Desklib - Online Library for Study Material with Solved Assignments, Essays, Dissertations

Desklib is an online library for study material with solved assignments, essays, dissertations, and more. The content covers various modules such as criminal law and criminology, UK legal system, crime psychology research, autopsy and forensic pathologies, critical thinking, offender profiling, professional roles within the legal sector, and more. The library offers access to a wide range of subjects, courses, and universities.

Criminal Law and
Criminology

Module 1.
Describe the term “misdemeanour” and “felony” with examples. What are the two other
categories of crimes alongside misdemeanours and felonies?
Misdemeanour can be referred to as the in the British English as the lesser act of crime in the
common law legal system. The misdemeanors are mainly punished in a less severe manner than the
serious felonies. The typical misdemeanours are punished with the monetary fines or the community
services. The minor offences are considered as the misdemeanors as they have short term
imprisonments of the conviction.
Felony is being considered as the crime which is of the high seriousness. It is originated from
English common law and used to describe the offence which is resulted in confiscation of convicted
person’s lands or goods. These types of crime are known as summary offence in UK law but these terms
were abolished in the year 1967 under Criminal Law Act.
Apart from these two types of crime, there are two further categories of crime which includes
firstly the personal crimes which are harmful in nature and also includes homicide, kidnapping, etc.
Second is property crimes which are committed against the property and includes theft of property of
someone else, damage or destruction to other’s property, etc. These may be violent or non-violent. In
this, the offender does not have to obtain the actual property, rather the mere intention to commit it is
enough to make an individual punishable.
Module 2.
Write a short note on the UK Legal System. What are the different types of legislation in
the UK?
There are three different judicial systems in UK which includes English law, Scots law as well as
Northern Ireland law, there legal system is different but English as well as Northern Ireland have common
law while scot law has civil law. The UK legal system consist of common law which is called as precedent
law wherein conclusions make the common laws of the previous cases. UK follows common law system
which includes passing the legislation and creation of the precedents through the case laws. Both

statutory and common law prevails in UK and has equal relevancy in the eyes of justice. There are
different types of legislations in UK which includes the following-
 Public bills: These are aimed to affect standard population but not all the bills which affect
general population are public bills, once the bill is passed by the Parliament, it becomes the law.
 Private member bill: These are not the public bills. The member of Parliament and the Lords
make use of three types of methods in order to discuss their proposal in the Parliament which
includes Ballot wherein names of MP’s and Lords ae chosen from ballot and they are required to
discuss on proposal, second is ten minute rule wherein MPs and Lords are given time period of
10 minutes to voice their views or opinion on current legislation and lastly presentation wherein
they can present the proposals which includes introducing title of bill to others.
 Private bill: They apply to specific people or group of people or the corporations, and if it is
affected to anyone, they can tell in writing. These are of two types, Personal and local Acts.
 Hybrid bills: These affect general population as well as has significant impact on the individuals,
group of people or the companies, they are like private bill at initial stage and goes through the
process of both houses and Monarch also.
Module 3.
What is the criminal process? Elaborately explain crime psychology research.
The criminal activity can be referred to as the thought of as the single act which is committed by
an individual but it must be thought of as the process. There are different aspects of the crime which
includes an act itself, an earlier illegal acts, witness and victims and the police investigation. The
investigative psychology mainly focuses on action of crimes so they does not require direct contact
with offender. The information in respect of crime can itself be gleaned from the witness and police
and the court reports. The criminal acts gas sole reason to explain as to why they are being
committed. In order to have understanding of the reason behind the criminal activity, it is essential to
remember that the crime is not the defined set of action, rather it is an interpretation behind actions
which makes them the criminal.
The crime psychology research revolves around studying about the thoughts, views, intention,
reactions and actions of criminals and all the one who participate in the criminal behavior. It involves
the following-
 crime records which are published by the police and the justice authorities around the world.
 Police data which includes the statement of victim and witness, geographical information,
police interviews and the notes and photographs.

 Victim surveys wherein in UK, the British Crime Survey is the largest adult survey of victim which
is carried out each day.
 Clinical studies of the victims which contains the medical notes from the special referral units and
hospitals.
 Offender interviews which are also carried out for the purpose of research either in clinical setting
or the prison.
 Court reports which are the public records and may be found online or by subscription service.
 Mass media which is covered by the media personnel and may be found online.
Hence, all the above mentioned aspects helps in the criminal psychology research and are main
source of the information which can be used to conduct the research effectively.
Module 4.
How will you interview the suspects?
An interview can be defined as a process wherein the investigator tries to gather the information
from the suspect or the witness. It usually takes place in police custody, courtroom and at crime scene.
There are different professionals who believe that the suspect interrogation is an essential step of
investigation process. Almost all the suspects are interviewed at some point in their judicial process
irrespective of any kind of crime being committed. Different reason to conduct the suspect interview
includes firstly to induce the confession and secondly to get truth. There are many tactics which are used
to increase likelihood of confession which includes the following-
 Intimidation: It includes the making of the suspect understand about the severity of situation.
 Manipulation: It involves making suspect think that the situation is not serious.
 Appeal: Some of the investigators tries appealing to suspect.
Under Police and Criminal Evidence Act, 1984, the main aim of this is to protect the suspects,
criminal trials and police by providing the details on what is and is not allows at the time of police
interviews.
Define testimony. What are the factors affecting eye witnesses’ performances?
It is the term which is referred to as the evidence which is produced by suspect of witness in criminal
case. It is given usually in court of law but may also be done by way of video conferencing or interview
with a court. It is basically an act of memory retrievals but it means that it is subject to the false
information. It elevates chances of suspect for being convicted.

