₦airaland Forum

First-Time Homebuyer -checklist

Guidance and perspectives

Spending more time at home last year has many Americans trading in their rentals for something more permanent. If owning a home is one of your goals, here are some tips to help you get started.

Create a budget for your monthly mortgage payment

Add up what you currently spend on rent, utilities, other home expenses and the amounts you're saving for a down payment. Then consider whether additional costs like homeowner association (HOA) fees, property taxes, additional utilities or insurance needs will increase your home expenses. If there is a gap, look to reduce spending in other parts of your budget or reduce your future home costs.

Check your credit score.

A high credit score could mean the opportunity for a lower interest rate. If your score needs improvement, you may want to delay your home purchase and work on that first.

Understand how much you qualify for – and want to spend

Meet with lenders before you start shopping to determine the loan amount you qualify for and get pre-approved. But remember, just because a lender approves you for a certain amount doesn't mean you should borrow that amount. If having an expensive home means sacrificing other priorities – like saving for a child's education or your retirement – you may want to rethink your home purchase budget.

Save for your down payment

Having a down payment of more than 20% allows you to avoid paying for private mortgage insurance (PMI) in addition to your monthly loan payments. First-time home buyers may qualify for down payment assistance, so be sure to explore that option.

Plan for unexpected expenses

Homeownership is a dream come true for many, but it can be a nightmare if you're not prepared. Appliances break. Trees fall. Drains back up. Having an emergency fund can ensure you don't tap into your long-term investments or take on debt to pay for them. Ideally, you'll want to have three to six months' worth of living expenses in your emergency fund.

Landlord : the owner of property (such as land, houses, or apartments) that is leased or rented to another

Does it feel like there’s a conflict of interest between you and your potential agent? You want to buy or sell at the right price in the right time frame, but agents benefit from higher commission checks and shorter closing times.

What Is Property Management?

Property management is the daily oversight of residential, commercial, or industrial real estate by a third-party contractor. Generally, property managers take responsibility for day-to-day repairs and ongoing maintenance, security, and upkeep of properties. They usually work for the owners of investment properties such as apartment and condominium complexes, private home communities, shopping centers, and industrial parks.

We are not responsible for the loss of personal property.

He was trying to sell stolen property.

He was caught trespassing on private property.

She owns all sorts of property around town.

The students were caught smoking on school property.

He owns several valuable properties in the area.
a developer of commercial properties

One of the properties of helium is its lightness.

A unique property of garlic is its strong odor.
The two plants h

How Do You Calculate Property Taxes?

Property taxes are determined by multiplying a tax rate, determined by the local tax authority, by the assessed value of the property. If the value of a property is $100,000 and the tax rate is 4%, the property taxes are $4,000.

HOW TO USE PROPERTY IN A SENTENCE


* SEOs have been complaining for years that Google is taking up ever more SERP real estate with their own properties and money-makers.


* Several San Diego City Council members have expressed interest in a new tax that would pay for more low-income housing by charging property owners who leave their homes vacant.

* To make things worse, she had an accident while on my property and sued the company that owns the development.


* If some City Council members get their wish, San Diego will soon study whether it can pay for low-income housing by charging property owners who leave their homes vacant.


* The team’s insight is that they could leverage these quantum properties to build a system similar to neurons and synapses in the brain.

* Last week, property owners were beaten by security guards as they confronted a real-estate developer who defrauded them.


* When the police showed up, it was the property owners who were arrested.


* We employ inventory management to help solidify their property and make sure they have a better record of their possessions.


* The twin entrepreneurs and stars of HGTV's property Brothers will be taking your questions live on Tuesday, December 16 at 2pm.


* Shadman transferred millions to banks outside Afghanistan in 2013 to buy propertyto open a business in Dubai, according to Banes.


* The old earl's property, the source of his wealth, as from his title the reader will have shrewdly guessed, was in collieries.


* But one thing remained for Felipe now, If Ramona lived, he would find her, and restore to her this her rightful property.


* He used to walk through the park, and note with pleasure the care that his father bestowed on the gigantic property.


* The “Compañia General de Tabacos” lost about ₱30,000 in cash in addition to the damage done to their offices and property.


* For example, there is a vast discussion afoot upon the questions that centre upon property, its rights and its limitations.

You are welcome

What is Property Law?

Property law governs ownership of both tangible and intangible objects. Tangible objects include property such as personal belongings, vehicles, buildings, and land. Intangible objects include investments, bank accounts, copyrights, and trademarks. Ownership of property also gives you the ability to use it as you like, and to sell or give it to someone else. The right to transfer property is a key right of property ownership.1

Property ownership is a foundational right, one that defines a person’s independence and wealth. Ownership of property is such an important concept that it is protected by the 5th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The 5th Amendment Takings Clause—“Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation”—protects individuals when the government takes their private property in order to benefit the public good. This process, called “eminent domain,” is legal in some circumstances, but the government must pay the property “just compensation” for the property loss. An example of this “eminent domain” is the government providing compensation to a landowner whose property is needed to expand a public roadway..2

While this protection of property rights has been established since the very inception of the U.S., the Takings Clause is open to interpretation. Consider the case Kelo vs. New London, where the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that private property could be seized for redevelopment by a private company because the public would benefit from increased tax revenue and jobs.3

Types of Property

All property belongs to one of three categories: real property, personal property, or intellectual property.

