Text 2. Classification of Crimes

The decision of how a crime should be classified rests with the individual jurisdiction. Each country has developed its own body of criminal law and consequently determines its own penalties for different crimes.

Over the years, crimes have been grouped by severity, some common categorical terms being felonies and misdemeanors (the USA and previously the UK), indictable [ in ´daitəbl ] offences and summary offences (the UK). Felony denotes one of the two classes of crimes at common law, felonies being serious crimes and misdemeanors being minor crimes. Historically, a felony was any offence that involved either the death penalty or a forfeiture of the felon`s property. The difference between these terms is determined solely by the possible punishments: in most American states today, a felony can be punished by death or by imprisonment for a year or more, while a misdemeanoris punished by less than one year`s imprisonment.

In the UKcrimes are classified into summary offences (non-indictable)and indictable offences. The summary offences are also known as minor crimes such as motoring offences and the regulation of behaviour; they are always tried by Magistrates’ courts without a jury.

The indictable or more serious crimes which are triable in the Crown Court by jury may be divided further into several categories, including:

- crimes against the person (murder, manslaughter, assault, battery, homicide, abduction and libel);

- property crimes (theft, robbery, burglary, blackmail, forgery);

- sexual offences (buggery, bigamy, rape, indecency);

- political offences (treason, terrorism, sedition, riot);

- offences against justice (assisting an offender, perjury, contempt of court);

- motoring offences (careless driving, drunken driving, driving without a license or insurance);

- public order offences which lead to the destruction of society: (obstruction to the police, obscenity, nuisance, extortion, bribery).