr Hardie took his girlfriend's Valium , because she had just kicked him out and he was depressed . She encouraged him to take them, to make him feel better. But he got angry and set fire to the wardrobe . It was held that he should not be convicted of arson because he expected the Valium to calm him down, and this was its normal effect. Technically, intoxication

1808-493: A disproportionate response to provocation. Common examples of property crime include burglary , theft , and vandalism . Examples of financial crimes include counterfeiting , smuggling , tax evasion , and bribery . The scope of financial crimes has expanded significantly since the beginning of modern economics in the 17th century. In occupational crime , the complexity and anonymity of computer systems may help criminal employees camouflage their operations. The victims of

1921-455: A dream like state as a result of post traumatic stress, or even be "attacked by a swarm of bees" and go into an automatic spell. However to be classed as an "automaton" means there must have been a total destruction of voluntary control, which does not include a partial loss of consciousness as the result of driving for too long. Automatism can also be self-induced, particularly by taking medical treatment. Self-induced automatism can always be

2034-553: A gang that carries out armed robberies probably precludes any duress defence but joining a gang that is not violent at the time of joining may not. Whilst a duress defence relates to the situation where a person commits an offense to avoid death or serious injury to himself or another when threatened by a third party, the defence of necessity related to the situation where a person commits an offense to avoid harm which would ensue from circumstances in which he/she or another are placed. Duress operates as an excuse but necessity operates as

2147-427: A gas meter from a wall to get the money inside, and knows this will let flammable gas escape into a neighbor's house, he could be liable for poisoning. This is called "subjective recklessness", though in some jurisdictions "objective recklessness" qualifies as the requisite criminal intent, so that if someone ought to have recognized a risk and nevertheless proceeded, he may be held criminally liable. A novel aspect of

2260-419: A given state, and they are necessarily applied against political dissidents . Due to their unique relation to the state, political crimes are often encouraged by one nation against another, and it is political alignment rather than the act itself that determines criminality. State crime that is carried out by the state to repress law-abiding citizens may also be considered political crime. Inchoate crime

2373-437: A guilty mental state (or mens rea ). The traditional view is that moral culpability requires that a defendant should have recognised or intended that they were acting wrongly, although in modern regulation a large number of offences relating to road traffic, environmental damage , financial services and corporations , create strict liability that can be proven simply by the guilty act. Defences exist to crimes. A person who

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2486-411: A guilty mind, which is why the term " strict liability " is used. Actus reus is Latin for "guilty act" and is the physical element of committing a crime. It is usually the application or threat of unlawful force, though exceptionally an omission or failure to act can result in liability. Simple examples might be A hitting B with a stick, or X pushing Y down a water well . These are guilty acts and

2599-472: A hammer). Diabetes may cause temporary "insanity" and even sleep walking has been deemed "insane". "Not knowing the nature or wrongness of an act" is the final threshold which confirms insanity as related to the act in question. In R v Windle a man helped his wife commit suicide by giving her a hundred aspirin . He was in fact mentally ill, but as he recognized what he did and that it was wrong by saying to police "I suppose they will hang me for this", he

2712-407: A justification, rendering the defendant's conduct lawful. Necessity is a defence that argues "I desperately needed to do X, because consequence Y would have been really bad." Logically, this is identical to the concept of "duress of circumstance", where the situation rather than a person is the threat. The common elements are (1) an act is done to prevent a greater evil (2) the evil must be directed to

2825-406: A lady walk from a supermarket without paying for a jar of mincemeat. A "disease of the mind" includes not just brain diseases, but any impairment "permanent or transient and intermittent" so long as it is not externally caused (e.g. by drugs) and it has some effect on one's mind. So epilepsy can count, as can an artery problem causing temporary loss of consciousness (and a man to attack his wife with

2938-425: A legal system, so there may not be a unifying principle used to determine whether an action should be designated as a crime. From a legal perspective, crimes are generally wrong actions that are severe enough to warrant punishment that infringes on the perpetrator's liberties. English criminal law and the related common law of Commonwealth countries can define offences that the courts alone have developed over

3051-439: A less affluent region. Many of the traits that indicate criminality also indicate victimality; victims of crime are more likely to engage in unlawful behavior and respond to provocation. Overall demographic trends of victims and criminals are often similar, and victims are more likely to have engaged in criminal activities themselves. The victims may only want compensation for the injuries suffered, while remaining indifferent to