There are many factors that may influence as to how accurate the account of eye witness may be.
These relates to three stages of remembering-
 Acquisition: It relates to witness, person or event.
 Retention: It influences as how well the memory or information is retained.
 Retrieval: These types of factors influence as to how well an information is being retrieved.
These factors include-
 How the offender knows suspect or have seen it before. If yes, there are more chances of it to be
remembered.
 If there is new aspect of crime, there are less chances of it being memorable.
 If the testimony of witness contains inaccuracies, there are more chances that other testimony will
also be inaccurate.
 Other factors include fear, stress, presence of violence or weapon.
 Further factors include age of eyewitness, pressure to recall an event, expectation of what would
have been happened and many others.
Module 5.
What is an autopsy? Give a short note on forensic pathologies and autopsies.
Autopsy is also called as necropsy which is the examination which is carried on the dead body. In
this, the whole body is being examined including the internal organs. It is aimed to determine as to I the
death was suicide, homicide, accident or any natural event.
When the cause of the death is not known or circumstances which surrounds the death are also
suspicious, the forensic pathologist should help the investigators in order to identify as to why someone
violently or unexpectedly passed way. The body may hold many evidence which may help an investigator
to have understanding of the crime. In order to do this, forensic pathologist make use of their medical
expertise so that human tissue can be understood. They collect as well as analyze the findings before
giving recommendation to the detectives, law enforcement officials and the prosecutors.
Define the following terms:
 Ballistics: It is a study of the firearms. It includes why and how they are being used and what role
is being played in crime. The ballistic experts study crime scene and the wounds of victims,
weapon in question and any of the residue which may be left behind. They have the ability to
analyze flight path of bullet. It may help the investigators to figure out the information such as
distance, trajectory and the shooting angles.
 Anthropometry: it is a biological profile of victim. It is being done by examination of the
individuals remains as well as collecting the evidence. The anthropometry taken into account the
human measurements as well as physical variations. It helps the investigators to identify the
suspect which is based on its physical attributes.

Module 6.
Explain any two from the followings:
Critical thinking: It involves questioning the assumptions in the arguments which come up in
any context. It includes questioning other people, which includes those who are in position of the
authority. It is important in the forensics as questioning assumptions is a vital part of being the good
at the role. It has two components which includes firstly the set of skills for creating and analyzing
the information and secondly, the habit which involves using those skills in order to guide the
behavior. It is applied to the case work which means that the examiner shall refuse to accept the
evidence without any sufficient proof.
Logic: It is basically a process of arguing as it investigates validity of the ordered knowledge by
way of arguments. It is a science of the valid thought. Its main purpose is to analyze the methods by
which the valid judgements can be obtained in science. The basic principles of the logic include the
following-
 Principle of identity: the profilers of criminal use this principle in order to argue for treating
every case as the unique crime and not an extension of same crime.
 Principle of excluded middle: It believes that the crime has either being committed or not
and there is no such middle state. For establishing the same, the detailed crime
reconstruction is to be completed as well as evaluated.
 Principle of sufficient reason: It means that each thing has the explanation for its
existence. it implies that there is nothing as self-explanatory.
Module 7.
Discuss the traditional approaches to offender profiling
There are mainly three kinds of the offender profiling which includes the following-
 Criminal investigative approach: It is based on a specific experience of investigation. It was
developed in the year 1970 by FBI and was the first attempt for using the available information on
the violent offence together with the investigative technique so that suggestions are made about
unknown offender.
 Clinical practitioner approach: It is mainly based on hands on the experience while working
with the criminals in the clinical context. It relies on the practical experience, knowledge and
intuition of the crime scene information in order to make suggestions. As it relies on the clinical
profile’s expertise and the knowledge, it is difficult to judge the tacit knowledge of clinician.

