Читать книгу Criminology For Dummies - Steven Briggs - Страница 35

IN THIS CHAPTER

Figuring out why some acts are illegal and others aren’t

Constructing a criminal law

Watching laws change as society changes

In Oregon, threatening to kill someone in the future is legal, but preventing a pregnant pig from lying down can be illegal. Seriously.

The good news is that if you choose to make a pregnant pig unhappy in Oregon, you’re breaking the law but not committing a crime. What?

For an activity to be criminal, it must carry the possibility of jail time, yet some illegal acts are only punished by a fine. (For example, messing with a pregnant pig won’t send you to jail — what a relief!)

In this chapter, I explain how laws are created and why they change over time. I also show you the essential elements of a criminal law, which are important to know because the way in which criminal laws are written largely determines whether they achieve their goals in the long run.