3164-420: A matter of private compensation. The most significant Roman law concept involved dominion . Most acts recognized as crimes in ancient societies, such as violence and theft, have persisted to the modern era. The criminal justice system of Imperial China existed unbroken for over 2,000 years. Many of the earliest conceptions of crime are associated with sin and corresponded to acts that were believed to invoke

3277-507: A party to the killing." Loss of control may be pleaded under sections 54 and 55 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 . Infanticide now operates as a defence to both murder and manslaughter. See the Infanticide Act 1938 as amended by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 . Insanity is a deranged state of mind, and consequently no defence to strict liability crimes, where mens rea not is

3390-432: A possible desire for deterrence . Victims, on their own, may lack the economies of scale that could allow them to administer a penal system, let alone to collect any fines levied by a court. Historically, from ancient times until the 19th century, many societies believed that non-human animals were capable of committing crimes, and prosecuted and punished them accordingly. Prosecutions of animals gradually dwindled during

3503-519: A requirement. An old case which lays down typical rules on insanity is M'Naghten's case where a man suffering extreme paranoia believed the Tory party of the United Kingdom , were persecuting him. He wanted to shoot and kill Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel , but got Peel's secretary in the back instead. Mr M'Naghten was found to be insane, and instead of prison, put in a mental hospital. The case produced

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3616-433: A societal issue as early as the 17th century. Imprisonment developed as a long-term penalty for crime in the 18th century. Increasing urbanization and industrialization in the 19th century caused crime to become an immediate issue that affected society, prompting government intervention in crime and the establishment of criminology as its own field. Anthropological criminology was popularized by Cesare Lombroso in

3729-580: A societal issue, and criminal law was seen as a means to protect the public from antisocial behavior. This idea was associated with a larger trend in the western world toward social democracy and centre-left politics . Through most of history, reporting of crime was generally local. The advent of mass media through radio and television in the mid-20th century allowed for the sensationalism of crime. This created well-known stories of criminals such as Jeffrey Dahmer , and it allowed for dramatization that perpetuates misconceptions about crime. Forensic science

3842-400: A system of accountability and punish criminals in a way that knowingly causes suffering. This may arise out of a feeling that criminals deserve to suffer and that punishment should exist for its own sake. The existence of punishment also creates an effect of deterrence that discourages criminal action for fear of punishment. Rehabilitation seeks to understand and mitigate the causes of

3955-404: A system of traveling judges that tried accused criminals in each region of England by applying precedent from previous rulings. Legal developments in 12th century England also resulted in the earliest known recording of official crime data. In the modern era, crime came to be seen as an issue affecting society rather than conflicts between individuals. Writers such as Thomas Hobbes saw crime as

4068-420: A victim. Some factors may cause victims of crime to experience short-term or long-term "repeat victimization". Common long-term victims are those that have close relationships with the criminal, manifesting in crimes such as domestic violence , embezzlement , child abuse , and bullying . Repeat victimization may also occur when a potential victim appears to be a viable target, such as when indicating wealth in

4181-426: Is a philosophical issue without an agreed upon answer. Fields such as law, politics, sociology, and psychology define crime in different ways. Crimes may be variously considered as wrongs against individuals, against the community, or against the state. The criminality of an action is dependent on its context; acts of violence will be seen as crimes in many circumstances but as permissible or desirable in others. Crime

4294-465: Is accused may in certain circumstances plead they are insane and did not understand what they were doing, that they were not in control of their bodies, they were intoxicated , mistaken about what they were doing, acted in self defence , acted under duress or out of necessity, or were provoked . These are issues to be raised at trial , for which there are detailed rules of evidence and procedure to be followed. England and Wales does not have

4407-436: Is also clear that acts by directors become acts of the company, as they are "the very ego and centre of the personality of the corporation". But despite strict liability in tort, civil remedies are in some instances insufficient to provide a deterrent to a company pursuing business practices that could seriously injure the life, health and environment of other people. Even with additional regulation by government bodies, such as

4520-432: Is an individual who has been treated unjustly or made to suffer. In the context of crime, the victim is the individual that is harmed by a violation of criminal law. Victimization is associated with post-traumatic stress and a long-term decrease in quality of life . Victimology is the study of victims, including their role in crime and how they are affected. Several factors affect an individual's likelihood of becoming

