Crime statistics compiled by the FBI in its yearly crime index show what many in the law enforcement field consider to be an encouraging trend. From 1990 to 1995, the crime rate declined steadily in every category: murders, rapes, assaults, robberies,...

The U.S. Department of Justice defines crime as all behaviors and acts for which society provides formally approved punishments. Written law, both federal and state, defines which behavior is criminal and which is not. Some behaviors—murder,...

The connection between criminal activity and the use of drugs and alcohol has long been an issue in American society. Even before federal laws were passed in 1914 to control narcotics and other drugs, observers claimed that drug use and criminal...

The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that certain population groups—the poor, younger persons, males, African-Americans, Hispanics, and residents of inner cities—are more likely to be victimized and are more vulnerable to...

Crimes are commissions of acts that are publicly proscribed or the omissions of duties that thereby make offenders liable to legal punishment. More colloquially, a crime is any grave offense, particularly against morality, and thus something...

the intentional commission of an act usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and specifically defined, prohibited, and punishable under criminal law. Most countries have enacted a criminal code in which all of the criminal law can be found, though...

Crime cries out for punishment. (Filipino) Crime does not pay. (Mexican) Crime is always fearful. (Roman) Crime often falls back upon its author’s head. (Roman) Crime puts those on an equal footing whom it defiles. (Roman) Crime, when it...

the intentional commission of an act usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and specifically defined, prohibited, and punishable under criminal law. Crimes in the common-law tradition were originally defined primarily by judicial decision. Most...

Crime is the breach of a rule or law for which a punishment may ultimately be prescribed by some governing authority or force. The word crime originates from the Latin crimen (genitive criminis), from the Latin root cernÅ and Greek κρινω = "I...