ARE ACCIDENTAL FELONIES REALLY ACCIDENTS?

    The objective of this paper is to shed light on the phenomenon of accidental felony.  Felonies consist of such crimes as murder, robbery, burglary, kidnapping, and treason.  Accidental felonies are (finish sentence by defining accidental felony) (Source date). There is question about the purpose and determination of accidental felonies, and this paper attempts to resolve those issues.

    Accidental felony is a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a year or more.  A violation of law resulting is less severe punishment is called a misdemeanor.  Examples of crimes that are misdemeanors include assault and battery, minor theft, and acts against public safety and welfare.  Some misdemeanors are traffic offenses.  In court, lines are not clearly drawn as to what constitutes a felony and misdemeanor.  It depends upon the type of crime committed, and how the court excepts what happened before, during, and after the act was committed.  Sometimes, it is based on an analysis of the person committing the criminal behavior, whether they were mentally competent at the time.  Sometimes, it is based on the degree of injury created by the criminal behavior, whether the defendant has accepted a plea bargain, or whether the crime was compounded.  These are all ways in which an accidental felony can occur.

    Crime is a term that refers to many types of misconduct forbidden by law.  Accidental felony is also a crime, but there are few theories about it (I've added a significance statement for you), and it appears to be more related to the legitimacy of the criminal justice system than actual criminal behavior.  Acts that are defined as crimes are constantly changing.  Generations and people change all the time, and so do the times we live in. Accidental felonies seem to be tied in with changing circumstances because they appear to involve punishment for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

    Under felony murder rules, if someone is killed accidentally, it is still murder.  However, the law requires a mens rea component of intent without justification or excuse.  For example, a motive such as hatred, greed, or envy must be found.  Motives may be quite different with accidental felonies.  There may be situations where no intent to kill exists.  An accidental killing while committing a robbery is a very serious offense, but the motive is a reckless disregard for human life, not intent to kill.  Accidentally killing a child is another example, and may simply involve being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Accidental felonies involve intents which are not in the plan but happen anyway.

LITERATURE REVIEW

    Accidental felony can be broken down to many sections, but in this paper, all that will be mentioned are the types of people that commit such a crime and the types of crimes called accidental felony. Also, the reasons why people commit such a crime will be discussed.

    Accidental felony is when a person is in the process of committing a certain felony and then kills another accidentally. The killing is classified as murder. A lot of the time, the person didn't mean to harm or kill another. It's something that happens accidentally.

    The type of person that commits such a crime could be anyone. It could be someone rich or poor, young or old. It could be someone that already has committed a crime or crimes in the past and is now doing it again.  It could be someone who has escaped from prison. It could be two friends who had a bad day and one accidentally killed the other.  The person that commits such a crime could be a school teacher, a child, maybe a student. It could be a homeless person looking for food, clothing, or a shelter. Crimes like these have been committed for centuries.
 
    Some types of crimes that are considered accidental felony are as follows: stealing a car, resisting arrest, possessing or selling drugs, or using mail to cheat someone. For example, sending a bomb through the mail to kill someone but the bomb accidentally goes off and kills the wrong person. Other crimes are nudity on public streets, driving while under the influence.  Classification of offenses by person, property, and public order do not apply to accidental felony.  Many criminologists and social scientists (Source date) classify crimes according the act of the offender. Crimes are also classified by passion, political motivation, economic or white collar considerations. In recent times, there has been an interest in classifying crime by harm. As times change, keeping crime a secret, especially harm done through accidental crime, is extremely difficult.  Today, when something happens, it is all in the newspapers or on television.

    The reasons and causes for why a person commits a crime like accidental felony could involve mental illness.  They could have been born like this, or the mental illness itself could have been accidental. It could have been learned from bad companions or influences from friends in a club or social group.  It could be customs and folkways.  They could have been in prison all their life, and that's all they know about how to live.  The person could be feeling bad, mad, frustrated, or cut off from others.  No one may like them, or no one may notice them. 