4633-452: Is any crime committed by an individual from a lower social class as opposed to white-collar crime which is associated with crime committed by someone of a higher-level social class. These crimes are primarily small scale, for immediate beneficial gain to the individual or group involved in them. Examples of blue-collar crime include Narcotic production or distribution, sexual assault , theft , burglary , assault or murder . Violent crime

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4746-473: Is associated with the broken windows theory , which posits that public order crimes increase the likelihood of other types of crime. Some public order crimes are considered victimless crimes in which no specific victim can be identified. Most nations in the Western world have moved toward decriminalization of victimless crimes in the modern era. Adultery , fornication , blasphemy , apostasy , and invoking

4859-410: Is carried out by the state through law enforcement agencies , such as police , which are empowered to arrest suspected perpetrators of crimes. Law enforcement may focus on policing individual crimes, or it may focus on bringing down overall crime rates. One common variant, community policing , seeks to prevent crime by integrating police into the community and public life. When the perpetrator of

4972-569: Is crime that involves an act of violent aggression against another person. Common examples of violent crime include homicide , assault , sexual assault , and robbery . Some violent crimes, such as assault, may be committed with the intention of causing harm. Other violent crimes, such as robbery, may use violence to further another goal. Violent crime is distinct from noncriminal types of violence, such as self-defense , use of force , and acts of war . Acts of violence are most often perceived as deviant when they are committed as an overreaction or

5085-428: Is crime that is carried out in anticipation of other illegal actions but does not cause direct harm. Examples of inchoate crimes include attempt and conspiracy . Inchoate crimes are defined by substantial action to facilitate a crime with the intention of the crime's occurrence. This is distinct from simple preparation for or consideration of criminal activity. They are unique in that renunciation of criminal intention

5198-514: Is entitled to make law, and a theory of legislative justice, which describes the law they are entitled or obliged to make. There are natural-law theorists who have accepted the idea of enforcing the prevailing morality as a primary function of the law. This view entails the problem that it makes any moral criticism of the law impossible: if conformity with natural law forms a necessary condition for legal validity, all valid law must, by definition, count as morally just. Thus, on this line of reasoning,

5311-541: Is found in the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 . This creates a criminal offence for manslaughter , meaning a penal fine of up to 10 per cent of turnover against companies whose managers conduct business in a grossly negligent fashion, resulting in deaths. Without lifting the veil there remains, however, no personal liability for directors or employees acting in the course of employment, for corporate manslaughter or otherwise. The quality of

5424-493: Is generally enough to absolve the perpetrator of criminal liability, as their actions are no longer facilitating a potential future crime. A criminal is an individual who commits a crime. What constitutes a criminal can vary depending on the context and the law, and it often carries a pejorative connotation. Criminals are often seen as embodying certain stereotypes or traits and are seen as a distinct type of person from law-abiding citizens. Despite this, no mental or physical trend

5537-429: Is identifiable that differentiates criminals from non-criminals. Public response to criminals may be indignant or sympathetic. Indignant responses involve resentment and a desire for vengeance, wishing to see criminals removed from society or made to suffer for harm that they cause. Sympathetic responses involve compassion and understanding, seeking to rehabilitate or forgive criminals and absolve them of blame. A victim

5650-522: Is not a defence, but negates the mens rea for specific intent offenses (e.g. it commutes a murder sentence to manslaughter). In other words, a defendant may have been so drunk, or drugged, that he was incapable of forming the criminal intention required. Voluntary intoxication is considered reckless , a state of basic intent, which means one cannot have one's sentence reduced for crimes of basic intent (e.g. manslaughter, assault, etc.). So for instance, in R v Sheehan and Moore two people threw petrol on

5763-497: Is not. Using a sledgehammer to fend off an "attacker" after 20 pints of beer is disproportionate. In all instances one may only use reasonable, and not excessive, force in self defence . In R v Clegg a soldier in Northern Ireland shouted at a car approaching a checkpoint to halt. When it did not, Mr Clegg fired three shots, killing a woman. She was hit in the back, and Mr Clegg was sentenced for murder because by then