 Scientific statistical approach: It is normally based on application of the scientific knowledge. It
is based on analysis of the information which is found on crime scene so that the characteristics
of the offender is suggested. In order to make this work, the framework of the offender
characteristics is required to be available.
Each of the approach makes use of the different kinds of knowledge in order to draw the hypothesis
so that the behavior of the offender is understood. But one thing in common among these approach is
that they believe that it is being possible to identify the crime scene behavior and also create the
classifications by using the information which is found. They may then work on backward basis and also
create the list or write the description of likely offender.
What is the BIA: Contribution?
In recent years, there are places such as Germany, UK and Canada which have opted to make use
of all the three approaches to the offender profiling. The behavioral investigative advisor can contribute by
aiding in the following-
 Suspect prioritization.
 Geographical profiling
 Linking crime scenes and crimes altogether
 Interviewing process
 Risk assessment of the offender in the clinical setting.
Module 8.
Explain any two professional roles within the legal sector.
There are different professions in the legal sector which includes a lawyer, solicitor, judge, barrister
and many others. The professional roles within the legal sector includes the following-
 The solicitor is the one who performs the role of giving the advice to the client, meets the client,
create or review the documents, research the issues which relates to the cases, attend the case
or negotiation meetings and many others.
 The role of the paralegal in the legal sector includes as per Legal Services Act, 2007 is to see the
case from the beginning to the end. The cases may vary in terms of the complexity but the
paralegals deal with more of the challenging cases as they move ahead in their career
development. Its task in the case involves taking statement from the witness, filling data, doing
research and many others.
Identify the four legal offices in the UK.
There are four legal officers in UK which includes the following-
 Lord chancellor: It may be the member of House of Lords or common and is also the cabinet
minister. It is the head of the ministry who is mainly responsible for the prisons, courts,

constitutional affairs and probations. It was the head of judiciary and also had an authority to
appoint the judges. This role was amended in order to show separation of powers.
 Attorney general: It is a chief legal advisor to Crown as well as government and government
minister. It is in-charge of the legal cases which relates to government that are international and
national.
 Solicitor general: It is the second to a command to attorney general and completes the task
which the Attorney General is unable to complete.
 Director of Public prosecutions: It is the head of Crown Prosecution Services and is also
responsible for the prosecutions and the staff. It is responsible for the appointment of this role by
the panel recommendations. It advices police on the criminal activities and also makes decisions
on sensitive and complex cases.
Module 9.
Define Criminal Law. Explain the different criminal offences and defences.
Criminal law is one of the wide known area of the legal practice. It is mainly overseen by the
criminal courts that handles the wrongs which is against the society that is based on the laws. It covers
everything right from the small misdemeanours to the heinous crimes, white collar crimes and fraud.
Criminal offences:
 Violent as well as non-violent offences
 Dishonesty offences
 Sexual as well as non-sexual offences
 Crimes against justice
 Road traffic offences
Defenses
There is no such exhaustive list of the criminal defenses like the criminal offences, they vary on
the basis of the precedents and circumstances. There are some common defenses –
 Partial defences to murder: It reduces the punishment of murder to the manslaughter.
 Self-defence: It is the right of the people to make use of the reasonable force in order to defend
its own life or of the others. It can extend to use of the deadly force.
 Insanity: The deranged sense of the mind that may be caused by different illness and the state of
being which negates the guilt or intent behind the offence. Three criteria of this includes firstly
being defect of the reason, secondly result from disease of mind and lastly not knowing nature,
quality and morality of acts which is being committed.
 Automatism: It is a state wherein muscles act in unconscious manner or is without the control of
mind.
 Intoxication: It is not the formal defence but is may negate mens rea as defendant have not
being capable of forming the criminal intent.

 Mistake: It is essential to prove that there is reasonable mistake of the fact or the absence of the
knowledge that the crime was committed.
 Duress: It involves being in coercion and to take this defence, the defendant must show that
there was sufficient amount of threat of force involved while committing crime.
 Necessity: The crime is committed in order to avoid the harm or any other adverse
circumstances
What are the elements of the law of Tort?
Negligence is the common form of the tort and to make successful claim of this, there must be four
essentials which includes duty of care, breach of that duty, causation and the injury or harm caused due
to breach of the duty.
Other form of tort includes the following-
 Nuisance: Tort pertaining to enjoy the own land without any disturbance.
 Economic tort: It inflicts the economic or financial loss.
 Defamation: It is committed against the slander or libel which can damage the reputation of the
individual.
 Trespass: It covers wrongful interference with the goods which belongs to other person.
 Breach of confidence: This tort was designed to protect the secret or the commercially sensitive
information for the unfair benefit.
Module 10.
What is the Youth Court and the Crown Court?
Courts are at a center of the criminal justice system and the compromise of the following which
includes magistrate courts, Youth courts, Crown court, Supreme court.
Youth court: It deals with the charges which are against the people who are between the age of
10-17 years. They do not deal with serious offence as Crown court deals with it. The one who works with
this must be trained and be the member of statutory youth court panel.
Crown court: It deals with most serious offences like murder, rape. It must be tried by the single
judge or the jury. It is administered by the HM Court Service. Appeals from the magistrate court is also
dealt in this.
Explain the Crown Prosecution Service. Discuss the importance of prison and prison
service.
Crown prosecution service prosecutes the criminal cases in the England and Wales and takes over
from police and other investigative organization once the suspect is being arrested. The head of the CPS
is Director of Public Prosecutions and are appointed by Attorney General.
Prisons in the England and Wales consist of the 143 establishments. Out of these, 132 of them
are run by national Prison Service while others are run by private contractors. The prison service is only

there to keep the people in the custody who are being committed by courts. They are also responsible for
treating every criminal with the humanity and also helps tem leading the law abiding lives.