013 crime and society

The protection is closely related to a crime prevention.

The way how to control or cut down the criminality is based on the threat of punishment as a deterrent and is executed by the state. Its effectuality is also controlled by the state.

Punishment

The crime is any culpable action or omission prohibited by law and punished by state. This process should be unambiguous and based on immutable rules. At the beginning there is an identification of a criminal behaviour, then an accusation and a trial where the accused person is found guilty or innocent.

The intention underlying the penal system is to deter future wrongdoing of the defendant if he is convicted. The punishment is supposed to demonstrate the unfortunate consequence that will follow any decision to break the law. It means the punishment is also a warning to other potential wrongdoers.

Punishments can be divided into two categories:

• socio-economical punishments:

  • fines or loss of income

  • confiscation

  • demotion, suspension or expulsion

  • restriction or loss of civic and other right, in the extreme even civil death

• physical punishments - corporal punishment :

  • amputation or castration (legality of these varies from country to country)

  • custodial sentences include imprisonment

  • hard labor

  • banishment

  • capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment is also called the death penalty and it is often the subject of controversy. In the countries in which it is practiced, there are often rival campaigns both to have it abolished and to have it retained, while in abolitionist nations some support is reintroduced.

The opponents to the death penatly commonly argue that it is an ineffective deterrent, that may lead to the irreversible failure of justice, or that it violates the criminal's right to life.

Supporters of the death penalty state that it does deter crimes, saves innocent lives by preventing future murders, and that the death penalty is a moral imperative since allowing murderers to live while the victims cannot, is a great injustice.

Statistical studies have failed to show which of the arguments is true.

accusation = obvinění, obžaloba

administration of justice = výkon spravedlnosti

arson = žhářství

assault = přepadení

banishment = vyhoštění

breaches of contract = nedodržení smlouvy

capital punishment = trest smrti

civil death = ztráta občanských práv

civil law = občanské právo

corporal punishment = tělesný trest

criminal law = trestní právo

culpable = provinilý, vinný

custodial sentence = vazba

defendant = obžalovaný

demotion = degradace

deterrent = od /zastrašující prostředek

expulsion = vyloučení

felony = těžký, hrdelní zločin

fraud = podvod

gain = získat, zajistit si

hard labor = nucené práce

homicide = zabití

indictable offence = závažný trestný čin

infraction = přestupek

larceny = krádež

misdemeanor = méně závažný trestný čin

offence = porušení zákona, trestný čin

omission = opomenutí

property = majetek

public administration = veřejná správa