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5876-410: Is notoriously difficult, and many outcomes are criticized for their harshness to the unwitting defendant and sidestepping of hospitals' or the victim's own liability. In R v Dear a stab victim reopened his wounds while in the hospital and died. But despite this suicidal behavior, the attacker was still held fully responsible for murder. Mens rea is another Latin phrase, meaning "guilty mind". It

5989-415: Is often associated with law and psychology. Information and statistics about crime in a given jurisdiction are collected as crime estimates, typically produced by national or international agencies. Methods to collect crime statistics may vary, even between jurisdictions within the same nation. Under-reporting of crime is common, particularly in developing nations. Victim studies may be used to determine

6102-484: Is the mental element of committing a crime and establishes the element of intent. Together with an actus reus , mens rea forms the bedrock of criminal law, although strict liability offenses have encroached on this notion. A guilty mind means intending to do that which harms someone. Intention under criminal law is separate from a person's motive . R v Mohan [1975] 2 All ER 193, intention defined as "a decision to bring about... [the actus reus ] no matter whether

6215-399: Is the reason , which is the first principle of human acts". He regarded people as by nature rational beings, concluding that it becomes morally appropriate that they should behave in a way that conforms to their rational nature. Thus, to be valid, any law must conform to natural law and coercing people to conform to that law is morally acceptable. In the 1760s, William Blackstone described

6328-576: The Health and Safety Executive or the Environment Agency , companies may still have a collective incentive to ignore the rules in the knowledge that the costs and likelihood of enforcement is weaker than potential profits. Criminal sanctions remain problematic, for instance if a company director had no intention to harm anyone, no mens rea , and managers in the corporate hierarchy had systems to prevent employees committing offences. One step toward reform

6441-576: The King or Queen , and the v stands for "versus". There is a Sentencing Council . This power is now created by section 163 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 . It was formerly created by each of the following provisions in turn: A general power of Crown Court to impose a sentence of imprisonment on conviction on indictment is created by section 77 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 It

6554-525: The Norfolk farmer, even if robbers had trespassed on his property . In that case, Mr Martin was found to have diminished responsibility for his actions, because he was mentally ill. One who is "under duress" is forced into something. Duress can be a defence for all crimes, except murder , attempted murder , being an accessory to murder and treason involving the death of the Sovereign. In R v Howe it

6667-462: The rules that a person is presumed to be sane and responsible, unless it is shown that (1) he was laboring under such a defect of reason (2) from disease of the mind (3) as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, or if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong. These elements must be proven present on the balance of probabilities . "Defect of reason" means much more than, for instance, absent mindedness making

6780-405: The 19th century English judge , Lord Coleridge CJ wrote, It would not be correct to say that every moral obligation involves a legal duty; but every legal duty is founded on a moral obligation. Furthermore, one can become bound by a duty to take reasonable steps to correct a dangerous situation that one creates. In R v Miller a squatter flicked away a still lit cigarette , which landed on

6893-418: The 19th century, although a few were recorded as late as the 1910s and 1920s. Virtually all countries in the 21st century have criminal law grounded in civil law , common law , Islamic law , or socialist law . Historically, criminal codes have often divided criminals by class or caste, prescribing different penalties depending on status. In some tribal societies, an entire clan is recognized as liable for

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7006-538: The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (an amendment to the Mental Capacity Act 2005), not under the common law doctrine of necessity. But more recently, duress of circumstance and necessity have been recognized and used by courts. In a leading case, Re A (Conjoined Twins) , conjoined twins were born, one reliant on the other for her heart and lungs. Unless they were separated, both would die, but if separated,

7119-442: The accused desired that consequence of his act or not." In the special case of murder, the defendant must have appreciated (i.e. consciously recognized) that either death or serious bodily harm would be the result of his actions. In R v Woolin , a man in a fit of temper threw his three-month-old son onto a wall, causing head injuries from which he died. Although death was certain and the father should have realized, he did not in

7232-506: The anger of a deity. This idea was further popularized with the development of the Abrahamic religions . The understanding of crime and sin were closely associated with one another for much of history, and conceptions of crime took on many of the ideas associated with sin. Islamic law developed its own system of criminal justice as Islam spread in the seventh and eighth centuries. In post-classical Europe and East Asia, central government

