Good Essay About What Is Meant By The Phrase "Crimes Are Statutory Offenses"?

Business Law Assignment 3

Business Law Assignment 3

Common law considers a crime as an occurrence of evil intent resulting in evil doing. However, a different crime category has developed as a consequence of modern statutes. These crimes are independent of the mental element but consist purely of forbidden omissions or acts. In the creation of such an offense, criminal intent is not a prerequisite to justify a conviction. Motive and knowledge or ignorance of a criminal character are irrelevant and immaterial in matters of guilt. The only important aspect is whether the prohibited act occurred or the required act got omitted. It does not matter if the defendant’s act was in good faith, so long as the deed was within any criminal statute (Grundmeyer, Harrington, Hunter, & Wishard, n.d.).

Explain Criminal Intent.

For there to be a crime, a concurrence between the actus reus and criminal intent is required. Criminal intent is one of the three categories of mens rea and refers to the “guilty mind”. It involves a conscious decision of a party to inflict injury to another or deprive another of their rights. It is different from motive in that it is necessary for a conviction to be handed down. The reason why a court requires proof of criminal intent and an act or omission is to be able to distinguish accidentally occurring omissions or acts from those as a result of a person’s “guilty mind” (J. M. Scheb & J. M. Scheb II, 2009, p. 75).

Choose one of the Constitutional Safeguards and explain how it works.

One constitutional safeguard is the educational and cultural safeguard. It gives the State power to make special considerations to advance any and all socially and educationally disenfranchised class of citizens. The State can preserve seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in institutions of education such as engineering, technical and medical colleges. Article 29(1) provides that sections of citizens living in any part of India have the right to conserve their script, language, and culture. In addition, the States are required to make available instructional facilities in the native tongue of the children hailing from linguistic minority groups (Goswami, 2003, pp. 8-9).

Can a person be prosecuted twice for the same act? Explain fully all issues.

Under the American Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, it is prohibited to subject a person to a second prosecution for the same offense. It is referred to The Double Jeopardy Clause. It goes further also to say that it is illegal to punish someone twice for the same offense. Jeopardy occurs once a court accepts a plea of guilty that has been entered. In the case of jury trials, jeopardy occurs immediately after the selection and swearing in of the jury. However, a person may get retried in the event of a mistrial. Secondly, also in the event that that a defendant’s charges get dismissed or if a defendant wins a conviction appeal (Hall, 2011, p. 278).

What is RICO?

RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. It is a federal statute dealing with fraud; enacted to curb organized crime. The extent of the RICO Act has extended beyond traditional organized crime to include all businesses. A RICO violation must meet certain standards to be proved. These standards include the defendant to have received a pattern of money from a racketeering activity and invested it in an enterprise engaged in or affecting interstate commerce. The acts have to be two or more to develop a pattern for charges to be lodged. Other crimes included in the RICO list are kidnapping, murder, extortion, and drug sales (Hall, 2011, p. 143).

References

Goswani, B. (2003). Constitutional Safeguards for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes. Rawat Publications. Retrieved from http://www.ncsc.nic.in/files/ncsc/new6/260.pdf
Grundmeyer, D. L., Harrington, W. A., Hunter, D. A., & Wishard, B. (n.d.). Strict-Liability Statutory Offenses: CRIMINAL LAW. Retrieved from http://section520.org/amjurstrictliability.html
Hall, D. E. (Ed.). (2011). Criminal Law and Procedure (6th ed.). New York: Cengage Learning.
Scheb, J. M., & Scheb, J. M. II. (2008). Criminal Law (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.