Real Property

Real property is land or things attached to land, such as buildings, trees, and plants. Mineral rights below the land’s surface and air-space rights above the land are also part of the property.

The owners of real property have the following rights, as long as they do not violate the law:

Right of enjoyment to use the property
Right of exclusion to control who can access the property
Right of possession to live on the property
Right of disposition to transfer ownership
Right of control to modify, destroy, or rent the property, and the right to make legal decisions over the property
Laws governing where the real property exists may override the owner’s rights. For example, the law may recognize private rights of a third party to access the land, called “easements,” and easements might override, or qualify, the right of exclusion, and zoning laws might override the owner’s right to use the property as they wish. 4

Personal Property

This refers to tangible and intangible things owned by an individual that are movable (unlike real property, which is fixed in place). Common examples include:

Personal belongings such as clothing and jewelry
Household items such as furniture, some appliances, and artwork
Vehicles such as cars, trucks, and boats
Bank accounts and investments such as stocks, bonds, and insurance policies
Personal property, like real property, can be sold, given as a gift, passed to at death, or used as collateral for a loan.5

Intellectual Property

Often referred to as IP, intellectual property consists of rights in inventions or creations such as artworks, writings and designs that are used in business. Legal ways of protecting IP include:

Patents on inventions
Copyrights for creations including books, music art, computer programs, and films
Trademarks and servicemarks, such as logos and brand names that differentiate goods or services
Trade secrets, such as the recipe for a certain famous soft drink
By protecting IP, creators are rewarded for putting new inventions and artworks into the public realm for a limited number of years.6

Property Ownership

All types of property can be owned by individuals or groups. The most common types of ownership are:

Sole ownership by a single individual
Joint tenancy: Ownership by two or more people in equal shares
Tenancy in common: A type of joint ownership by two or more people with equal or unequal shares
Community property which has been acquired during the marriage and is equally owned by the spouses
Joint tenancy and tenancy in common might seem similar, but there are important differences.

With joint tenancy:

Tenants (owners) hold equal shares and have equal rights and equal responsibilities
If one tenant dies, that share is distributed equally to the remaining tenants
Shares cannot always be sold or used as loan collateral without the agreement of all tenants
With tenancy in common:

Tenants can have equal or unequal shares, but all have equal rights to enjoy the property
Tenants hold title individually to their portion of the property, and can sell it or use their portion as collateral
Upon the tenant’s death, ownership can be transferred to persons named in the tenant’s will or, if the tenant has no will, to their heirs7
Property Transactions

One type of real property transaction occurs when someone buys or sells rights to a property. This may be land, buildings, and/or a long-term lease of land.8 While a realtor may facilitate the terms of the sale, an attorney is often needed to correct any legal issues, draft the legal documents, and file the paperwork with the correct agencies.9

As a right of real property ownership, the owner may rent or lease the property to someone else. In general, renting refers to a short-term agreement such as 30 days, while a lease is one year or longer. The rental or lease agreement spells out the details such as payment amounts and due dates, responsibilities of the lessor (owner/landlord) and lessee (tenant), and terms of renewal.10

Property Disputes

Whether two neighbors disagree on their property line or a landlord and tenant feel the other is responsible for a repair, property disputes are common. Disputes over property titles or use happen frequently as well. These may stem from sellers who don’t have clear title to the property or disputes over land use, zoning, HOA covenants, or access, to name just a few.

Resolving real property disputes can be an upsetting, time-intensive, and expensive proposition. It's best to get good legal advice, a title search, and an accurate survey before acquiring property in order to avoid these kinds of conflicts. Once a conflict occurs, sometimes neighbors can resolve their differences amicably, by negotiating between themselves, or even involving an outside mediator. The mediator’s decision would not necessarily be binding on the two parties, but an outside party can sometimes find a solution that the parties can agree to in the end.

If informal attempts to resolve a property dispute are not effective, litigation is an available remedy. When large sums of money or valuable property is involved, litigation may be the best way to protect your rights.

