| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Unit 4 Criminal Law
UNIT 4
Criminal Law
Criminal law is the body of law that defines criminal offenses, regulates the apprehension, charging, and trial of suspected persons, and fixes penalties and modes of treatment applicable to convicted offenders.
The traditional approach to criminal law has been that crime is an act that is morally wrong. The purpose of criminal sanctions was to make the offender give retribution for harm done and expiate his moral guilt; punishment was to be meted out in proportion to the guilt of the accused. In modern times more rationalistic and pragmatic views have predominated. Writers of the Enlightenment considered the main purpose of criminal law to be the prevention of crime. With the development of the social sciences, there arose new concepts, such as those of the protection of the public and the reform of the offender. Such a purpose can be seen in the West German criminal code of 1975, which provides that the court «has to consider the consequences of the sentence upon the future life of the offender in society». In the United States, a Model Penal Code proposed by the American Law Institute in 1962 states that an objective of criminal law should be «to give fair warning of the nature of the conduct declared to constitute an offense» and «to promote the correction and rehabilitation of offenders». Since that time there has been renewed interest in the concept of general prevention, including both the deterrence of possible offenders and the stabilization and strengthening of social norms.
Important differences exist between the criminal law of most English-speaking countries and that of other countries. The criminal law of England and the United States derives from the traditional English common law of crimes and has its origins in the judicial decisions embodied in reports of decided cases, England has consistently rejected all efforts toward comprehensive legislative codification of its criminal law; even now there is no statutory definition of murder in English law. Some Commonwealth countries, however, notably India, have enacted criminal codes that are based on the English common law of crimes.
Crimes may be classified in various ways:
A
Task 1. Read the following words and word combinations and give their Russian equivalents: criminal law, suspected persons, social sciences, to fix penalties, convicted offenders, moral guilt, consequences of the sentence, existing differences, deterrence of possible offenders, judicial decisions, the nature of the conduct, comprehensive legislative codification, statutory definition, criminal codes, to occur.
Task 2. Read the following words and word combinations and give their English equivalents: оказывать влияние, искупать вину, уголовно-исполнительный кодекс, указывать (устанавливать) правонарушения, толковать положения, обращение к (ссылка на) общее право, судить человека за правонарушение, отменить закон, убийство, предотвращать преступления, уголовные правонарушения, способы воздействия, цели уголовных санкций, вина обвиняемого, защита общества, жизнь преступника в обществе, способствовать исправлению преступника. Task 3. Match the following:
Task 4. Match the terms with their definitions:
Task 5. Complete the following sentences:
B Task 1. Make the summary and annotation of the text: The elements of crime
It is generally agreed that the essential ingredients of any crime are (1) a voluntary act or omission (actus reus), accompanied by (2) a certain state of mind (mens rea). An act may be any kind of voluntary human behaviour.
Movements made in an epileptic seizure are not acts, nor are movements made by a somnambulist before awakening, even if they result in the death of another per-son. Criminal liability for the result also requires that the harm done must have been caused by the accused. The test of causal relationship between conduct and result is that the event would not have happened the same way without direct participation of the offender.
Criminal liability may also be predicated on a failure to act when the accused was under a legal duty to act and was reasonably capable of doing so. The legal duty to act may be imposed directly by statute, such as the requirement to file an income tax return, or it may arise out of the relationship between the parties, as the obligation of parents to provide their child with food.
Task 2. Make the summary and annotation of the text:
How are crimes classified?
Crimes may be classified in various ways. One type of classification is given below. As you read the following list, however, keep in mind that human beings are the ultimate victims in all crimes:
Crimes are classified in terms of their seriousness as felonies or misdemeanors.
Felonies A felony is a crime of a serious nature. It exists when the act: 1) is labeled so by law or 2) is punishable by death or confinement for more than one year in prison. Murder, kidnapping, arson, rape, robbery, burglary, embezzlement, forgery, larceny (also called theft) of large sums, and perjury are examples of felonies. A person who lies when under oath commits perjury.
