Criminal law coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Criminal law - Coursework Example For instance, the offender may have been stopped by a police officer who arrived before the completion of the criminal act. A complete, but imperfect attempt occurs when the offender carries out all the actions that he had planned out to do, but fails to attain the desired end result. An example here is the attempt to murder a victim, where the offender stabs them with a knife and leaves them to die, but they fail to – after being saved or taken to hospital (Hasnas, 13). The two rationales used in determining or making inferences from an attempt crime include the following: Analyzing the dangerous nature of the acts, and evaluating the dangerousness of the defender. In focusing on the dangerous acts, attention is placed on how close the defendant came, towards the completion of the attempted crime, and this move is aimed at averting the danger that may result from the dangerous ways of the defendant. When the focus is on the dangerous nature of the defendant, attention is plac ed on determining how the defendant has fully developed their criminal intent, and this move is aimed at neutralizing the dangerous conduct. From a legal principle’s perspective, the defendant is considered innocent, until it has been proven that they are guilty of the attempt. The guilty or the innocent status of the defendant is determined by the prosecution team, and not the defendant or the complainant. An example here is the case of a woman who tries to kill the husband with a knife, but the husband escaped the attempt after receiving a cut. In this case, the prosecution must decide whether to charge her for domestic violence or attempted murder, as she cannot be penalized twice for the crime (Fletcher, 149–151). Q 2. Discuss the broken windows theory and provide examples. What has the research shown about the validity of the theory? The broken windows theory is a criminal basis explanation model, which suggests that a society or a part of society which seems lawl ess ends up becoming a breeding ground for lawlessness and crime. The theory builds its arguments on the basis of social cohesion, and has influenced legal practice since the 1980s. The specific claim portrayed by this theory is that – the cases of neighborhoods that look disordered, unfriendly and broken down – tend to nurture the development of crime and delinquent behavior. The theory, further, suggests that a society that lacks a sense of mutual interest and social cohesion will be faced by an increasing level of criminality. The basis of the central theme of the theory is that the prevalence of disharmony and unfriendliness push the members of society into developing thinking habits – of believing that order, fairness and wrong acts do not matter, and that no one cares. The nurture into incivility leads to the development of incivility among the members of the society, causing them to adjust, into fitting into the uncivilized society. As an example, is the case of a stateless society, where conflict resolution models are not present: in such a society, a person who offends another is not punished, therefore the victim is left to decide whether to revenge the offense or not. Another example is the tendency of children brought up in violence filled homes, as they grow up to become violent, because they adjust and develop the tendencies of violent behavior (Gault & Silver, 240-243). Research in verifying the broken windows