NCJ Number
74015
Date Published
1980
Length
14 pages
Annotation
The geographic framework of New York State's 10 overall offenses categories is examined.
Abstract
Procedural criminal law encompasses such obviously spatial concepts as jurisdiction, venue, and search. Substantive criminal law issues also have geographic concerns. Some of these geographic concerns are noted for the following offense categories of New York's State Penal Code: anticipatory offenses; offenses against the person involving physical injury, sexual conduct, restraint, and intimdation; damage to and intrusion upon property; theft; fraud; offenses against public administration; offenses against public health and morals; offenses against public order, public sensibilities, and the right to privacy; offenses against marriage, the family, and the welfare of children and incompetents; and offenses against public safety. Ofenses against the person involving physical injury, sexual conduct, restraint, and intimidation provide illustrations of the geographical precepts which underlie penal code distincions on both substantive and procedural levels. In the case of assault (the causing of physical injury to another person), on a substantive level, the aggravating factors are the degree of injury caused and the weapon used. In the systemic implementation of the law's sections, however, the location of the offense is significant. If the assault occurs in the home, even if the injury verges on death and the weapon is a gun, the offense is practically treated as a 'minor' family matter. Usually the criminal court will not even have jurisdiction and the case will be transferred to family court. A stabbing in the ghetto would not be viewed as seriously by the police as a stabbing in a middle-class suburb. Practical and substantive geographic aspects of teh other offense categories are similarly analyzed. The article includes 29 notes. For related papers, see NCJ 74011.