Understanding Natural And Legal Crimes

Understanding Natural and Legal Crime

Understanding Natural and Legal Crime

To fully understand the distinctions of crime, one would need to know some of the different categories that crime falls under. In this paper, the two categories that will be discussed are natural and legal crime. Some areas to be covered will be the distinction between the two and how the FBI categorizes crimes in their crime index.

A natural crime also can be referred to as a mala in se crime, are typically the more heinous of the two. Society, as a whole, views these crimes as morally wrong. These types of crimes generally will injure or end the life of an individual. An example would be murder. Although there is a law that prohibits murder by law, murder is also universally recognized by society as inherently wrong by nature. With mala in se crimes, one would not necessarily have to cite a law to prove the wrongness (Mojo Law, 2007).

Legal crime, also known a mala prohibita crimes, are simply wrong because there is a law that says it is. There does not seem to be the moral outrage associated with these types of crimes. These crimes will not always infringe on the individuals safety and or life. A few examples would be public intoxication, or carrying of a concealed weapon. Legal crimes are usually minor infractions or misdemeanors. Legal crimes seem to be put in place in order to maintain a certain behavior out of society (Mojo Law, 2007).

The FBI keeps a record of all crimes that are reported. The crime index is used to watch the rise and fall of crimes reported to law enforcement. Crimes are separated into violent crimes (natural) and property crimes (legal). The crimes listed are usually the most commonly reported and the most serious (FBI, 2002)

The violent crimes include murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. These crimes are considered violent crimes due to the fact that force or the threat of force comes into play (FBI, 2002). Violent crimes would fall under the natural crime category because of the lack of morals it takes to commit these crimes.

Murder and non-negligent manslaughter is defined as the willfully taking of someone’s life (FBI, 2002). Murder is considered wrong in itself and although there is a law prohibiting it, one would feel that murder is wrong in itself. That is the key to classify murder as a mala in se crime.

According to the crime index forcible rape is “the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will” (FBI, 2002). Rape would fall under the category of a natural crime due to the fact that society has determined it as a moral outrage. This is violent crime that induces fear and lack of security in any woman who has been a victim to this crime.

Robbery can be defined as that taking of someone’s property through force or by putting the victim in fear (FBI, 2002). This crime is inherently wrong due to the fact that nobody should be a victim to the fear and violence in order to keep what is rightfully theirs. So, again, this crime would fall in the natural crime category.

The last mala in se crime listed in the crime index would be aggravated assault. This can be defined as a violent attack of another person with the intent to inflict bodily harm. This type of assault would usually include a weapon or at least the threat of one (FBI, 2002). If this crime is effectively pulled off by the perpetrator then the victim could possibly be severely injured and could result in multiple issues ranging from security issues to not being able to perform in life the way he or she was able to prior to the attack.

Property crimes would fall into the legal crime category. This type of crime could also be referred to as mala prohibita.