Page 4854 - Week 16 - Monday, 25 November 1991
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Crime is distinguished from general wrongdoing in all of the definitions which have come down to us since its Middle English origin, by three elements: it is "injurious to the public welfare"; it is a wrongdoing of a "most grave and serious" character; and it is a violation of laws set up for the public good. The definition of acts as criminal has always therefore had two bases: the community belief that the practice is fundamentally morally wrong, and the community's expectation that it should be protected from such acts by serious penalties and sanctions under a Criminal Code. In this category, Australian society still believes that such acts as murder, violence against others, trafficking in drugs, theft, fraud and organised corruption, are both (i) immoral and wrong and (ii) so immoral and wrong and socially harmful as to warrant major penalty.
Professor Byrne goes on, under the heading, "Immorality at the illegal but not criminal level":
Australian society still believes that such acts as cruelty to animals, lying and misrepresentation about other people in the context of slander and libel, unfair treatment of others to the point of discrimination, refusing to honour a contract, are both (i) an offence against the community standard of moral principles and therefore unacceptable and (ii) sufficiently harmful and anti-social as to warrant legal but not criminal penalties.
Professor Byrne continues, under the heading, "Anti-social behaviour which is not necessarily seen to have a moral/immoral base, but which is still illegal":
We accept that some behaviour is sufficiently anti-social as to be either such a danger to others or such an unreasonable inconvenience, as to need legal regulation of some kind, but for reasons of practicality or consideration of reasonableness rather than a sense of community morality. It is illegal to drive on the wrong side of the road, to cause undue disturbance of neighbours at midnight, or to cause pollution. This behaviour carries a community stigma of unacceptability as well as sanctions and penalties; but only some in the wider community would also regard it as immoral.
The last area was described as, "Behaviour regarded as undesirable or not particularly moral, but on which no community sanction is (or could be) placed". She writes:
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