Yes, under US federal law they are torts. But there may be some states where these are crimes per se, making them technically valid inclusions since the instructions don't specify the jurisdiction.
To those asking for kidnap to be accepted - the offence is defined (in all legal codes of which I am aware, and certainly in the UK and the US) as 'kidnapping'. The word 'kidnap' is occasionally used in legal journals, and even government documents, to refer to the laws concerning abduction generally, but the statutes and common law offences (and therefore the indictment) always refer to 'kidnapping'.
To ask for 'kidnap' to be accepted is like asking for 'Solicit' or 'Burgle' (or, conversely 'Murdering')
So, the Quizmaster is entirely correct in refusing to allow kidnap.
I agree with kdc4 - robbery and mugging require force or its threat whereas theft does not. Therefore theft should NOT be accepted.
@BazMcHat - unless it has changed since I left UK law school 30 years ago, libel IS a criminal offence in the UK (whereas slander is not). Both are torts (as indeed are most crimes).
Despite all the above, I only got 4 as I couldn't think of Poaching.
The definition's actually wider than that in the UK - burglary is trespass with intent to commit theft, assault or criminal damage. The trespass can be of a part of the building where you're not entitled to be.
So if you go behind the counter at KFC to throw onion rings at the staff, you're technically guilty of burglary. And who among us can say we haven't been tempted?
They aren't in the US, either. However definitions differ from state to state. For example, in Missouri, a charge of First Degree Burglary requires that someone who is armed, unlawfully enters or remains in a structure where another person is present who is not involved in the burglary. Second Degree Burglary is simply unlawfully entering a building with the intent to commit a crime. Second Degree Robbery is forcibly taking property and causing physical injury, while First Degree Robbery is forcibly stealing property while either seriously injuring another, having a deadly weapon, displaying a real or fake weapon, threatening another with a weapon, or stealing controlled substances from a pharmacy. Unless QM wanted to list all the definitions from each state and country, he did fine with the quiz the way it is.
It's interesting that you cite Missouri for all of those definitions, and I completely agree with your assessment. However, here in the Ozarks, the ultimate designation for those committing such acts is..."the recently deceased."
In my part of the world, robbery is stealing from someone with their knowledge and against their will (e.g., a mugging), whereas burglary is doing it covertly (sneaking in someone's house).
^ +1 - Taking a pen or a ream of paper is simple theft, not embezzlement. Embezzlement means appropriating money that is not yours, such as altering the books to conceal your embezzlement, breaking open the company safe or stealing and cashing checks made out to your boss or forging his signature to obtain funds from the company's bank account..
Completely agree. Embezzlement had an incorrect description. The description had me thinking of employees taking home a few office supplies. The clue should make mention of misappropriation of money as your own. This really should be corrected.
A vagrant is someone who has set up house illegally (on the streets or in an abandoned building for example), while a loiterer is someone who frequents any particular location (like hanging out on corner, watching all the girls go by) for either nefarious purposes (to "case" a building, for example) or simply to annoy.
s sated previously, BIgamy is two wives; POLYgamy is many wives. While Bigamy is technically polygamy, the word would not exist if it did not specifically meant to refer to two, rather than many.
I don't buy that, having 2 wives could be described as either, so either should be accepted. And in most cases only polygamy is used because it doesn't unnecessarily restrict the scope of the crime.
However, if you guys want to get that technical, I believe the question asks for having two spouses, and Bigamy specifically means two wives. I believe there is a different word for multiple spouses and thus, bigamy is technically incorrect.
If we wanted to get EXTREMELY technical, "bigamy," and "polygamy" both refer to having two, or many WIVES. The question asked about "spouses," and those women guilty of "polyandry" have multiple husbands.
I gotta crime: I break into Tiffany's at midnight. Do I go for the vault? No, I go for the chandelier. It's priceless. As I'm taking it down, a woman catches me. She tells me to stop. It's her father's business. She's Tiffany. I say no. We make love all night. In the morning, the cops come and I escape in one of their uniforms. I tell her to meet me in Mexico, but I go to Canada. I don't trust her. Besides, I like the cold. Thirty years later, I get a postcard. I have a son and he's the chief of police. This is where the story gets interesting. I tell Tiffany to meet me in Paris by the Trocadero. She's been waiting for me all these years. She's never taken another lover. I don't care. I don't show up. I go to Berlin. That's where I stashed the chandelier.
