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Crimes

  • AssaultAssault is one of the few crimes that can happen before a single blow lands. In several legal systems, the deliberate inflicting of fear, apprehension, or…
  • TortureTorture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person, and despite being one of the oldest and most universally condemned practices in…
  • RobberyRobbery stands apart from every other form of theft by a single defining element: the presence of force or fear. A pickpocket works without the victim's…
  • KidnappingKidnapping is one of the few crimes defined less by what is done to a body than by where that body is moved. The law draws a sharp line.
  • MurderMurder sits at the center of almost every legal system ever devised by human beings. Across cultures, centuries, and continents, societies have wrestled with…
  • Battery (crime)Battery, one of the oldest offenses in common law, sits at the intersection of bodily autonomy and criminal intent. The definition sounds almost clinical…
  • Human cannibalismHuman cannibalism challenges anthropologists, in the words of scholars who have wrestled with it, "to define what is or is not beyond the pale of acceptable…
  • Organized crimeOrganized crime refers to transnational, national, or local groups of centralized enterprises that engage in illegal activities, most commonly for profit.
  • Driving under the influenceDriving under the influence, known by its initials DUI, is a crime that sits at the intersection of a simple human act and a complex legal web spanning every…
  • CorruptionCorruption is a form of dishonesty or criminal conduct undertaken by people or organizations entrusted with power, turned to personal gain.
  • PolygamyPolygamy, a word rooted in Late Greek and meaning the state of marriage to many spouses, has never been a single, simple institution.
  • War crimeWar crime is a term that carries the weight of humanity's worst moments in conflict, and its legal meaning has been fought over, codified, and contested for…
  • TerrorismTerrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims.
  • HomicideHomicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. The word covers far more than the crimes most people picture.
  • ViolenceThe economic impact of violence on the world economy in 2024 was estimated at 17.5 trillion dollars. That figure comes from the Institute for Economics and…