Mala prohibita crimes
Mala prohibita is the singular name for malum prohibitum. This term is used and applied to signify any action or crime that is considered strictly criminalized or wrong by statutory law and statute. This phrase mala prohibita is Latin, and can there’re being translated to “wrong because it is prohibited” (Mojo Law, 2007). The class of prohibita crime is usually contrasted with different crime considered as mala in se which are usually taken openly from common law system of the Latin.
Mala prohibita crimes are usually referred to as those crimes whose punishment is not severe or serious such as misdemeanors or minor infractions (WiseGeek,2003). However, the uniqueness and different characteristics of these crimes cannot be based on the severity of the punishment but on the criminalization by the stature with the aim of regulating the society’s general behavior (Travest, 1995). This distinguishing characteristic caters for what individuals feels is morally wrong and hence require no other further or outside reason for justifying how wrong the act is. Mala prohibita crimes are therefore those crimes which harm visibly and directly other people as well as harming their properties and hence do not include crimes which do not visibly and directly harm other persons and their property. Examples of Mala prohibitum include; driving while drunk, drug abuse, be found carrying concealed weapons, public intoxication, gambling, and using a handicapped zone to make parking among others.
There is usually not enough or adequate weight placed on mala prohibita crimes in the contemporary courts. At times, these crimes are usually very strongly established in U.S. Essentially, most of the crimes identified in the old British common law system; one of the major system used in U.S to form the foundation of criminal law-are usually recognized as mala prohibitum crimes. Before, the punishment for these crimes was uniform regardless of the extent of the crime committed-death. However, practices and opinions in the society has changed a lot and there are no more standard punishment for these types of crime.
According to my opinion, the classification used to define the term mala prohibita, i.e. “bad in itself” should be used to accord punishment differently according to how bad the case is. It is therefore worth noting that some crimes are very serious while others are not very serious although they still harm individual or/and their property. In the court, a crime should therefore first be considered if it’s wrong by statutory legislation or if the crime is wrong in itself. , Additionally, the court applies the history of the defendant, intentions involved on the defendant’s actions as well as basing on whether the act was felony or misdemeanor including the degree of the crime. For instance, I would prefer death punishment to be imposed on some serious mala prohibita crimes such as driving while drunk causing fatal and death accidents of the victims involved. In simpler terms, I would prefer capital punishment to be used in cases where death occurred during mala prohibita crimes occurrence.
In addition, petty cases should receive punishments that are not severe such as a minimum jail term in correspondent to the type of crime committed. Petty thieves should therefore not face the fear of execution. I would therefore prefer mala prohibitum crime punishment to differ with the type of crime committed as opposed to just classifying the crime in a general term; mala prohibitum. In general, the more serious/heinous the crime, the more heavier the punishment should be. For example, a person convicted for the third time drunk driving should warrant much strict and heavier/severe punishment as opposed to a first time person convicted of minor larceny.
References
Mojo Law. (2007). Mala Prohibita. Retrieved from
http://www.mojolaw.com/info/cl019
Travest, M. (1995). Mistakes of Law in Mala Prohibita crimes. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1600063
WiseGeek. (2003). What Is Mala Prohibita?. Retrieved from
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-mala-prohibita.htm