7345-500: The cabin boy close to death. Driven to extreme hunger, the crew killed and ate the cabin boy. The crew survived and were rescued, but put on trial for murder. They argued it was necessary to kill the cabin boy to preserve their own lives. Lord Coleridge , expressing immense disapproval, ruled, "to preserve one's life is generally speaking a duty, but it may be the plainest and the highest duty to sacrifice it." The men were sentenced to hang , but public opinion, especially among seafarers,

7458-412: The car had passed, the force was excessive and there was no justification for self-defence. Another way of expressing the rule on defensive force is that it must be proportionate to the threat. For instance, as the notorious case of R v Martin shows, shooting a teenager in the back with a shotgun several times as he tries to escape is not a justified or proportionate exercise of self-defensive force for

7571-423: The case for a moratorium on legislation in the field of criminal justice was becoming stronger and stronger, governments seemed ever more determined to bring forward more legislation. The two basic elements of a crime are the act of doing that which is criminal, and the intention to carry it out. In Latin this is called the actus reus and the mens rea . In many crimes however, there is no necessity of showing

7684-490: The characteristics of the accused" would have responded in the same way. Examples of someone's characteristics that might be relevant are age, gender, pregnancy, physical disability, mental illness, sexuality, but not IQ. Using duress as a defence is limited in a number of ways. The accused must not have foregone some safe avenue of escape. The duress must have been an order to do something specific, so that one cannot be threatened with harm to repay money and then choose to rob

7797-554: The criminal process and the relevant authority must have legitimate power to establish what constitutes a crime. English criminal law English criminal law concerns offences , their prevention and the consequences, in England and Wales . Criminal conduct is considered to be a wrong against the whole of a community, rather than just the private individuals affected. The state, in addition to certain international organisations, has responsibility for crime prevention, for bringing

7910-404: The culprits to justice , and for dealing with convicted offenders. The police , the criminal courts and prisons are all publicly funded services , though the main focus of criminal law concerns the role of the courts, how they apply criminal statutes and common law , and why some forms of behaviour are considered criminal. The fundamentals of a crime are a guilty act (or actus reus ) and

8023-512: The defence of duress for someone charged with attempted murder, as the Lords could not see a reason why the defence should be open to an attempted murderer when it was not open to a murderer. In order to prove duress, it must be shown that the defendant was induced by threats of death or serious physical injury to either himself or his family that he reasonably believed would be carried out and that also that "a sober person of reasonable firmness, sharing

8136-716: The defence of necessity (in the case of Tort law) was recognized and applied by the House of Lords to justify the informal detention and treatment of a mentally incompetent person who had become a danger to himself. This approach was subsequently found to be a violation of Article 5 of the European Convention of Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights in HL v United Kingdom . Subsequent to this decision, individuals who lack capacity must be deprived of their liberty in accordance with

8249-414: The defendant or someone for who he is responsible (3) the act must have been a proportionate response. But only necessity is a potential defence for murder . The defence of necessity was first tested in the 19th century English case of R v Dudley and Stephens . The Mignotte , sailing from Southampton to Sydney , sank. Three crew members and a cabin boy were stranded on a raft. They were starving and

8362-401: The defendant's conduct, the victim would not have been harmed. If more than one cause for harm exists (e.g. harm comes at the hands of more than one culprit) the rule states that to be responsible, one's actions must have "more than a slight or trifling link" to the harm. Another important rule of causation is that one must "take his victim as he finds him". For instance, if P gives his friend Q

8475-434: The defendant, if it is voluntary, and to offences that require proof of a specific intent . Duress and necessity operate as a defence to all crimes except murder, attempted murder and some forms of treason. Marital coercion is a defence to all crimes except treason and murder. There are two main partial defences that reduce murder to manslaughter. If one succeeds in being declared "not guilty by reason of insanity" then

8588-490: The entire content of the criminal law at any given time". In 1989, the Law Commission said that a hypothetical criminal code that contained all existing criminal offences would be "impossibly bulky". In 2001, Peter Glazebrook said the criminal law was "voluminous, chaotic and contradictory". In March 2011, there were more than ten thousand offences excluding those created by by-laws . In 1999, P J Richardson said that as

8701-419: The equal respect and concern of those who govern them as a fundamental political right. He offers a theory of compliance overlaid by a theory of deference (the citizen's duty to obey the law) and a theory of enforcement, which identifies the legitimate goals of enforcement and punishment. Legislation must conform to a theory of legitimacy, which describes the circumstances under which a particular person or group

