Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > There is a difference between what is *illegal* and what constitutes > > a *crime*. > > Why thank you, you've really made my day. That's the funniest thing I've > heard in months. Please, do tell, which brand of corn flakes was it that > you got your law degree from?
In US law at least, crimes are a certain subset of illegal acts. There are lawyers (both defense and prosecution) who specialize in criminal law, etc. Only the government is allowed to prosecute crimes, and criminal defendants get rights and assurances beyond what non-criminal defendants get. Basically a crime is something you can go to jail for (e.g. drunk driving) and you have to be proved guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt" and there are a bunch of rights that you get at a criminal trial that you don't get at a non-criminal one. Something like littering, for which you can be levied a fine but not sent to jail, is an "infraction" (not a crime) and you can be convicted on a lesser standard such as "preponderance of evidence". This classification is approximate and is not anything like an actual legal definition and there are all kinds of exceptions. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
