Definition of CRIME: an act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law

and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law; especially : a gross violation of law. Paul Tappan (1960: 10) has defined crime as "an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law committed without defenses or justification and sanctioned by the state for punishment as a felony or a misdemeanor". Six elements as under are important in this definition: 1. The act should be actually committed or it should be an omission of a legal duty 2. The act must be voluntary and committed when the actor has control over his actions. 3. The act should be intentional, whether the intent is general or specific 4. The act should be a violation of a criminal law, as distinct from a non-criminal law or civil and administrative law 5. The act should be committed without defence or justification. 6. The act should be sanctioned by the state as a felony or a misdemeanor. Hall Jerome (General Principles of Criminal Law, 1947: 8-18) has defined crime as "legally forbidden and intentional action which has a harmful impact on social interests, which has a criminal intent, and which has legally-prescribed punishment for it." According to him, no action is to be viewed as crime unless it has following seven characteristics: (1) The behaviour must be harmful in terms of its impact on social interests. The mere intention of causing harm is not crime unless it is actually committed. (2) The harm which occurs must be legally forbidden. (3) The act which brings harmful consequences must be intentional. (4) The act, to affect the harm, must have deliberate motivation. An insane person causing harm does not commit a crime, for the necessary intention is not present.

(5) There must be a fusion of criminal intent and conduct. A maid-servant who regularly enters a house to clean utensils, if commits a theft therein, cannot be prosecuted as a trespasser; she can only be convicted for committing a theft. (6) There must be a 'causal' relation between the legally-forbidden harm and the act/conduct. When a teacher slaps a child and his ear-nerve is accidentally ruptured, and he later dies, we are treading a slippery terrain. The relationship between conduct and harm (death) is not so clear in a situation of this kind. (7) There must be legally prescribed punishment for the harmful conduct. The two main functions of criminal law are; To protect and to punish. What Are the Elements of a Crime? Basic Elements Crimes (except for strict liability crimes) have two basic elements: the guilty mind and the guilty act. The technical terms for these elements are their Latin names: mens rea meaning guilty mind and actus reus meaning the thing done. Generally, a crime is committed when a person commits a guilty act accompanied by a guilty mind. Specific Elements Crimes also have specific elements that are contained in the definitions of a crime. For example, a murder is an intentional killing of a human being. The elements are that the accused must have (1) purposely or knowingly (2) caused a death (3) of a human being. To obtain a conviction, the state must prove all of the elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Mental state (Mens rea)[edit]

Main article: Mens rea Mens rea refers to the crime's mental elements of the defendant's intent. This is a necessary elementthat is, the criminal act must be voluntary or purposeful.

Mens rea is the mental intention (mental fault), or the defendant's state of mind at the time of the offense, sometimes called the guilty mind. It stems from the ancient maxim of obscure origin, "actus reus non facit reum nisi mens sit reas" that is translated as "the act is not guilty unless the mind is guilty."[3] For example, the mens rea of aggravated battery is the intention to do serious bodily harm. Mens rea is almost always a necessary component in order to prove that a criminal act has been committed.[1][2] Mens rea varies depending on the offense. For murder, the mental element requires the defendant acted with "malice aforethought". Others may require proof the act was committed with such mental elements such as "knowingly" or "willfulness" or "recklessness". Arson requires an intent to commit a forbidden act, while others such as murder require an intent to produce a forbidden result. Motive, the reason the act was committed, is not the same as mens rea and the law is not concerned with motive.[1] Although most legal systems recognize the importance of the guilty mind, or mens rea, exactly what is meant by this concept varies. The American Law Institute's Model Penal Code has reduced the mental states to four. In general, guilt can be attributed to an individual who acts "purposely," "knowingly," "recklessly," or "negligently." Together or in combination, these four attributes seem basically effective in dealing with most of the common mens rea issues Conduct (Actus reus)[edit]

Main article: Actus reus All crimes require actus reus. That is, a criminal act or an unlawful omission of an act, must have occurred. A person cannot be punished for thinking criminal thoughts. This element is based on the problem of standards of proof. How can another person's thoughts be determined and how can criminal thoughts be differentiated from idle thoughts? Further, the law's purview is not to punish criminal ideas but to punish those who act upon those ideas voluntarily. [5]

Unlike thoughts, words can be considered acts in criminal law. For example, threats, perjury, conspiracy, and solicitation are offenses in which words can constitute the element of actus reus. The omission of an act can also constitute the basis for criminal liability. [1] Concurrence[edit]

Main article: Concurrence In general, mens rea and actus reus must occur at the same timethat is, the criminal intent must precede or coexist with the criminal act, or in some way activate the act. The necessary mens rea may not continually be present until the forbidden act is committed, as long as it activated the conduct that produced the criminal act. However, for criminal liability to occur, there must be either overt and voluntary action or a failure to act when physically able as required by statute or law. [5] Causation[edit]

Main article: Causation (law) Many crimes include an element that actual harm must occurin other words, causation must be proved. For example, homicide requires a killing, aggravated battery requires serious bodily injury and without those respective outcomes, those respective crimes would not be committed. A causal relationship between conduct and result is demonstrated if the act would not have happened without direct participation of the offender.[5] Causation is complex to prove. The act may be a "necessary but not sufficient" cause of the criminal harm. Intervening events may have occurred in between the act and the result. Therefore, the cause of the act and the forbidden result must be "proximate", or near in time.[1]

The most widely used classification into criminal law is based on punishment, misdemeanor and felony. Another classification is based on whether a crime is evil(malum in se), meaning it is immoral in nature. An example would be battery. Or it instead of being classified as malum in se would be classified as a crime(malum prohibita). An example of that would be speeding The seven principles of western criminal law was proposed by Jerome Hall in 1947. They include 1)Legality, 2)Actus Reus, 3)Causation, 4)Harm, 5)Concurrence, 6)Mens Rea and 7)Punishment. All principles must be proven in order to convict a defendant.