What Are the Different Types of Crimes? — Transcript

What are the different types of crimes?

A crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state.

Crimes can be divided into four major categories.

Personal crimes are offenses against the person and will result in physical or mental harm to another person.

These include assault, battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping, homicide, and rape or other offenses of a sexual nature.

Property crimes do not necessarily involve harm to another person; they involve an interference with another person's right to use or enjoy their property.

These include larceny, robbery, burglary, arson, embezzlement, forgery, false pretenses, receipt of stolen goods.

Inchoate crimes means incomplete or the crimes that were begun but not completed.

These include attempt, solicitation, conspiracy.

Statutory crimes are violations of a specific state or federal statute and can involve either property offenses or personal offense.

These include alcohol-related crimes such as drunk driving and selling alcohol to a minor.

The different levels of seriousness for the crimes can be classified into felony and misdemeanor.

Felony are serious crimes such as murder, kidnapping, and robbery and carries a year or more in state prison.

Misdemeanor, on the other hand, are less serious crimes such as shoplifting or drunk driving.

And usually carries a fine and jail sentence of less than a year.

State laws may further divide the categories of crimes into subcategories.

For example, offenses against the person may be divided into the categories of violent crimes and non-violent crimes.

Some states also place sexual crimes in their own category.

These categories are also developed for the purpose of sentencing.

Crimes can also be divided according to criminal intent.

The major intent categories are general intent crimes and specific intent crimes.

Crimes are not easily defined and there are many different types and variations.

Remember, each state is different in how the law is written, how the behavior is regulated,

and the penalties that each crime potentially carries.

Some behavior may be prohibited in one state and not in others.

So it's important to check with a criminal defense lawyer in your state if you're facing criminal charges.

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