Introduction
The paper will examine the differing of crime vs. sin in ancient and medieval times. The times where religion and law were not separated as today and where the religion played a major role in all areas also in the area of crime and punishment and where the sin and crimes were not strictly separated. The essay will find the examples in the history to try to prove that sins have been regarded as crimes and that they have a common history. The roots of today’s legal systems can be found in the history of ancient times and the Middle Ages. The terms of sin and crime were changed through the times way back when the religion played a major role.
The hypothesis of the paper is that definition of crimes and sins depend on the values and culture of the population and that both sin and crime have a common ground that originate from the morality.
Definition of crime and sin
Both definition and concepts are difficult, for various definitions exist. Crime is “an act committed in violation of a law prohibiting it, or omitted in violation of a law ordering it” (Jones & Johnstone, 2015, 5). They can be punishable with fines, restrictions, imprisonment or death. It can be regarded as a sin and act against morality and criminal behavior that violates the law and can affect the whole public or right of individual. It is regarded as a breach of moral law and defiance of a positive law. The crime has evolved from the cultural and social experience. Sin has been defined as any action that is in violation of the God’s will and has been described as the basic human condition since the humans are not God the predisposition for the human to sin exists. The history with the secular rulers has shown that they were viewed as gods on earth or were speaking in the name of gods and have therefore the authority to regulate crimes and sins (Jones & John, 2015).
The difference between the sin and crime is that the crime has as legal action in legal systems whereas sin does not. We could say that not every crime is a sin, and not every sin is a crime if we are looking outside the scope of religion. Crime is a violation of law and sin is a violation of the spirit, but both terms have been in the ancient and Middle Ages times much more interconnected and not separated as are today, because of the different culture and values of the population. The state usually punishes the crime and the sin should be punishable by god, but in the past the opposite was seen. There are various sins and the Bible have been respected through the history and also changed, but in the past, they were the used as a moral code and also deifying the crime based on which the punishment followed. The seven most deadly sins are “starring pride, envy, anger, sloth, lust and gluttony” (Greene, 2003, n.p.).
Usage of crime and sin in the past
The punishment was different for crimes and sins in the past and was stricter, as the rule eye for an eye and have attribute and revenge the previous wrongdoings. Differentiation sins from crimes refrain from the moral judgment and are prepared to reform, retain and rehabilitate the offender. Retribution and deterrence and incapacitation were predominant justification for the punishment of the crimes and sins in the ancient and medieval times. The retribution as punishments and the principle of retaliation in physical punishment, financial deprivation, loss of freedom or other hardship was the principle used in the ancient times where an eye for an eye was very common, where the inflicted suffering of the convicted person is equal to the harm it has caused. The deterrence was achieved in the ancient times and the Middle Ages with severe and hard punishments that gave the society the message. In those times the divine will was a part of the criminal law as a genesis, where not only violation has been made but also the offence to the god. In the time period the separation of state and church was no common and the religious basis was used for deciding the punishment (Jones & John, 2015).
Criminal justice in ancient times was in the light of the important religion’s role in shaping the practices among various civilizations and nations. Principle of eye for an eye was the principle in punishment. They used different methods. The sins in today’s meaning were in many cases punished even more severe than crimes. From the definitions, it is obvious that the definition of crime involves also the idea of sin since they have the same roots. Punishment was in the ancient times carried out to appeal gods.
Cases and punishment: crime and sin in ancient times
The case can be the Athens in the ancient times and the punishment for sex offenders where the rape was punishable by a fine and seduction was punishable with the right of killing outright by the women’s father or husband or the imprisonment and torture with of the seducer. The methods for torture were usually pulling of the pubic hair and radishes up his anus. In Athens and in Israel the compensation to the owner was provided with the theft; if the thief was caught he could be killed by the owner. There were various categories that were punishable by death also the counterfeiting coins or kidnapping. Compensation was also common in among the Romans for ordinary theft and the possibility of justifiable death if caught in the act. The hang up or death of the offender was seen as a sacrifice to the gods. Prior to the execution various methods of crucifixion were used. Athens and Roman law used a strange rite for the stolen goods. In the ancient times the ancient law and the criminal procedure was based on the revenge, where the state did not act as a prosecutor but it weighted the evidence and dispensed the punishment. The possibility of forgiveness among the family members played an important role since it could lessen the penalties for the offender (Jones & John, 2015).
