LAW ENFORCEMENT, SOCIAL NORMS, AND CRIME...

There is a relationship between the Law, Law Enforcement Officers, and Crime; the Law was created to ward off chaos in order to insure societies would grow into civilizations, 

LEOs evolved into the main force allowed to protect the interests established for that growth through enforcement of a series of norms set in place to be followed by all, and Crime is the act of going against the Law and the ideals surrounding the norms set forth in societies goal oriented for growth.

In order for a Crime to have occurred it has been established that the action or activities in question have to be directly in violation of a set Law in place. Also, the action or activities in question has to be intentionally done for the purpose of violating the Law. These behaviors are split between two elements known as “Intent” and “Motive”. 

When it comes to Intent the general understanding is to commit a crime an individual has to have the mental understanding and capacity to understand that the action committed is in violation of an established Law. 

Motive on the other hand is more like the reason behind the commission of the crime, it is normally broken down into three areas; Biological, Environmental, and Social. These two elements together with the evidence that an action in violation of the Law occurred is what is known as a Crime.

Crimes don’t always have victims, sometimes they are categorized as actions against society. These are normally like the possession of illegal substances, or drinking out in the public type charges. They are serious charges, however at their current level have not impacted anyone and only hurts society as a whole. Crimes that do have victims are more commonly known because they directly influence or causes damage to someone else’s livelihood and status in society. These can be violent or non-violent crimes such as Assault and Battery, Robbery, Theft, etc. as long as it impacts another individual directly it is not a victim-less crime in nature. 

Knowing that information, it is impossible for a crime to be committed without intent. There can be a lack of Motive, but not intent. The purpose of Law enforcement is to detect the activities or actions that are in violation of the establish Laws in place, charge the person(s) with the violation, and then prove intent, motive (if present), and that the action or activity occurred in court. 

Upon finding that a person(s) have committed a crime based off the presentation of evidence in court proves that person through their actions went against the social norms established to keep society from chaos and thus is eligible for some sort of punishment or program to assist with compliance. Punishment is usually in the form of fines, community service, jail time, or some sort established program goal oriented at rehabilitation in the eyes of society.

Now how effective these are a whole different discussion all in itself and have been argued throughout the entirety of modern society. This topic is always an on-going discussion that can be argued forever because people feel differently from one another, hence why I am stopping here…

Law Enforcement, Social Norms, and Crimes…