CRIME. An act committed or omitted in violation of a public law forbidding or com manding 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 Bish. Cr. Law § 43. See People v. Supervisors of Ontario County, 4 Denio (N. Y.) 260; Rector v. State, 6 Ark. 187; Durr v. Howard, id. 461; Clark, Cr. Law 1. See INTENT; MENS REA.
The word crime generally denotes an offence of a deep and atrocious dye. When the act is of an in ferior degree of guilt, it is called a misdemeanor ; 4 Bla. Corm 4. Crime, however, is often used as com prehending misdemeanor and even as synonymous therewith, and also with offence; in short, as em bracing every indictable offence; State v. Corpora tion of Savannah, T. U. P. Charlt. (Ga.) 235, 4 Am. Dec. 708; Van Meter v. People, 60 III. 168; In re Bergin, 31 Wis. 383 ; In re Clark, 9 Wend. (N. Y.) 212; Kentucky v. Dennison, 24 How. (U. S.) 102, 16 L. Ed. 717; In re Voorhees, 32 N. J. L. 144; People v. Board of Police Com'rs, 39 Hun (N. Y.) 510; People v. French, 102 N. Y. 583, 7 N. E. 913; but it Is not synonymous with felony ; County of Lehigh v. Schack, 113 Pa. 379, 7 Atl. 52.
Crimes are defined and punished by statutes and by the common law. Most common-law offences are as well known and as precisely ascertained as those which are defined by statutes: yet, from the diffi culty of exactly defining and describing every act which ought to be punished, the vital and preserv ing principle has been adopted that all immoral acts which tend to the prejudice of the community are Punishable criminally by courts of justice; 2 6, 21; State v. Doud, 7 Conn. 386 ; People v. Smith, 6 Cow. (lg. Y.) 268 ; Corn. v. Harrington, 3 Pick: (Mass.) 26.
As to "moral turpitude" as ground of de portation, see that title.
There are no common-law offences against the United States; U. S. v. Eaton, 144 U. S.
677, 12 Sup. Ct. 764, 36 L. Ed. 591; Petti bone v. U. S., 148 U. S. 203, 13 Sup. Ct. 542, 37 L. Ed. 419. See COMMON LAW. There can be no constructive offences, and before a man can be punished, his case must be plain ly and unmistakably within the statute ; U.
S. v. Lacher, 134 U. S. 624, 10 Sup. Ct. 625, 33 L. Ed. 1080 ; Todd v. U. S., 158 U. S. 282, 15 Sup. Ct. 889, 39 L. Ed. 982.
Deliberation and premeditation to commit crime need not exist in the criminal's mind for any fixed period before the commission of the act ; Thiede v. Utah, 159 U. S. 510, 16 Sup. Ct. 62, 40 L. Ed. 237.
A crime maim in se is an act which shocks the moral sense as being grossly im moral and injurious. With regard to some offences, such as murder, rape, arson, burgla ry, and larceny, there is but one sentiment in all civilized countries, which is that of un qualified condemnation. With regard to oth ers, such as adultery, polygamy, and drunk enness, in some communities they are re garded as mala in se; while in others they are not even mala prohibits.
An offence is regarded as strictly a ma/um, prohibitum only when, without the prohibi tion of a statute, the commission or omission of it would in a moral point of view be re garded as indifferent. The criminality of the act or omission consists not in the sim ple perpetration of the act, or the neglect to perform it, but in its being a violation of a positive law.
The nature of the offense and the amount of punishment prescribed, rather than its place in the statutes, determine whether it is to be placed among the serious or petty offenses, whether among crimes or misde meanors ; Schick v. U. S., 195 U. S. 65, 24 Sup. Ct. 826, 49 L. Ed. 99, 1 Ann. Cas. 585. The purchase or receipt for sale of oleomar garine which has not been branded or stamp ed according to law was held a misdemeanor, not a crime ; id.
A corrupt purpose, a wicked intent to do evil, is indispensable to conviction of a crime which is morally wrong. But no evil intent is essential to an offence which is a mere malum prohibitum. A simple purpose to do the act forbidden in violation of the statute is the only criminal intent requisite to a conviction of a statutory offense which is not malum in se; Armour Packing Co. v. U. S., 153 Fed. 1, 82 C. C. A. 135, 14 L. R. A. (N. S.) 400.