8814-437: The frequency of crime in a given population. Justifying the state's use of force to coerce compliance with its laws has proven a consistent theoretical problem. One of the earliest justifications involved the theory of natural law . This posits that the nature of the world or of human beings underlies the standards of morality or constructs them. Thomas Aquinas wrote in the 13th century: "the rule and measure of human acts

8927-449: The late-19th century. This was a biological determinist school of thought based in social darwinism , arguing that certain people are naturally born as criminals. The eugenics movement of the early-20th century similarly held that crime was caused primarily by genetic factors. The concept of crime underwent a period of change as modernism was widely accepted in the years following World War II . Crime increasingly came to be seen as

9040-499: The law on intention is that if one intends to harm somebody, it matters not who is actually harmed through the defendant's actions. The doctrine of transferred malice means, for instance, that if a man strikes another with his belt, but the belt bounces off and hits a nearby woman, the man is guilty of battery toward her. Malice can also be general, so that terrorists who plant bombs to kill random people are certainly guilty. The final requirement states that both an actus reus and

9153-436: The least desire that his son be killed or harmed. The English House of Lords sentenced him for manslaughter , but not murder. If a defendant has foresight of death or serious injury the jury may, but is not bound to, find the requisite mens rea . A lower threshold of mens rea is satisfied when a defendant recognizes that some act is dangerous but decides to commit it anyway. This is recklessness . For instance if C tears

9266-465: The legal validity of a norm necessarily entails its moral justice. Restrictions on behavior existed in all prehistoric societies. Crime in early human society was seen as a personal transgression and was addressed by the community as a whole rather than through a formal legal system, often through the use of custom, religion, or the rule of a tribal leader. Some of the oldest extant writings are ancient criminal codes . The earliest known criminal code

9379-524: The legislature decrees to achieve social utility, but every individual remains free to choose what to do. Similarly, H.L.A. Hart saw the law as an aspect of sovereignty , with lawmakers able to adopt any law as a means to a moral end. Thus the necessary and sufficient conditions for the truth of a proposition of law involved internal logic and consistency , and that the state's agents used state power with responsibility . Ronald Dworkin rejects Hart's theory and proposes that all individuals should expect

9492-403: The life support of someone in a persistent vegetative state is an omission to act and not criminal. Since discontinuation of power is not a voluntary act, not grossly negligent, and is in the patient's best interests, no crime takes place. If someone's act is to have any consequence legally, it must have in some way caused a victim harm. The legal definition of "causation" is that " but for "

9605-486: The most costly scams include banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies, and other large financial institutions. Public order crime is crime that violates a society's norms about what constitutes socially acceptable behavior. Examples of public order crimes include gambling , drug-related crime , public intoxication , prostitution , loitering , breach of the peace , panhandling , vagrancy , street harassment , excessive noise , and littering . Public order crime

9718-413: The name of God are commonly recognized as crimes in theocratic societies or those heavily influenced by religion. Political crime is crime that directly challenges or threatens the state. Examples of political crimes include subversion , rebellion , treason , mutiny , espionage , sedition , terrorism , riot , and unlawful assembly . Political crimes are associated with the political agenda of

9831-432: The normal mens rea was present at the incident's time. So where a blackmailer drugged a man's coffee , invited him to abuse a 15-year-old boy, and photographed it, the man was denied the defence of intoxication because the court simply did not believe that the man did not intend to commit the abuse. Sometimes intoxicated people make mistakes, as in R v Lipman where the defendant took LSD , thought his girlfriend

9944-494: The parent show as Little Monk in a flashback. The episodes are available only on the "Best of Monk" DVD. Criminal The notion that acts such as murder , rape , and theft are to be prohibited exists worldwide. What precisely is a criminal offence is defined by the criminal law of each relevant jurisdiction . While many have a catalogue of crimes called the criminal code , in some common law nations no such comprehensive statute exists. The state ( government ) has

10057-433: The power to severely restrict one's liberty for committing a crime. In modern societies, there are procedures to which investigations and trials must adhere. If found guilty , an offender may be sentenced to a form of reparation such as a community sentence , or, depending on the nature of their offence, to undergo imprisonment , life imprisonment or, in some jurisdictions , death . Usually, to be classified as

