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Potential for crime equivalent to actual crime?

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iamnotaparakeet
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29 Mar 2011, 6:32 pm

The potential for a crime is whether it is possible for it to occur, such as if you own a weapon it is possible for you to use it to murder with or if you are around other people's property it is possible for you to steal it, but does such a potential mean that the person should be considered a criminal on the basis of their ability to commit a crime?



ikorack
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29 Mar 2011, 6:36 pm

'course not I can think of a few horrible things to do right now doesn't make me morally culpable and it doesn't make me a criminal.



Dox47
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29 Mar 2011, 6:48 pm

Look up a legal concept called "constructive possession", it's pretty similar to what you're describing.


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leejosepho
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29 Mar 2011, 7:06 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
... does [potential for a crime] mean the person should be considered a criminal on the basis of their ability to commit a crime?

If so, how would people get their un-opened containers home from the liquor store?

The same principle applies to "crazy": People get locked up for acting "crazy" and not for just merely being "crazy".


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Mack27
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29 Mar 2011, 7:19 pm

I don't believe in pre-crime. There are some states that are arresting people for drunk-driving without the police ever seeing them drive. "Probability of how you got there" or some such nonsense. I heard of a case where someone left a bar in New Hampshire to grab a jacket out of their car with no intention of driving and the police nabbed them on the way back to the bar.



ruveyn
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29 Mar 2011, 7:51 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
The potential for a crime is whether it is possible for it to occur, such as if you own a weapon it is possible for you to use it to murder with or if you are around other people's property it is possible for you to steal it, but does such a potential mean that the person should be considered a criminal on the basis of their ability to commit a crime?


Of course not. We are all capable of committing crimes. Everyone in the country would have to be jailed.

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Inuyasha
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29 Mar 2011, 11:12 pm

Mack27 wrote:
I don't believe in pre-crime. There are some states that are arresting people for drunk-driving without the police ever seeing them drive. "Probability of how you got there" or some such nonsense. I heard of a case where someone left a bar in New Hampshire to grab a jacket out of their car with no intention of driving and the police nabbed them on the way back to the bar.


Watch the Police end up getting sued and the police losing the lawsuit, he never turned the key to the ignition, kinda hard to drive drunk in a parked vehicle.