In the ancient times awareness of moral and immoral actions are regard as a sin. They believed in a divine tribunal and judgment after life. The ancient Babylonians also used the sins against the gods and society which is seen from their prayers. In comparison to the ancient civilizations believe among Egyptians was that exists the possibility of convincing the goods about the innocence with negative confessions. In all cases there was some religious background, whether is the Book of death or the Bible (Horn, 1981).
Crimes and sins were the same in the ancient culture among the nations and civilizations. From Egypt, Babylonia, Greeks to Romans all believe in the divine power of gods, they had the moral and immoral standards that were in accordance with their culture and values. The religion and gods play a vital role and the moral is seen from letters, prayers and religion books such Bible and the Book of death. The punishments were different, but they did not define the crimes as crimes, but as sins that needed to be punished in order to achieve the gods will and to come in the afterlife. There were different crime that had different punishments and they usually involved the retribution, revenge and compensation. The scarifications to the gods were common and were done in order to please the gods or to seek redemption. The sins punished can be compared to the today crimes definition.
Cases and punishments: crime and sin in medieval times
The medieval period is known for the torture chambers and dungeons and punishments which methods were defined by the victim’s crime and social status. There was no strict law to follow that would regulate the prisoners taking care of. Torture was a legitimate method to bring the justice and extract the confession. The torture as an acceptable punishment was abolished in the middle of 16th century. The same as in the ancient times the hails were only stopped to the executing of deciding punishments for the offenders. The strong religious values impacted the moral behavior.
In comparison with the ancient times that does not give specific attention the sexual partners with existing homosexuality the Christianity in the Middle Ages was intolerant to the homosexual. Increasing intolerance was seen by the late antiquity with defining the love and lust as sins. The homosexuals were seen as sinners (Bystrn & Greenberg, 2016). The sodomy in the Middle Ages is one particular case that is showing the different perception of sin and crime as we understand them today. Sexual activity among the men was perceived as one of the greatest sins. The term applied to the political enemies and religious crimes such as heretics (Mills, 2015). Homosexuality defines as sodomy become unacceptable with the spread of Christianity. One of the most known sins was also punishable which derives from the values and Christianity, culture of what is moral and what not.
Roman Catholic Church played an important role with the canon law in the middle ages. The indivisibility of sin and crime in the early period of is seen. Retribution and using the terminology of sin was common. The punishment was mainly implied, to take care of the human souls and to repair the relationship with god. The institution of punishment indicates the significant influence the religion and morality had on the legal system. The persons involved in sins were handled as heretics. In the early stage of the time period the transforming of the church resulted in the doctrinal differentiation of crime and sin. There was not clear distinction, but the implementation of redemption was established and incorporated. In the 12th century the clear distinction between the sins and other crimes appeared. Concepts of crime and sin were similar in general trends through different religions’ and the law is based on the moral values (Beznosova, Kondratyeva, Romanovskaya, 2015).
Medieval times and inquisition involved three different trial procedures: choice of witness, proof and the relation between the judge trial and the offenders’ accusation. There were different kinds of crimes defined. One of them was stealing which had a different punishment based on what was stolen and the value, vagrancy, homeless and jobless was a crime, gossip of women was perceived as crime, heresy, treason, witchcraft and murder. Public executions were common in the dark ages. There were crimes that involved the atrocious punishment such as menace to order in society and insult to divine majesty. The judicial violence was legitimated since every kind of force was legitimate to use in order to restore the social order. The medieval crime statistics, especially in London were concerning since the annual killings and rates of convicted offenders were increasing drastically. There were differences around the world with the diverse authority also diverse punishments were carried out. The punishments were harsh and terrifying with hangings, executions, cutting of the part of the human body and stakes at the cities. The church abetted and aided to the justice system. Church courts were also giving the excessive punishments such as deadly punishments for theft. The women killing men were defined as treason. In Europe the divine intervention was very common in the medieval times. The jurists were using the deterrent tactic with the moral message of capital punishment in order to preserve the social order. The public was present in the executing the punishments so the effect on the people was even greater (McGlynn, 2008).
The criminal acts were seen as the influence and work of the devil and Satan and crimes were therefore seen equal to the sins. The punishments were carried in accordance with doing the gods work. The punishments were used to purge the criminals from their sins and to get rid of the devil’s influence on them. The natural law emerged where with making the crime the people separated themselves from the god. The rulers, king, queens and monarchs were perceived as carrying out the will of god and acting in his behalf, the crimes against the state, property and persons were seen as the sins and act according to the devils work (Roufa, 2015).