10170-400: The predominant moral beliefs of society determine the legal definition as well as the social definition of crime. This system is less prominent in liberal democratic societies that prioritize individualism and multiculturalism over other moral beliefs. Paternalism defines crime not only as harm to others or to society, but also as harm to the self. Psychological definitions consider

10283-417: The prohibited act, it may not be necessary to show anything at all, even if the defendant would not normally be perceived to be at fault. England and Wales has strict liability offences, which criminalize behavior without the need to show a criminal mens rea. Most strict liability offences are created by statute, and often they are the result of ambiguous drafting. They are usually regulatory in nature, where

10396-717: The relationship of crime and the community. Due to the wide range of concepts associated with crime and the disagreement on a precise definition, the focus of criminology can vary considerably. Various theories within criminology provide different descriptions and explanations for crime, including social control theory , subcultural theory , strain theory , differential association , and labeling theory . Subfields of criminology and related fields of study include crime prevention , criminal law , crime statistics , anthropological criminology , criminal psychology , criminal sociology, criminal psychiatry , victimology , penology , and forensic science . Besides sociology, criminology

10509-492: The reliant twin would die, the doctors therefore being liable to prosecution for murder. It was, however, held that in this special and incredibly sensitive situation, that the separation was necessary to save the first twin's life. In the United Kingdom, a criminal case against Mr Smith is styled in case citation as R v Smith , referring to the crown acting as the prosecuting party. R is short for Rex or Regina, that is,

10622-574: The result is going to an asylum, a clearly inadequate result for somebody suffering from occasional epileptic fits, and many conditions unrecognized by nineteenth century medicine. The law has therefore been reformed in many ways. One important reform, introduced in England and Wales by statute is the diminished responsibility defence. The requirements are usually more lax, for instance, being "an abnormality of mind" which "substantially impair[s] mental responsibility for his acts and omission in doing or being

10735-444: The result of breach could have particularly harmful results. An example is drunk driving . Serious torts and fatal injuries occur as a result of actions by company employees, have increasingly been subject to criminal sanctions. All torts committed by employees in the course of employment will attribute liability to their company even if acting wholly outside authority, so long as there is some temporal and close connection to work. It

10848-429: The state of mind of perpetrators and their relationship with their environment. The study of crime is called criminology . Criminology is a subfield of sociology that addresses issues of social norms , social order , deviance , and violence . It includes the motivations and consequences of crime and its perpetrators , as well as preventative measures , either studying criminal acts on an individual level or

10961-462: The thesis: But John Austin (1790–1859), an early positivist , applied utilitarianism in accepting the calculating nature of human beings and the existence of an objective morality. He denied that the legal validity of a norm depends on whether its content conforms to morality. Thus, in Austinian terms, a moral code can objectively determine what people ought to do, the law can embody whatever norms

11074-457: The unlawful application or force. Alternatively, one may have a pre-existing duty to another person and by deliberately not performing it, one commits a crime. For instance, not giving food is an omission rather than an act, but as a parent one has a duty to feed one's children. Pre-existing duties can arise also through contract , a voluntary undertaking, a blood relation with whom one lives, and occasionally through one's official position. As

11187-430: The victim's own conduct, or another unpredictable event. A mistake in medical treatment usually will not break the chain, unless the mistakes are in themselves "so potent in causing death". For instance, if emergency medics dropped a stab victim on the way to the hospital and performed the wrong resuscitation , the attacker would not be absolved of the crime. The interplay between causation and criminal responsibility

11300-557: The water and his desire to hit her, coincided. In this manner, it does not matter when a guilty mind and act coincide, as long as at some point they do. Sherras v De Rutzen approved in Alphacell Ltd v Woodward Not all crimes have a mens rea requirement, or the threshold of culpability required may be reduced. For example, it might be sufficient to show that a defendant acted negligently , rather than intentionally or recklessly . In offences of absolute liability , other than

11413-406: The wording of the statute and rules of the common law. There are general defences. Insanity , automatism , mistake and self defence operate as defences to any offence. Inadvertence due to intoxication is a defence to all offences requiring proof of basic intent if the intoxication is involuntary, and in cases where the risk would not have been obvious to a reasonable and sober person and/or

