LESSONS OF LAW

By Captain Jeff Mayne

 Not many people are familiar with the development of laws in America.  Here are some basics in Criminology.  Americanized criminal law originated from Greek Mosaic, and Roman law from English common law of King Henry II.  Criminal law was based originally from offenses against the king and country.  Today, there are four main sources of criminal law.  Criminal law is based on federal and state constitutions; court precedents, rulings and decisions; federal, state, and local agency administrative regulations; and statutory enactments by state and federal legislatures. 

Criminal law in America is handled by procedural rules, which dictate how the system operates and helps protect the accused constitutional rights.  So-called substantive rules identify specific criminal behavior.  Criminal laws major function in our society is to shape publics' attitudes, beliefs, and ideas about the issues that control our lives and protect members of society from behavior that attacks the fundamental moral values and behavior, which is unjust to society.  

There are two different basic crime models, which determine criminal acts. The Consensus Model determines criminal acts, which are interpreted by the majority of, people in a particular society all agreeing on the activities that should be illegal.  The second is the Conflict Model in which the dominant group or the group in power determines activities, which are to be labeled as deviant or criminal.

Members of society view crime in through different perspectives one being the labeling perspective.  The labeling perspective defines crime as the social significance, society places on a given act and the societal reaction caused by the act.  The labeling perspective determines crime as a status not a behavior.  Using this way to view crime, crime actually has five different views depending on the stage of the legal process it is being considered.  The stages include: The legislative process, creating the legal definitions of behavior and formulation of criminal law; Those who enforce the law, how the enforcers apply different law and make their determination of law; The prosecution and conviction stage, apply interpretations within the framework of the legal definitions created; The punishment stage, creating level of meaning for the crime.