The sins which were treated as the crimes were laid in the law of the countries after the Middle Ages. Earlier standards were built upon the religious orders. Symbiotic relationship between the church and the state was seen in both periods and with the secularization the division between the crime and sin become more obvious. The sin and crime did not differ until the acts to be considered as sins were present only in the religious sphere and acts that impact the political and social order were considered as a crime and handle led by the civil authorities. In the Middle Ages the crimes such as witchcraft, sodomy, rape, stealing, treason, perjury and homicide were among the greatest sins. The courts today do not recognize the sins as a legal category, but the punishment of some acts are recognized as sins. The punishments are also associated with the religion and is executed from the superior power in the ancient and medieval times was carried out by the rulers and the authority of kings, queens, monarchs, church that was representing the gods will on the earth and punished the misbehaving’s. The research of punishments reveals that two theologies have arisen in that time and hence the theology of retribution and theology of restoration that was not present during the both periods of times examined in the paper. The temple sacrifice has been usually penalty for sin and crime. The human practice regarding the law was influenced by the nature of crime in the past, political structures formed and also the social environment and values presents in the society. Punishments and judgments in both times were carried out by the authorities and had different procedures and methods, but they were based on the values of morality in the time being (Day & Laufer, 1987). The roots of development and secularism began at the end of the Middle Ages and with it the law development outside the religion and church organizations and authority.
Conclusion
The differentiation between sin and crime was in the past in the ancient and in the medieval times not clearly defined. The law always derives from the values and cultures of the population and is the portrayed of the social values and principles. The culture and beliefs in both times were different from today, since the religion played a much more important role in the state and criminal justices as today. Both times there were no clear distinctions between the religions and the states since the secularism was not widespread.
The punishments for sins were sometimes more harsh for the sins as for the crimes, since not all that we perceive today has been defined as the crime. The retribution, eye for an eye and revenge were common techniques in cases of sins and crimes discovery. The distinction between the terms could be made on the definition level. Not all what is a sin is a crime and also the same is true that not all crimes are sins. When a person has violated the god will has committed a sin and when the person has acted against the law has committed the crime. The scope of crimes was at both times similar within the theft category, but differed a lot in the sexual activity condemnation, for in the Middle Ages the homosexuality defined as a sodomy was much more condemned in the time period in comparison to the ancient times where the practice was very common, particularly in Athens. The history of the criminal justice includes different names for the term crime since the secularization was not the reality with the greatest impact of religion and beliefs where the sins are regarded as the concepts that define the moral and immoral actions. The definition and defining the crimes derived from the sins in the past can be explained by the cultural values that evolve and changed through the times. This can be seen also in today’s situation where different countries and part of the world have different laws. The violation of gods will and the idea of sin is incorporated in the crime, but they differ since the sins are gods made and laws are manmade.
Similarity and differences between the terms exists today but in the past in Meddle ages and ancient times the differences among them was not so clear. The moral dimension of the crime was defined by the bible and other religious documents. The religious belief and culture has played an important role and have vast influence on the practices and punishment in the both time periods examined. The offenders were seen as the actors against the divinity. Involvement in the sin meant the evil prevailed and condemnation of such individuals that were drawn away from the allegiance to god was punishable. The societies in ancient and medieval times did not differentiate sin from crime and therefore did not refrain from the moral judgment. The genesis of the criminal law in the ancient times was derived from the divine will where people violation of the law meant the offence to the gods. Both were using the retribution and deterrence principles. The retribution and retaliation were especially seen in the Middle Ages with the use of physical pain and proportional inflicted suffering. By giving the sentences and punishments the harsh and strict performance was done in order to deter the population of committing the crimes and sins that were regarded as an offence of god’s will. The religious belief shaped the justice practices in both times.
The hypothesis of the paper can be confirmed since the definition of crimes and sins depend on the values and culture of the population and that both sin and crime have a common ground that have root in the morality. The crime and sin were not distinguished terms in the ancient and medieval times, but they did evolve through the history. The ancient and medieval times used different punishments and methods, but the sins were portrait of the values of that times that changed from the ancient times to the increased spread of Christianity in the dark ages. The difference was that there were no secularism and differentiation between the church, authority and the state.
Work Cited
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