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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 com-
mon 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 Eng-
lish 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. Sec-
ond is property crimes which are committed against the property and includes theft of property of some-
one 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 statu -

tory 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 gen -
eral 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 in -
cludes 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 af-
fected 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 in-
vestigative 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 commit-
ted. In order to have understanding of the reason behind the criminal activity, it is essential to re-
member 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, po-
lice interviews and the notes and photographs.