RESEARCH METHODS

    Each year in the United States, crime is published through different means, for example, through the media, tourism agencies, and other groups of interest. Crime figures are used to rank different cities and counties. Ranking leads to incomplete analysis which leads to misleading perceptions, which affect the cities and counties. Population, race, ethnicity, age, gender, education, and family structure are all factors in the crime ranking issue. Some data, once collected, is stored and used for analysis. Researchers use these numbers and figures as tests. Some are true and false facts.

    Crime is a violation of the laws of a state or federal government. A person that commits a crime has a problem - a very serious one. Crime as an act was sometimes meant to happen. It couldn't have been planned. A person that breaks the law often lives by their own rules. They don't care about who they hurt just as long as the crime has been committed. Crime is something that is going to last forever. It is a lifetime thing. People can plan for it, or just do it without thinking. There are just evil people. This is normal because crime is going to happen until the Earth is destroyed.

    Some of the crimes that have been going on go way back to the demonic era when crime was just starting, and maybe even earlier than that. Some people just commit crime for fun, or to get back at someone. Information and data are used to try and find out some of the reasons why or how it is done, and how many have committed a crime. In large cities, more crime is committed than in the country. In some places, less crime has been committed. The number is changing every day.

    Criminologists are experts who study criminal behavior. They study crime and behavior for a number of reasons. They may try to determine when, where, and why different types of crime occur. They often seek relationships between criminals and their victims. Some of the criminological reasons why people commit crime are as follows: mental illness, a bump on the head, God's will, natural illness, demonic possession, trapped in the body of the wrong sex, social environment factors, emotional social development, geographic location and climate, learning from bad companions, relationship of person with environment, and so forth. Also, criminologists try to find ways and means for crime prevention. Other agencies also study this science.

    The following are lists of statistics about the North Carolina crime rates as well as data on homicide trends in the U.S. from 1976-1999.

Forcible Aggravated Larceny- Vehicle
Year Index Violent Property Murder Rape Robbery assault Burglary Theft Theft
1960 53,738 10,182 43,556 482 355 825 8,520 12,730 26,865 3,961
1961 54,932 9,275 45,657 424 336 694 7,821 13,485 28,029 4,143
1962 58,237 9,533 48,704 373 362 836 7,962 14,704 29,642 4,358
1963 61,915 10,038 51,877 391 346 903 8,398 15,948 30,877 5,052
1964 72,742 12,345 60,397 390 464 1,099 10,392 19,369 35,554 5,474
1965 77,072 12,755 64,317 410 449 1,129 10,767 20,112 38,309 5,896
1966 85,211 14,775 70,436 459 538 1,213 12,565 22,134 41,258 7,044
1967 95,162 15,995 79,167 498 567 1,614 13,316 25,966 45,856 7,345
1968 103,056 18,025 85,031 526 579 1,929 14,991 27,716 49,442 7,873
1969 117,200 18,117 99,083 588 619 2,244 14,666 31,804 58,614 8,665
1970 134,302 18,814 115,488 597 658 2,660 14,899 38,918 68,042 8,528
1971 140,447 19,952 120,495 606 764 2,844 15,738 41,840 70,109 8,546
1972 138,648 22,087 116,561 704 759 3,452 17,172 42,375 65,574 8,612
1973 148,269 23,086 125,183 683 847 3,766 17,790 47,036 68,984 9,163
1974 188,307 26,220 162,087 629 833 4,948 19,810 63,654 88,336 10,097
1975 208,050 23,791 184,259 677 885 4,479 17,750 70,051 104,069 10,139
1976 212,264 22,061 190,203 609 838 3,859 16,755 64,289 116,164 9,750
1977 209,460 22,492 186,968 586 937 3,385 17,584 63,765 112,591 10,612
1978 216,506 23,054 193,452 600 1,024 3,673 17,757 66,031 116,193 11,228
1979 245,122 25,009 220,113 600 1,137 4,327 18,945 72,687 134,903 12,523
1980 271,174 26,589 244,585 619 1,324 4,810 19,836 83,150 148,804 12,631
1981 268,998 25,986 243,012 541 1,351 4,809 19,285 79,545 151,679 11,788
1982 273,458 26,865 246,593 545 1,322 5,168 19,830 78,787 156,701 11,105
1983 254,451 24,911 229,540 490 1,332 4,840 18,249 72,348 147,068 10,124
1984 249,322 24,885 224,437 539 1,330 4,612 18,404 69,747 143,700 10,990
1985 257,792 26,327 231,465 520 1,488 4,893 19,426 71,985 147,530 11,950
1986 274,249 30,128 244,121 515 1,673 5,551 22,389 77,557 153,378 13,186
1987 298,196 31,039 267,157 519 1,863 6,023 22,634 86,964 165,841 14,352
1988 317,310 32,753 284,557 510 1,833 7,085 23,325 90,791 177,426 16,340
1989 345,225 35,902 309,323 584 1,964 8,770 24,584 98,792 191,783 18,748
1990 363,638 41,332 322,306 711 2,272 10,082 28,267 101,444 202,059 18,803
1991 396,723 44,355 352,368 769 2,331 11,990 29,265 114,009 218,192 20,167
1992 397,047 46,600 350,447 723 2,455 12,784 30,638 113,117 217,717 19,613
1993 392,555 47,178 345,377 785 2,379 13,364 30,650 105,270 220,071 20,036
1994 397,705 46,308 351,397 772 2,334 12,811 30,391 104,118 225,937 21,342
1995 405,764 46,508 359,256 677 2,320 12,896 30,615 101,995 234,911 22,350
1996  404,684  43,068  361,616  619  2,289  12,001  28,159  98,539  238,511  24,566 
1997  407,743  45,071  362,672  614  2,348  12,817  29,292  100,002  238,228  24,442 
1998 401,615 43,723 357,892 612 2,311 12,133 28,667 99,951 233,325 24,616

