What is a Crime?      

Most people know the difference between right and wrong. If you do something that hurts another persons or makes them feel really bad then it is more than likely wrong.

CRIMES are against the law! Politicians make laws in Parliament. In Australia we have two lots of laws because we have a Federal Government and we also have a State Government.

Therefore we have State Laws and we also have Federal Laws.

When laws are made in Parliament they must go through several stages and Politicians vote on each part of the law which are called Acts of Parliament, and Acts then have sections.

For instance - the Criminals Law Consolidation Act has many sections, one for murder, one for larceny (stealing), one for assault and so on. Some people make it their profession or job to study the law and they become experts at it and they are called lawyers.

It is the responsibility of the Police, usually, to investigate and report those people who are suspected of breaking the Law. The report goes to Court and the people involved are sometimes also required to attend the court to tell the court what happened.

Courts can let the person accused of committing the crime go free if it can't be proved that they committed the crime, or they can punish the person if it is proven that they did commit the crime. The punishment can be a fine, prison, or even community service.

This is just a very simple explanation, laws and Court procedure can be very difficult to understand.

If you think that someone has committed a Crime but you are not sure, you can go to a Police Station, ring the Police Station and ask, or you can ask a lawyer.

If you know that someone has committed a crime and you want to tell, you should tell your parents or teacher or a policeman. You can also ring Crime Stoppers and tell them all about it, on......

People who commit crimes can be anyone. The sometimes look very nice, Act very nice (except when committing the crime) and are sometimes very important people. It is sometimes very hard to believe that a person could commit a crime. This means that you need to be as careful, and as watchful as you can.