On Tue, 10 Dec 2019 18:19:05 -0600 John Hasler <jhas...@newsguy.com> wrote:
> The Wanderer writes: > > Hmm. In my lexicon, crimes are defined by statute. How does your > > definition differ? > > Crimes are acts that intentionally harm people (with a few exceptions > and special cases). Maybe we need a different word for that, to avoid confusion. Here's an old one: “Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful -- just stupid.)” > Statute violations are acts or states (e.g, > possession of certain substances or objects) that a government has > decided to punish people for. Often they coincide. Often they don't > (see Andrei's example of it being a "crime" to listen to certain radio > stations). The law defines what a 'crime' is. We need another word. -- Joe