Misdemeanors A misdemeanor is a crime of a less serious nature. It is usually punishable by confinement in a jail for less than one year, by fine, or by both confinement and fine. Crimes such as drunkenness in public, driving an automobile at an illegal speed, shoplifting, and larceny of small sums are usually misdemeanors. A lesser misdemeanor is known as an infraction. Parking overtime on metered parking, failing to clear snow from sidewalks, and littering are examples of infractions. Ordinarily, no jury is allowed in cases involving infractions because the punishment is no more than a fine. What are business related crimes? A business, like any person, is subject to general criminal law. Some crimes, however, are found more frequently in the business than elsewhere. Business firms are frequently the victims of crimes such as robbery, burglary, shoplifting, employee pilferage, passing bad checks, vandalism, receiving stolen property, and embezzlement. Less frequently, but often with much larger sums of money involved, business persons and firms may commit crimes. Because such criminals are generally well-educated, respected members of the community, the offenses are called white-collar crimes. These criminals exploit their victims through concealment and deceit. Common examples of white-collar crimes are income tax evasion, consumer fraud, cheating with false weighing machines, conspiring to fix prices, bribery, and embezzlement. Normally no physical violence is involved in crimes of this nature. Thus, courts tend to be more soft with the criminals, punishing them with fines or short prison sentences. Here are some of the common business-related crimes: Larceny Larceny (commonly known as theft) is the wrongful taking of money or personal property belonging to someone else. Variations of larceny include robbery (taking personal property in immediate presence and against the victim's will, and by force or by causing fear) and burglary (entering a building with the intent to commit a crime). Other types of larceny include shoplifting, pickpocketing, and purse snatching. Larceny may be either a felony or a misdemeanor. The classification is determined by the value of the property stolen and the circumstances surrounding the act. However, burglary is always a felony. In addition, if the burglar sells the stolen goods, he is guilty of two crimes - burglary and selling stolen property. Receiving Stolen Property Knowingly receiving stolen property is an offense separate from larceny. It consists of receiving, concealing, or buying property known to be stolen, with in-tent to deprive the rightful owner of the property. One who receives stolen property is known as a fence (скупщик краденого). Special statutes deal with the fencing of types of property that are commonly stolen, such as motor vehicles and valuable airplane, ship, or truck cargoes. False Pretenses One who obtains money or other property from another person by lying about a past or existing fact is guilty of false pretenses (also known as false representation). This crime differs from larceny because the victim parts with the property voluntarily. False pretenses is a type of fraud. Forgery Forgery is falsely making or altering any writing (for example the signature of another person). In forgery there must be intent to defraud either the person whose name is signed or someone else. The most common forgeries are found on checks when one has signed another's name without permission to do so. Forgery also includes altering a check, such as when one changes «$7» to «$70» and «Seven» to «Seventy». Forgery is usually a felony. Bribery Bribery is offering or giving to a government official money or anything of value which the official was not authorized to receive in order to influence performance of an official duty. Accepting the money or offer is also bribery. Extortion Extortion (commonly known as blackmail) is obtaining money or other property from a person by wrongful use of force, fear, or the power of office. The extortionist (blackmailer) may threaten to inflict bodily injury on the victim or a close relative of the victim. Sometimes the extortionist threatens to expose a secret crime if payment is not made. Kidnapping is a related crime. Conspiracy Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to do an unlawful criminal act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful means. Usually the agreement is secret. Depending on the circumstances, the crime may be either a felony or a misdemeanor. Business executives of competing corporations sometimes conspire to fix prices or to divide markets. Arson Arson is the willful and illegal burning of a building. Under early common law, the courts sought primarily to protect human life. Therefore, arson was limited to the malicious burning of another’s home. This definition has since been extended to include other structures. Arson has been committed when someone intentionally starts a fire or causes an explosion that results in any burning. Selling and Buying Narcotic Drugs Narcotics, when abused, can cause serious mental and physical harm. There exist laws, which make certain narcotic-related activities criminal offenses. The activities include selling or offering to sell, possessing, transporting, administering (снабжать), or giving narcotics without a license, except by medical prescription. Computer Crime Society has only recently addressed the problems of crimes made possible by the computer revolution. One problem involves the stealing of valuable information from other persons’ computers. Recall that larceny is “the wrongful taking of the personal property of others.” This traditional definition of the crime made it difficult to prosecute those who steal computer data for two reasons. First, many courts concluded that there was not a «taking» if an intruder merely copied the information in the computer. Second, even if an intruder copied and erased computer information, some courts concluded that there was no taking of “personal property” but only the loss of electrical impulses, which no one really owns. C
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| © Академия Министерства внутренних дел Республики Беларусь Электронный учебно-методический комплекс | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||