Crime and the rule of law

Laws are rules created by judges or parliament to enable society to function. Originally, the law was probably little more than custom, which was then codified and issued by kings; in fact, the earliest decipherable writing of any length was a code of law (the Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian tablet with text outlining 282 laws, dates back to about 1772 BC). There are rules backed up by law everywhere around us. This is generally a good thing, for example, ensuring that we stop at traffic lights and avoid smoking in enclosed public places and on railway platforms. There is usually an assumption that laws are necessary, fair and just, which matches reality 90% of the time – but perhaps not entirely. Crime is a relative rather than an absolute concept, which is defined by a society and changes over time. Homosexuality was a crime in the UK until 1967 and remains an offence in 76 countries around the world (five of which punish homosexual acts with the death penalty), while non-consensual sex within marriage did not constitute rape until 1991. Drug legislation fails to encompass alcohol, which is the most dangerous intoxicant of all, and the only one that is regularly related to violent crime (if alcohol were to be invented tomorrow and imported from South America, it would instantly become a Class A drug). For all its faults, the rule of law is a guarantee that wrongdoing will be addressed in a way that is independent and outside of ourselves as individuals, and this code is what makes society possible. We realise its merits if we consider what would happen if it wasn't there.

There are a bewildering number of laws that permeate every aspect of our lives – the Labour government famously broke the record by introducing 3,506 new laws during its last year in office (2010) – covering everything from the legal obligations of employing a nanny to the ownership of washed-up whales (they belong to the sovereign). This book will focus on behaviour that is both unlawful and leads to someone being directly harmed as a result, recognising that ‘crime’ and ‘harm’ are not always synonymous, and there are crimes (like driving without a licence or smoking cannabis) where it isn't possible to name an individual who has been harmed.