Seven Elements Of Crime Essay

447 Words2 Pages

I will be explaining through the seven elements of crime whether illegal drug use, prostitution, and gambling fit the elements (Bohm & Haley, 2011). The seven elements of the crime are harm, legality, actus reus, mens rea, causation, concurrence, and punishment.
Discuss in detail whether illegal drug use, prostitution, and gambling fit the seven elements of a crime from. Include in your discussion whether these three crimes should be considered mala in se or mala prohibita. The first element of the crime is harm (Bohm & Haley, 2011). Harm is an external consequence of a crime. There are questions at times if harm is present in what some consider victimless crimes such as gambling and some consider the moral fabric …show more content…

Mens rea is criminal intent or a guilty state of mind and is the mental aspect of the crime being committed. This is limited to intentional or purposeful action or in action and is not an accident. The fifth element of the crime is causation (Bohm & Haley, 2011). Causation is a casual relationship between the legally forbidden harm and the actus reus. What this is to prevent people from having a delay or threat of criminal charges the rest of their life. The sixth element of the crime is concurrence (Bohm & Haley, 2011). Concurrence is that the criminal conduct and intent must occur together. The seventh element of the crime is punishment (Bohm & Haley, 2011). Punishment is where there is a provision for punishment or a threat of punishment for a crime that has been committed. Without punishment, there would be no criminal laws. Therefore, I believe that illegal drug use, prostitution, and gambling fit all seven of the elements of a crime as described above (Bohm & Haley, 2011). These crimes are also characterized as mala prohibita due to the offenses are made illegal by laws and not by mala in se, they are crimes that are everywhere and have been crimes such as