The Mythology Of Crime And Criminal Justice: Contributing Factors Of Crime

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between government by law and arbitrary or dictatorial government.
Under common law, a crime was generally classified as treason, felony,
or misdemeanor, but many offenses could not be defined exactly, and the rule was
adopted that any immoral act tending to the prejudice of the community was, per
se, a crime, and punishable by the courts. Crimes are now usually classified as
mala in se, which includes acts, such as murder, so offensive to morals as to be
obviously criminal; and mala prohibita, which are violations of specific
regulatory statutes, such as traffic violations, that ordinarily would not be
punishable in the absence of statutory enactments prohibiting the commission of
such acts. In most cases, crimes, including treason, that are mala in se are
called felonies and are punished more severely than those that are mala
prohibita, most of the latter falling into the category of misdemeanors.
Nearly everyone in America has been touched by crime in one way ...

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