NCJ Number
78641
Date Published
1978
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This study discusses the structural formulation and just application of a code of laws under which similar behaviors can be judged differently without contradicting the inner cohesiveness of the code as a whole.
Abstract
A system of laws encompasses subcategories (State, Federal, civil, tax, criminal, traffic, etc.), which define behavior as legal or illegal to varying degrees, depending upon the circumstances of a given event, the persons involved, and the intent and prescribed measures of the particular legal code. Legal conflicts may arise in cases involving warrantless entry by police to forestall public danger, detention to prevent suicide or other personal harm, the individual soldier's role in an illegal war, emergency vehicles' disregard of traffic regulations, and catastrophies inadvertently caused by essentially lawful behavior. Police authority derives from the need to protect against the threat of danger. Sentencing law addresses the person of the offender, and laws regulating incarceration consider the extent of violent harm to the victim. The variety of measures applied by the various codes to the same event reflect the intent of the law to differentiate degrees of legal responsibility according to the realities of each situation while guarding against evasion of the law. A congruous interpretation of the law must place a violation of the law in a specific context and weigh the pertinence of the competing codes for the final judgment. Footnotes are provided.