Legal Rights Before and After Arrest Research Paper

Legal Rights Before and After Arrest - Research Paper Example What Constitutes Crime? Principle IV of the Principles of International Law recognized in the Charter of the Nurnberg Tribunal and in the Judgment of the Tribunal, 1950, states as follows: â€Å"the fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him† (Principles of International Law, 1950). In addition, Principle II of the same proclaims that even if the internal law does not punish a person, the person is still liable to be punished under international law. Here, it is surprising to note that the International Law gives way to morality, and it does not mention what is meant by morality. In a world where both monogamy and polygamy exist together; where capitalism and communism exist together, and where both non-violence and cannibalism are practiced, it is surprising to note that the legal fraternity still thinks about morality. ... er (2001) opined that what is considered as crime ‘at one place and time, culture or location’ may not necessarily be considered as a crime ‘at another time, in another culture, or even across the street’ (Henry & Lanier, 2001, p. 7). Durkheim, one of the founding figures of sociology, rightly interprets the concept of crime, and according to him, law cannot be considered as something that exists in abstraction or a plain-fact situation. It starts from developing the concept of crime, identifying some event as a crime, responding to that crime, and the action taken by the state agencies to punish the criminal. According to Durkheim (1982, p. 71), these all depend on the cultural world that exists at that time. Considering this fact, Wayne Morrison points out that considering some action as a crime depends on the role of that action in the context it was committed. In order to clarify the claim, she describes the incident of the yacht Mignonette. As the yacht collapsed in mid sea, in the year 1884, the crew had to escape in a small open boat with no food and water. After nearly three weeks of wandering in the sea without food, one of the crews killed a cabin boy who was reportedly delirious and all the crew drank his blood and fed on is body. After a few days, all were taken ashore by a passing boat. The judge who heard the case made a wonderful statement that it was the duty of the captain of a ship to take care of his passengers, and the sentence given to the men was six month’s imprisonment. In fact, it was common for seafarers in similar conditions to cast lots and the one with the shortest lot to be killed and eaten, and hence the men were not guilty according to the existing law. Here, one thing becomes evident; there is a considerable amount of risk