Difference between Crime and Misdemeanor

Every society has its regulations, even primitive communities, they have a kind of moral and ethical code that regulates the behavior of the individuals that belong to it, so that their coexistence is peaceful.

For this reason, today, each region has its laws that establish the norm, which if not complied with, carry sanctions by government entities, to citizens who commit criminal or criminal acts, thus affecting the people of their community, physically or psychologically or their property and belongings. But both crime and crime have differences between them, although both are punishable acts for society.

What is a Crime?

A crime is a voluntary act not accepted by society, in which the physical integrity of a person is violated or a murder is committed. Whoever commits a crime is considered a criminal, and this commits an act penalized by society, in which it sues the bodies that are responsible for justice, a punishment or sanction for those who incurred this serious offense.

Each country contains within its legislation the judicial bodies that are responsible for applying the sanction to those who commit a crime, according to what is established by the laws of the region and the magnitude of the act.

The International Criminal Court points out that there are several types of crimes that are imprescriptible, that is, no matter what time passes, they must be tried by a Criminal Trial. Among them are:

Murder, genocide, extermination, torture, mutilation.
Slavery, human trafficking, sexual abuse such as rape, prostitution, pregnancy and forced sterilization.
Deprivation of liberty, with limited access to food, medicine and minimum sanitary conditions.
Persecution, deportation, disappearance, kidnapping or forced transfer to a population due to their beliefs, ideological positions, races, ethnic groups, gender.

It is also considered a crime to cyber acts of illegal practice, such as child pornography, violation of privacy, information theft, dissemination of unauthorized content. Likewise, organized crime is the grouping of three or more people who establish a functional structure to commit criminal acts that financially or materially benefit its members.

What is a Crime?

Any behavior that is contrary to the provisions of the Law, whether conscious, by omission, error or carelessness, is considered a crime. The legal norm establishes the acts that are considered as crimes for a certain region, being punished with fines, community work or deprivation of liberty in penitentiary centers, depending on the transgression committed.

The conception of a crime can change over time, and it is that it adapts to the norms, customs and beliefs of society, so that there is a harmonious and peaceful coexistence among the inhabitants of a population.

The elements that surround a crime are those that contribute to determining the magnitude of the sanction that must be imposed, and that is that not all of them are classified with the same severity, according to the punishability of the act according to the penal code of each region. Some of the elements of the crimes are:

Action or inaction: related to the act committed or the refrain from doing something, which caused harm to others.
Typicity: adequacy of the facts to the guidelines of the criminal code to be prosecuted.
Legality: pursues solutions that favor human and political rights.
Degree of guilt: intention to have committed the crime.
Accountability: ability to be punished, conditioned by the mental health and maturity of the person who commits the crime.
Punishability: possibility of compliance with the sanction.

There is a great variety of classification of the crime that varies from the angle from which the act is seen:

Due to guilt: intentional (premeditated act), culpable or reckless (act due to carelessness or complicity), preterintentional (uncontrolled action that ends in a crime).
For the action committed: commission (own hand), omission (allowed to happen), own or improper omission (omit the rule).
For the offender: special crime (committed by an authority or person in a privileged position), common crime (any citizen).
For the damage caused: injury (damage to people or property), danger (exposure to possible damage to people or property), result (consequences of an act).