Natural Crime and Legal Crime

In the following paper, I will attempt to differentiate between Natural Crime and Legal Crime. Understanding what each consists of is important for anyone involved in the Criminal Justice system. Natural Crime is a crime against the basic laws of nature or personal crimes that may or may not be against the law of the land. "Further, a natural law view asserts that if a person, society, or government does not conform to the laws of nature, he or she-or they, if that be the case-will not function effectively and ultimately will be harmed and destroyed." (Sheldon, 2001) Legal Crime is a crime that occurs and is purely a legal crime, something that while illegal will not necessarily disrupt the flow of nature. The differences in these two crime types are at times hazy given the nature of the relationship between money and human need in the modern world. In many cases if one loses their money, they could as a result suffer grievous personal injury. One of our benchmarks for crimes and definitions of crime in the United States is the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations has a list of major crimes consisting of both thefts and violent crimes. "Violent Crime: Violent Gangs, Bank Robberies, Murder for Hire
Major Thefts: Art Theft, Cargo Theft, Copper Theft, Jewelry and Gems, Organized Retail Theft and Vehicle Theft. Crimes against Children, Indian Country Crime, and Cruise Ship Crime" (U.S. Department of Justice, 2009)
Out of these crimes the following could be termed as natural crimes or mala in se (wrong in itself.) Violent gangs cause personal harm to other humans, Bank Robbery if personal injury is committed during the act, Murder for hire causes severe personal harm to other humans, Crimes against children also can be seen as causing extreme personal harm against other humans. Before the FDIC or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was formed and legislation regarding the amounts ensured passed bank robbery directly affected the persons who deposited their money in that bank, this could cause the persons who lost their money to lose their homes, and more. The following crimes would be under the legal crimes or mala prohibita (wrong only because law prohibits it.) Bank Robberies (unless personal injury is committed), Art Theft, Cargo Theft, Copper Theft, Jewelry and Gem theft, Organized retail theft, Cruise Ship crime, and Indian Country crime (which is under Federal Jurisdiction due to the separate nature of the reservations and the United State per most treaties.) Obviously, there are some portions of the crimes committed that could be seen as both due to the nature of the relationship between modern man and their valuables, money, jewelry etc. Due to the somewhat convoluted nature of these definitions, one should be careful in presenting an opinion on these crimes.

Legal scholars have had differing opinions concerning the definitions of mala prohibita and mala in se for many years. "Efforts to define mala in se, on the other hand, haveresulted in vague, often conflicting meanings that leave theanalyst with little but examples to serve as definitions." (Davis, 2006) While defining mala prohibita can be seen as far easier based on its legal, black and white definitions. The problem I see in these two definitions is that many times what is seen as mala in se may also be seen as mala prohibita simply based on the current laws of the land. According to Mark Davis "Asa result, some have argued that the distinctions mala in seand mala prohibita be abandoned altogether. If one examinesmala in se from an equity theoretical viewpoint, incorporatingthe concepts of intent and harm, it may be possible to arriveat a more understandable and useful concept." Personally, I would tend to agree with these that argue for the abandonment of the distinctions, by retaining the distinctions we are holding the criminal justice system back and not allowing it to move forward into a more equitable light based on the modernization of humankind. While having these definitions does provide us with a somewhat firm base for distinction, we can see that there are some problems as well.

In conclusion, while the following is my opinion based on the previously mentioned facts and definitions I must be clear in that my opinion is just that. I chose the separate definitions of mala in seand mala prohibita for the separately listed Federal Bureau of Investigations crimes based on what I saw as differences in the crimes. My reasoning was based on direct physical injury versus monetary injury. Understanding of course that monetary injury could by default cause physical injury to someone means that in some or all of these cases one could define them with both mala in seand mala prohibita. It is more important than to understand what makes up both mala in seand mala prohibita and when involved in the adjudication of crime, or the enforcement of the law one should be aware that there are many ways to approach every crime type. As Criminal Justice professional, it is my duty to be aware of this and to address every crime (the persona involved) differently based on the potential for change, all the while applying the written law equally and unilaterally in every case. In many cases, one may review the actions of the jury and while the actual actions (bank robbery, murder etc.) may remain the same, the motives and results differ widely. It is also my opinion that these terms mala in seand mala prohibita should be taken away and that we should at least try to move the Justice System forward from its current base (Old English Law- ) especially being that this law in its base form is over 400 years old.

References:

Davis, Mark (2006). Crimes Mala in Se: An Equity-Based Definition .

Criminal Justice Policy Review, Vol. 17, No. 3,

Sheldon, Garrett Ward. "natural law."Encyclopedia of Political Thought. New York:

Facts On File, Inc., 2001. Modern World History Online. Facts On File,

U.S. Department of Justice, (2009). Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Retrieved May 24, 2009, from Major Thefts & Violent Crimes Web site