University:
Central Arizona College
Course:
AJS225 | Criminology
Academic year:

2023
Views:

152

Pages:

2
Author:

Lucas H.

Crime definitions Juridical: derived from the latin word crimen which means judgement, acusation and defence meaning that a crime is any action that is prohibited by law - Explains crime as an illegal action committed by an individual who can be both blamed and punished by authorities Crime consists of the following elements that must be proven in Court Actus reus: the guilty action is the physical element of the crime Mens rea: the guilty mind is the mental element involved in deciding to commit a crime aka the intent a mental decision has to be followed by an action before it can be Seen as a crime *The Mens rea and actus rea have to occur together ta form the body of the crime known as the corpus delicti Juridical perspective ÷ 2 parts Statutory crime: crimes that have been codified (recorded) and published in statutes of law/ legislation these statutes are printed in books called the Government Gazettes eg: National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 linked to AARTO-aim to make food safer and punish offenders Common law crime: Crimes such as murder, theft and robbery that have not been codified or published by the government in any statutes of law or Government Gazettes -These acts have been considered crimes for centuries and are identified and defined by the Roman-Dutch legal system which is the source of SA common law -Common law is the set of laws not made by Parliment or any level of government