| what is a crime? |
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What is a crime... and what is this concept of "criminalization"?
The way things are going in this industry, we see more and more about
“criminalization” of the commercial mariner’s conduct. What does that mean?
If you’ve already poked around, you’ve seen that we’ve touched upon that
issue with cases such as chief engineers prosecuted by the United States
Department of Justice for by-passing oily waste separators with “magic
pipes”. Please… don’t even think of doing that. Aside from the fact that it’s
wrong to hurt marine life, those officers go to jail and have their licenses
suspended. And for what? Maybe the cruise ship owner would have had
saved $20,000 or $30,000 annually by avoiding the costly use of the
separator. No self-respecting vessel operator encourages its personnel to
commit crimes.
To understand what ‘”criminalization” means, we have to understand what a
crime is. C’mon, we all know what a crime is! We’ve all heard of first degree
murder, manslaughter, assault & battery, aggravated assault, armed robbery,
possession of a handgun without a firearm permit, possession of marijuana,
driving while intoxicated, shoplifting, etc. Aside from serious felonies, there
are misdemeanors, which are crimes where the jail sentence is typically not
more than a year.
Any crime can be broken down into two basic elements. This is true for all
crimes, whether the crime consists of climbing a rooftop with a high powered
rifle to blow away a business rival at 100 yards or stealing a loaf of bread at
the local supermarket. A crime consists of a criminal act and a blameworthy
mental state. When those two things are coupled, we have a crime in the
eyes of the law. And for something to be criminalized means that it is treated
as a crime, rather than being treated as a civil code violation, i.e.
commencing construction on a house without obtaining a work permit from
your local department of buildings.
The way things are going in this industry, we see more and more about
“criminalization” of the commercial mariner’s conduct. What does that mean?
If you’ve already poked around, you’ve seen that we’ve touched upon that
issue with cases such as chief engineers prosecuted by the United States
Department of Justice for by-passing oily waste separators with “magic
pipes”. Please… don’t even think of doing that. Aside from the fact that it’s
wrong to hurt marine life, those officers go to jail and have their licenses
suspended. And for what? Maybe the cruise ship owner would have had
saved $20,000 or $30,000 annually by avoiding the costly use of the
separator. No self-respecting vessel operator encourages its personnel to
commit crimes.
To understand what ‘”criminalization” means, we have to understand what a
crime is. C’mon, we all know what a crime is! We’ve all heard of first degree
murder, manslaughter, assault & battery, aggravated assault, armed robbery,
possession of a handgun without a firearm permit, possession of marijuana,
driving while intoxicated, shoplifting, etc. Aside from serious felonies, there
are misdemeanors, which are crimes where the jail sentence is typically not
more than a year.
Any crime can be broken down into two basic elements. This is true for all
crimes, whether the crime consists of climbing a rooftop with a high powered
rifle to blow away a business rival at 100 yards or stealing a loaf of bread at
the local supermarket. A crime consists of a criminal act and a blameworthy
mental state. When those two things are coupled, we have a crime in the
eyes of the law. And for something to be criminalized means that it is treated
as a crime, rather than being treated as a civil code violation, i.e.
commencing construction on a house without obtaining a work permit from
your local department of buildings.
What is the most popular subject on television? Why it’s “crime”, of course! Turn
on your television and see what the most popular shows are about… homicide
investigations, crime scene investigations, televised coverage of murder trials,
etc. On the CSI shows, the worst crimes are murder. You can’t get much worse
than first degree murder as a felony. A typical story line might go something like
this. A body is found in a burned warehouse. The district attorney wants to
prosecute a criminal defendant for murder one. The autopsy reveals the murder
victim’s lungs didn’t contain soot. Using that piece of evidence, the criminal
investigators from the district attorneys office figure out that someone put a bullet
in the victim’s brain before laying him out on the warehouse floor and setting fire
to the place. How did the DA’s office build their criminal prosecution case for
murder? If the victim had been alive and breathing at the time of the fire, there
would have been soot in his lungs. Case closed! Understanding the anatomy of a
crime can help understand how society has moved towards a criminalization of
the conduct of the commercial mariner.
on your television and see what the most popular shows are about… homicide
investigations, crime scene investigations, televised coverage of murder trials,
etc. On the CSI shows, the worst crimes are murder. You can’t get much worse
than first degree murder as a felony. A typical story line might go something like
this. A body is found in a burned warehouse. The district attorney wants to
prosecute a criminal defendant for murder one. The autopsy reveals the murder
victim’s lungs didn’t contain soot. Using that piece of evidence, the criminal
investigators from the district attorneys office figure out that someone put a bullet
in the victim’s brain before laying him out on the warehouse floor and setting fire
to the place. How did the DA’s office build their criminal prosecution case for
murder? If the victim had been alive and breathing at the time of the fire, there
would have been soot in his lungs. Case closed! Understanding the anatomy of a
crime can help understand how society has moved towards a criminalization of
the conduct of the commercial mariner.