CRIME. An act committed or omitted in violation of a public law forbidding or commanding it.
A wrong which the government notices as injurious to the public, and punishes in what is called a criminal proceeding in its own name. 1 Bishop, Crim. Law, 43. See 4 Den. N. Y. 260 ; 6 Ark. 187, 461.
The word crime generally denotes an offence of a deep and atrocious dye. When the act is of an inferior degree of guilt, it is called a misdemeanor. 4 Blackstone, Comm. 4.
Crimes are defined and punished by statutes and by the common law. Most common-law offences are as well known and as precisely ascertained at those which are defined by statutes: yet, from the difficulty of exactly defining and describing act which ought to be punished, the vital and preserving principle has been adopted that all im moral acts which tend to the prejudice of the com munity are punishable criminally by courts of jus tice. 2 Rev. Swift, Dig. 284; 2 East, 5, 21; 7 Conn. 386; 5 Cow. N. Y. 258; 3 Pick. Mass. 26.
2. A crime malum in se is an act which shocks the moral sense of the community as being grossly immoral and injurious. With regard to some offences, such as murder, rape, arson, burglary, and larceny, there is but one sentiment in all civilized countries; which is that of unqualified condemnation. With regard to others, such as adultery, polygamy, and drunkenness, in some com munities they are regarded as heinous mak; in se ; while in others, owing to the perver sion of the moral sentiment by prejudice, education, and custom, they are not even mala prohibita.
3. An offence is regarded as strictly a malum frohibitvm only when, without the prohibition of a statute, the commission or omission of it would in a moral point of view be regarded as indifferent. The criminality of the act or omission consists not in the simple perpetration of the act, or the neglect to perform it, but in its being a violation of a positive law.
It is not only just, but it has been found necessary, to have the severity of punishment proportioned to the of crimes. Dif ferent opinions are entertained as to what should be the highest in degree. In the United States this is generally death by banging.
4. Capital punishment has been abolished in Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and, except for treason, in Michigan. R. I. Rev. Stat. Supp. 866 ; Wisc. Act of 1853, n. 100 ; Mich. Rev. Stat. 1846.
There are three degrees of murder accord ing to the statute laws of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and two degrees in Alabama, Arkansas:California, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachu setts, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia • and the death-penalty is inflicted for the first degree in all of them except Michigan and Wis consin. In some of the other states murder
remains as at common law, and in some it is somewhat modified by statute.
5. Crimes are sometimes classified accord ing to the degree of punishment incurred by the commission of them. Ohio Rev. Stat., Swan ed. 266.
They are more generally arranged accord ing to the nature of the offence.
The following is, perhaps, as complete a classification as the subject Qffenees against the sovereignty of the state.
1. Treason. 2. Misprision of treason. Offences against the lives and persons of individuals. 1. Murder. 2. Manslaughter.
3. Attempts to murder or kill. 4. Mayhem. 5. Rape. 6. Robbery. 7. Kidnapping. 8. False imprisonment. 9. Abduction. 10. As sault and battery.
Offences against public property. 1. Burn ing or destroying public property. 2. Injury to the same.
Offences against private property. 1. Ar son. 2. Burglary. 3. Larceny. 4. Obtain ing goods on false pretences. 5. Embezzle ment. 6. Malicious mischief.
Offences against public justice. 1. Perjury. .2. Bribery. 3. Destroying public records. 4. Counterfeiting public seals. 5. Jail-breach.
6. Escape. 7. Resistance to officers. 8. Ob structing legal process. 9. Barratry. 10. Maintenance. 11. Champerty. 12. Contempt of court. 13. Oppression. 14. Extortion. n. Suppression of evidence. 16. Compounding felony. 17. Misprision of felony.
• Offences against the public peace. 1. lenging or accepting a challenge to a duel.
2. Unlawful assembly. 3. Rout. 4. Riot. 5. Breach of the peace. 6. Libel.
against chastity. 1. Sodomy. 2. Bestiality. 3. Adultery. 4. Incest. 5. Bigamy. 6. Seduction. 7. Fornication. 8. lascivious carriage. 9. Keeping or frequent ing house of ill-fame.
against public policy. 1. False currency. 2. Lotteries. 3. Gambling. 4. Immoral shows. 5. Violations of the right of suffrage. 6. Destruction of game, fish, etc. 7. Nuisance.
Offences against the currency, and public and private securities. 1. Forgery. 2. Coun terfeiting. 3. Passing counterfeit money.
Offences against religion, decency, and morality. 1. Blasphemy. 2. Profanity. 3. Sabbath-breaking. 4. Obscenity. 5. Cruelty to animals. 6. Drunkenness. 7. Promoting intemperance. Sec 2 Sharswood, Blackstone, Comm. 42, etc.; 2 Comp. Stat. 305, etc.
Offences against the public, individuals, or their property. 1. Conspiracy.