Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

CAUSES OF CRIME.

ANTI-SOCIAL ACTS.

TWO MAIN CATEGORIES.

THE INTERNATIONAL ASPECT.

(By HORACE WYNDHAM, Author of "Famous Trials Re-told," "Judicial Dramas," etc.)

Crime is as old as human society, and, unless our nature alters very much, it will last as long. The aetiology of the subject opens up a very wide field. In fact, an inexhaustible one. Some causes appear to be hereditary; others are certainly contributory. Poverty, illhealth, gambling, drink, overcrowding, and unemployment, etc., all play their parts; and "evil communications corrupt good manners." Adults still plead "the war"; and small boys plead "the pictures." Even the weather is blamed. Thus, an Italian criminologist has laid it down that a hot summer is provocative of bodily assaults, and a cold winter of attacks on property. Heat, too, is declared by him to cause irritability, and thus to stimulate vicious instincts. It has not, however, been seriousiy advanced that a low temperature has a contrary effect and induces marked phlegm. Crime, of course, is misconduct. Since a workable definition of conduct is "action in pursuit of ends," it follows that crime is action in pursuit of wrongful ends. The difficulty, however, is to determine what are "wrongful" ends, and what are not. This is a direction in which jurists themselves appear nnable to agree. A better definition of crime would perhaps be to say that it is "anti-social." A great deal of nonsense is talked (and written) about the existence of an "instinctive" criminal class. There is bo "instinctive" criminal class (except, perhaps, in magazine fiction) any more than there is an "instinctive" lawabiding one. At any rate, if there is. Scotland Yard has not yet heard of it. The burglar and the bishop, the policeman and the pickpocket, develop differently, it is true, but each comes into the world alike. Similarly, there is immense confusion of thought between acts that are "crimes" and acts that are "sins," that is, between illegal conduct and immoral conduct. The law has little to do with the latter, as it is evidenced by the stereotyped remark, "This is not a Court of Morals," which learned judges are so fond of making. Again, while an immoral act may be anti-Bocial, it is not necessarily criminal. Yet, a criminal act is nearly always an antisocial one. This ig why it is punished. Official Classification. Where the English code is concerned, crime at the present era falls into two main categories: (1) International, and (2) national. The first division includes anarchy, gun-running, piracy, and slavetrading. The second division covers a much* wider field; and also has various subdivisions, such as public and private; direct, and indirect; major, and minor. Among national offences which are both public and major are treason, stirring up disaffection among soldiers and sailors, and defrauding the revenue. Those which are public and minor include coining and stealing postal letters. Private, or individual, offences are either against the person or against Property, with murder and arson at the ead of the list. * Undeterred by the inherent difficulties of the subject, a classification of crime has been drawn up by the Home Office. It is not an ideal one, but, being "authoritative," it has to be accepted by the Courts. Under this scheme, all offences are held to fall into one of the six following divisions:— (1) Offences against the person; (2) offences against property with violence; (3) offences against property without Violence; (4) malicious injuries to property; (5) offences against the currency, including forgery; and (6) other •uences. The first of these somewhat arbitrary divisions covers r field that ranges from aurder to bigauiy; in the second we Mid officially scheduled blackmail and burglary; in the third are embezzlement •ad tie theft of postal packets; in the rourth wo have arson and the wilful destruction of crops; and in the fifth »re coining and forgery. The last division, "Other offences," cuts a wide swath ■a in its meshes are high treason, blasphemy, slave trading, poaching, keeping » disorderly house, and attempting to commit suicide. Thus a niche of some description for every possible form of turpitude. yaripus anomalies are presented by this division of offences, into such as *r« (1) indictable before a jury, and (2) non-indictable, and disposed of sumttarily by a magistrate. Thus, a recalcitrant curate can be indicted for departing from the rubric, and dealt with Jy a judge and jury, but defiance of ♦he sanitary authorities and the endangering of health on this account is regarded as a trivial breach, and settled by summons 1n a police court. But, however carefully drawn up, classification inevitably leads to an immense amormt of subdivision, and also to confusion. Felonies and Misdemeanours. In proportion to its gravity (from an official and coded standpoint) every offence is either a treason, a felony, or a misdemeanour. Treason is a somewhat general term for any act that theatens the safety of the country of 'which the offender is a citizen. It incudes encompassing the death of the Sovereign or heir to the Crown, levying war against the State, or joining the State's enemies, and is dealt with by a special procedure. In the "good old . days" the most barbarous punishments were incurred on this account, and a convicted traitor was not merely hanged but was also "drawn and quartered." « was not until 1870 that the latter penalty was abolished. Except in time of war, a prosecution for treason is of very rare occurrence in England. Felony was originally a term applicable to any treacherous act of a vassal towards his master. It is now applied to the majority of serious offences, and a consequence of conviction for felony is that an order to pay the costs of the prosecution may be added to any fther punishment imposed. To enter into an agreement not to prosecute a felon i B to "compound" a felony, and in itself becomes a misdemeanour, as also does neglect to give information of a felony. There is no very clear or logical distinction between a felony and a misdemeanour. Tn practice, however, a demeanour is an act that is regarded as 'ess serious than a felony, and it does »ot necessarily involve forfeiture of cash or poods on conviction. A lighter punishment, too, is incurred for a nus-

demeanour than for a felony. Bigamy meanour as also is masquerading in ?etn too 1 ' 0 ™ °K forgill = a ™ * T 7 * be arrest *d without a warrant, and admittance to bail is not a matter of right, as it is in a uTiademeanour, but of magisterial <W uJ™ me V hange ' a ? d P enal systems with new off * \ S ' Wi V h altered new offences have been added, so have tion ~t if 6n dr °PP ed - Thus emigration which was once a serious breach nenaltv t W ' V° W and a penalty is no longer incurred for not listening to a sermon on Sundavs. Yet 117, S A eTn were formerly exacted on this account. Similarly, prolnt rinS K nd USUry have now almost come to be regarded as ordinary commercial transactions, and their practitioners are dubbed "capitalists"

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19281103.2.165.30

Bibliographic details

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 261, 3 November 1928, Page 7 (Supplement)

Word Count
1,186

CAUSES OF CRIME. Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 261, 3 November 1928, Page 7 (Supplement)

CAUSES OF CRIME. Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 261, 3 November 1928, Page 7 (Supplement)