11526-436: The years, without any actual legislation: common law offences . The courts used the concept of malum in se to develop various common law offences. As a sociological concept, crime is associated with actions that cause harm and violate social norms . Under this definition, crime is a type of social construct , and societal attitudes determine what is considered criminal. In legal systems based on legal moralism ,

11639-406: Was a snake and strangled her. Here, intoxication operated as a defence because Mr Lipman was mistaken in his specific intent of killing a snake. But intoxication does not negate the basic intent crime of manslaughter, with his "reckless course of conduct" in taking drugs. Lastly, while a mistake about a person or the actual action is acceptable, a mistake about how much force to use to defend oneself

11752-408: Was found not insane and guilty of murder. Automatism is a state where the muscles act without any control by the mind, or with a lack of consciousness. A successful automatism defence negatives the actus reus element of a crime. If someone raises this defence, then it is for the prosecution to disprove . Automatismic actions can be a product of insanity , or not. One may suddenly fall ill, into

11865-425: Was held that to allow the defence of duress as a defence to murder would, in the words of Lord Hailsham, withdraw the protection of the criminal law from the innocent victim and cast the cloak of its protection upon the coward and the poltroon - ordinary people ought to be prepared to give up their lives to the person making the threat in preference to killing an innocent. R v Gotts , in a similar fashion, disallowed

11978-405: Was historically seen as a manifestation of evil , but this has been superseded by modern criminal theories. Legal and political definitions of crime consider actions that are banned by authorities or punishable by law. Crime is defined by the criminal law of a given jurisdiction, including all actions that are subject to criminal procedure . There is no limit to what can be considered a crime in

12091-515: Was limited and crime was defined locally. Towns established their own criminal justice systems, while crime in the countryside was defined by the social hierarchies of feudalism . In some places, such as the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy , feudal justice survived into the 19th century. Common law first developed in England under the rule of Henry II in the 12th century. He established

12204-490: Was not allowed to advance the defence of necessity. Again in Chicon v DPP [1994] the defence of necessity was not allowed in a case of a pit bull terrier dog being kept in a public place without a muzzle - the owner had removed the muzzle to allow the dog to drink. But in the case of In re F (Mental Patient Sterilization) , the defence of necessity was allowed. In the case of R v Bournewood Community and Mental Health NHS Trust ,

12317-503: Was outraged and overwhelmingly supportive of the crew's right to preserve their own lives. In the end, the Crown commuted their sentences to six months. Since then, in the 1970s, in several road traffic cases, although obiter dicta , it has been stated that there is a defence of necessity. In Johnson v Phillips [1975], Justice Wein stated that a police constable would be entitled to direct motorists to disobey road traffic regulations if this

12430-630: Was popularized in the 1980s, establishing DNA profiling as a new method to prevent and analyze crime. White-collar crime refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. The crimes are believed to be committed by middle- or upper-class individuals for financial gains. Typical white-collar crimes could include wage theft , fraud , bribery , Ponzi schemes , insider trading , labor racketeering , embezzlement , cybercrime , copyright infringement , money laundering , identity theft , and forgery . Blue-collar crime

12543-572: Was reasonably necessary for the protection of life or property. In a later case, Woods v Richards , Justice Eveleigh stated that the defence of necessity depended on the degree of emergency which existed or the alternative danger to be averted. In DPP v Harris a police officer, charged with driving without due care and attention through a red traffic light contrary to s 3 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 , and having collided with another vehicle containing armed robbers whilst pursuing that vehicle,

12656-785: Was released on Peacock , on December 8, 2023. These four webisodes were also released on the Season 5 DVD. USA Network ordered ten episodes that would deal with the Monk brothers' childhood. The first premiered on August 21, 2009. The series starred Aaron Linker as Little Monk , Chris Lizardi as Little Ambrose and Bella Thorne as Wendy, one of the Monks' classmates. The series was directed by Randall Zisk, with Hy Conrad, Andy Breckman, Kevin Albright, and Justin Brenneman serving as writers. Aaron Linker also appeared in

12769-520: Was the Code of Ur-Nammu ( c.  2100  – c.  2050 BC ), and the first known criminal code that incorporated retaliatory justice was the Code of Hammurabi . The latter influenced the conception of crime across several civilizations over the following millennia. The Romans systematized law and applied their system across the Roman Empire . The initial rules of Roman law regarded assaults as

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