Critical Evaluation of the Arguments Regarding Level of Force and Fair Labelling Associated with Offence of Robbery

In the present society, robbery is evident as a broad crime and unusual offence that combines different wrongs, such as offences in against a person and against the property. It is broad due to the non-distinguishing of distinct levels of force which is applied against a person. This reveals that there is no differentiation in the commitment of offence has been provided for different acts. The current definition in regard to robbery conflicts is found not aligned with the fair labelling principle, which aims at ensuring that crimes should be defined on the basis of the reflection of severity and wrongfulness. In this context, the present paper aims at evaluating the offence of robbery in detail and examining the level of force which is required for someone to be convicted for this offence In order to evaluate it, the views presented by Garry Betts in the article Robbery and the principles of fair labelling which was published in 2019, have been taken in the paper. Using this, a critical evaluation of the concept of force and validity of fair labelling notion has been made in the paper. Based on this, a conclusion with respect to a statement in support/agree or against views have been made in the paper.

Identification of Issues

The main issue discussed in the article is associated with the need for fair labelling while convicting an individual with the offence of robbery. It has been argued that the main focus while convicting a person of robbery should be to analyse the type of wrongdoing committed by him/her on the basis of, which level of force needs to be used. The current issues associated with robbery involve lack in distinguishing the kinds of offending and wrongdoing and properly labelling the robberies to demonstrate the seriousness and nature of criminal behaviour. In general robbery, primary constitutes two unlawful acts including committing theft and utilisation of force during a solitary venture or transaction. It basically is a mixture of properly offence along with committing an offence against an individual. However, its maximum penalty, which is of life imprisonment is more than majority of the punishments that are given to individuals for committing constituent offences of assault and theft. The key reason that the maximum penalty is greater for robbery in comparison to theft is still unknown even though the law is mainly focused on preventing thefts in the end. The basic concern as expressed in the article is that fair labelling of robberies is still not present in the contemporary era as a result of, which an individual who would commit robbery without any force is not considered guilty as, which is quite unconvincing since theft can be committed without the use of force. This further raises questions regarding the definition of robbery because of the lack of fair treatment in case of different robberies clearly indicates that it is more than merely an assault or a theft.

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On the other side, the article has also highlighted the legal issues that arise when a person who has been a victim of a robbery is not offered justice just because the crime did not involve use of force. On the contrary, the person who has committed the offence of robbery but with the use of slight force or nudge is likely to be sentenced for life imprisonment as it is the maximum sentence for the robberies involving force. This level of difference clearly demonstrates that not only there is a need for fair labelling, but the law should decide the level of punishments according to the offence that is committed not always in regard to the level of force. It has further been argued that the narrowly labelled offences promote its level of seriousness to the public as well as the offender and also tend to raise a question mark in front of the court regarding their sentencing powers with regard to the seriousness of the criminal conduct.

The issue of unfair labelling in terms of robbery can result in misinterpretation among the public regarding the nature and seriousness of the lawbreaker’s conduct, and this can further make people believe that the conduct was much more severe than it actually was. The legal issues that have emerged in contemporary society with regard to robberies have majorly involved unfair labelling and considering only the offender’s perspective while labelling the wrongdoing. It has been highlighted in the article that unfair labelling can largely impact both the victim and offenders especially the latter who can get shunned by the society for committing a minor robbery that resulted in his/ her defamation. Fair labelling needs more focus by the law as it can help in ensuring that conduct and its nature is taken seriously, and justified conviction is given to every individual that commits the offence of robbery. Therefore, the article has mainly presented the legal issues that can be encountered or faced by people when the principle of fair labelling and different concepts of force are not taken into consideration by the law while convicting an offender of robbery.