Burglary, theft, resisting law enforcement, impersonating a law enforcement officer, and felony non-support of a dependent are the only ones I'm seeing. Although choosing a chandelier stashed in Germany over marrying into the Tiffany fortune is clearly your dumbest move.
Great quiz! Could you please consider multiple spellings for perjury? I tried everything from purjery to purgery and perjory, but somehow never landed on the correct spelling.
Burglary is trespass with the intent to commit a felony within the premises. The felony does not need to be theft, although that is the most common. Note that burglary requires ‘intent’ only; there is typically no requirement that the felony actually be committed (requirements vary slightly by state). However, burglary is always punished more severely than theft when the stolen goods are the same value.
Robbery is theft using violence or the threat of violence. The penalties are much more severe than mere theft. If you stole a $100 watch, you might not even get jail time. But point a gun at someone and steal an identical watch, and you’re likely looking at years in prison.
TL;DR: The terms ‘burglary’, ‘robbery’, and ‘theft’ are literally different crimes, with different requirements and very different sentences. Burglary doesn’t require theft; theft cannot include violence; and robbers must use violence. They are not interchangeable.
I would also point out that, historically, and even as recently as when I started practice, burglary typically included that the building or structure into which one gained unauthorized access with the intent to commit a felony be a "dwelling". This made sense that burglary, carrying stiffer penalties than theft in most jurisdictions, involve the violation of one's home. You accurately state that most jurisdictions have watered that down to include any building or structure and even in some jurisdictions include businesses open to the public during business hours as to anyone who's ever been "banned" from such store. Just the logical fallout of our great plutocracy; corporate rights and individual burdens are expanding while corporate burdens and individual rights are contracting.
It would be helpful if you specified these are US terms. For example, under Scottish law, there is no such term as arson. The equivalent here is the much more descriptive term, 'wilful fire-raising'
The distinction given between libel and slander - in the UK at least - isn't quite right. Libel is something expressed in a permanent form and slander is in a fleeting form. So words spoken in a movie would be libel.
Kept waiting for one of the answers to be regicide. One of my favorite random jokes from the Simpsons: "If you know the king or queen being murdered, press one!"
It's not actually hanging around too long that's the crime. Loitering is when you defy a lawful order to leave the premises. So you can stand in one place for 36 hours if you want, but if you stand there for 30 minutes, and a cop tells you to move, and you don't, you're loitering. You need to establish you have a reason to be where you are to defy their order. The law is absurd in my view, but it's misunderstood. It's not about how long you've been standing around, but whether you ignore the police's order to leave.
I wasn't thinking big enough with stealing from my employer, I was thinking stapler and pens!! And I couldn't remember the arranging a future crime and all I could think of was "plotting" which seems perfectly reasonable LOL
I think I commented before that I could think of someone who had committed most of the crimes on this list. Comment is gone now. Not surprising the evidence has gone missing. Obstruction of justice also on the offenders' long list of prosecutable misdeeds.
I think you should allow adjectives to the terms you are asking for, like bribing for bribery and conspiring for conspiracy. A lot of us don't speak english as a first language therefore we can't remember every little term.
Hope that doesn't make you feel bad.
To ask for 'kidnap' to be accepted is like asking for 'Solicit' or 'Burgle' (or, conversely 'Murdering')
So, the Quizmaster is entirely correct in refusing to allow kidnap.
I agree with kdc4 - robbery and mugging require force or its threat whereas theft does not. Therefore theft should NOT be accepted.
@BazMcHat - unless it has changed since I left UK law school 30 years ago, libel IS a criminal offence in the UK (whereas slander is not). Both are torts (as indeed are most crimes).
Despite all the above, I only got 4 as I couldn't think of Poaching.
So if you go behind the counter at KFC to throw onion rings at the staff, you're technically guilty of burglary. And who among us can say we haven't been tempted?
Robbery is theft using violence or the threat of violence. The penalties are much more severe than mere theft. If you stole a $100 watch, you might not even get jail time. But point a gun at someone and steal an identical watch, and you’re likely looking at years in prison.
TL;DR: The terms ‘burglary’, ‘robbery’, and ‘theft’ are literally different crimes, with different requirements and very different sentences. Burglary doesn’t require theft; theft cannot include violence; and robbers must use violence. They are not interchangeable.
P.S. I’m a lawyer; we nitpick professionally.
Very fun quiz. I was surprised not to see larceny on there.
And the Lufthansa heist. And the British Bank of the Mideast robbery. And the Northern Bank robbery. Etc.