Section. 8. Effect of intentional wrong of the party injured. 9. Effect of consent of person wronged. 10. Effect of entrapment. 11. Effect of repentance and with drawal from the act. 12. An act or omission to constitute a crime must be so declared by law and must be contrary to law when committed. Section. 13. When omission to act is a crime. 14. Acts mala in se and acts mala prohibita. 15. Police wrongs and criminal wrongs. § 1. Definition of crime.-A crime is an act injurious to the public, forbidden by law and punishable by the state through a judicial proceeding in its own name. According to Bishop, "A crime is any wrong which the government deems injurious to the public at large, and punishes through a judicial proceeding in its own name.”1 Blackstone says a crime is "An act committed or omitted in violation of a public law either forbidding or commanding it." This definition, though often quoted, is faulty in several respects. It is not the act omitted which constitutes a crime, but the omission to act. Again, many acts which are not crimes are prohibited by public laws. Moreover, crimes are punishable only by the sovereign power. § 2. Reasons for and purposes of punishment.-It may be said that the purpose of punishment is the protection of society. Many theories have been put forth as the basis of punishment. Authorities have variously stated that its object is to prevent the offender from committing future wrongs, to provide for the public self-defense, to reform the offender, to terrify other offenders, to make public punishment an example to others, to bring about retribution for the 11 Bish. New Crim. L. (8th ed.), 24 Bl. Comm. 15. |