    Changes in homicide rates have been driven by changes in the American cities. In other words, population figures tend to be the strongest determinant of crime rates, as the following charts illustrate, first by comparing urban, suburban, and rural areas.

    In a focus exclusively on cities, there are similarities to be found, as follows:

    Large cities are much more commonly the site of drug-related killings, gang-related murders and relatively less likely the location of family-related homicides, including murders of intimates.
Homicide Type by Urbanicity, 1976-99
    Percent of all homicides
 
Large city Small city Suburban Rural
All homicides 57.3% 11.3% 20.9% 10.5%
Victim/offender relationship        
Intimate 41.2% 14.4% 27.5% 16.8%
Family 39.2% 13.0% 28.6% 19.3%
Infanticide 48.1% 14.7% 25.5% 11.7%
Eldercide 48.2% 13.3% 23.3% 15.2%
Circumstance        
Felony murder 61.6% 10.8% 20.0% 7.6%
Sex related 48.4% 12.0% 27.5% 12.1%
Drug related 68.4% 9.4% 18.1% 4.1%
Gang related 69.1% 13.1% 17.0% .8%
Argument 53.5% 12.6% 20.8% 13.2%
Workplace 31.9% 13.6% 37.6% 16.9%
Weapon        
Gun homicide 58.9% 10.4% 19.9% 10.9%
Arson 55.8% 12.7% 21.5% 10.1%
Poison 40.6% 13.1% 29.2% 17.1%
Multiple victims or offenders        
Multiple victims 47.3% 11.5% 27.4% 13.8%
Multiple offenders 62.6% 9.6% 18.8% 8.9%

The proportion of homicides that are intimate homicides differs by type of area. 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

(missing section)

 

REFERENCES

Bureau of Justice Statistics (2001) Homicide Trends in the U.S.: Trends by City. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/city.htm 

Disaster Center (2001) http://www.disastercenter.com/

 

Last updated: 11/21/01