In search of a crime
Following on from In search of no crime it seems reasonable to spend a little time peeling apart the crime itself.
After a little thought it was clear that a crime can be split into three sections:
- Intent
- Action
- Outcome
For example, because the driver is concentrating on something else (intent), a car might be wobbling down the road (action) and hits someone (outcome).
What’s interesting here is that the criminal justice system, ostensibly in the UK, works the other way:
- Detect outcome
- Detect action
- Ascertain intent
This is necessary because until we see an outcome from the crime, even if that’s just someone witnessing it, a crime cannot be judged to have occurred.
To understand the impact of of all of this it may be worth looking at taking the perspectives of the 3 groups in In search of no crime. Here’s a table showing what part each group plays in the 6 events from above:
| Perpetrator | Victim | Onlooker | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intent | yes | no | no |
| Action | yes | yes | no |
| Outcome | yes | yes | no |
| Detect outcome | no | no | yes |
| Detect action | no | no | yes |
| Ascertain intent | no | yes | yes |
How these different perspectives affect things is left to the reader.