In the arena of mental health, criminal psychologists contribute by working with offenders who may struggle with various mental illnesses. Their work can involve assessing and treating individuals who commit crimes due to mental health issues. Their interventions aim not only to address the immediate mental illness issues but also to reduce the risk of future criminal behavior.
The role of criminal psychologists extends into legal proceedings and mental health, most criminal psychologists are making significant contributions to both fields. Their expertise helps ensure the fairness of legal proceedings and the appropriate treatment of individuals involved in the criminal justice system.
The field of criminal psychology is typically varied for those who decide study the discipline. When considering a criminal psychology major - or related major - it's crucial to understand that this field is fundamentally interdisciplinary.
A bachelor's degree in criminal psychology or criminal justice often includes courses not only in psychology but also in social science, criminal justice, and usually forensic psychology.
It helps to provide a foundation for students interested in this field by introducing them to the understanding of criminal behavior, the legal system, and the ways in which criminal psychology and forensic psychology can be applied within these contexts.
Obviously, to become a criminal psychologist, a solid education is required.

Their expertise is also applied in the court system. They help legal teams better understand the psychological aspects of a defendant's actions and potential recidivism.
They may also serve as expert witnesses, providing clear, concise explanations of complex psychological principles and their implications for a defendant's actions or mindset.
Moreover, many criminal psychologists focus on rehabilitation and treatment within the justice system. They work with convicted offenders, aiming to help them understand and modify their behaviors.
By doing so, they support the primary goals of the justice system: not only punishment but also prevention and reformation. The role of a criminal psychologist within the system is multi-faceted, encompassing contributions to law enforcement, court proceedings, and offender treatment.
They provide essential insights into the psychological aspects of behavior, significantly aiding in the pursuit of justice. Nonetheless, the breadth and complexity of their duties necessitate rigorous training, continual learning, and a high degree of professional commitment.

The criminal justice system is a complex network of agencies and processes designed to uphold laws, investigate crimes, and dispense justice. Within this system, criminal psychologists play a crucial role, providing their expertise to various segments of this intricate structure.
One key area where criminal psychologists typically work is within law enforcement agencies. Their contributions in this setting range from helping to design police interrogation techniques to providing support for law enforcement officers.
Criminal psychologists focus not only on behavior but also on the impacts of these interactions on the law enforcement professionals themselves.
Criminal psychologists often work in collaboration with many other justice professionals. They assist in creating offender profiles, studying patterns of behavior, and understanding the motivations behind criminal acts.
In doing so, they provide law enforcement professionals with crucial insights that can lead to more accurate investigations and more effective law enforcement strategies.

A central facet of criminal psychology is the process of criminal profiling, a technique frequently used in criminal investigations.
Profiling involves constructing a psychological and behaviorally-based portrait of an individual who is likely to have committed a crime. The criminal profile process is complex, involving an in-depth understanding of criminal behavior and psychology.
Psychological profiling isn't about identifying a specific individual; instead, it's about identifying a type of individual. A clinical psychologist or criminal profiler looks at the evidence from crime scenes and, based on this, infers the characteristics of the likely offender, including personality traits, behavior patterns, and demographic variables.
Moreover, criminal psychologists often use crime scene photos and details about the nature of the alleged crime to deduce a criminal's profile. Their interpretations provide a unique perspective that can contribute significantly to the solving of crimes. The behavioral clues left at a crime scene can give insights into the personality and motivations of the perpetrator.

I can

The field of criminal psychology delves into the intricate workings of the criminal mind. A criminal psychologist is a professional who studies the wills, thoughts, intentions, and reactions of criminals and potential criminals. It may sound like a thrilling venture straight out of a popular television series, but it's a serious scientific field with a profound societal impact and becoming a criminal psychologist isn't easy.

The focus of criminal psychology lies predominantly in understanding and predicting criminal behavior. The criminal psychology field encompasses an extensive array of aspects relating to a criminal's behavior, such as the causes of such behavior, the thoughts and feelings behind the behavior, and its prevention.

In essence, to become a criminal psychologist, it's about comprehending why certain individuals commit crimes and how these actions might be deterred or prevented.

The primary purpose of the criminal psychology field, then, is not solely to understand criminal minds for the sake of knowledge.

Rather, criminal psychologists work to apply this understanding in practical settings - for instance, to help law enforcement officers prevent crimes or to assist in the rehabilitation of those who have committed crimes. These findings can also be used to help design correctional facilities and programs, or to improve interrogation techniques.

It's not unusual to find criminal psychologists and law enforcement officials working in tandem.

Knowledge of the types of people who are victims of crime requires that they report their crimes, either to the police or to researchers who ask them about their experiences as a victim. Some crimes are greatly underreported in official statistics—rape is an example—but may be more accurately reported in victim surveys. Yet just as those who are caught or admit to committing crimes do not necessarily represent all criminals, those who report being victims of crime are not necessarily typical of the whole range of victims. Nevertheless, some basic facts gathered from official reports and victim surveys give a reasonably accurate portrayal of crime victims. Probably the most important basic fact is that patterns of offending and patterns of victimization are quite similar. That is, the groups that are most likely to be crime victims are the same groups that are most likely to commit crimes. In particular, crime victims are more likely to be male, young, part of a lower socioeconomic class, and members of ethnic or racial minority groups.

The principle of criminal intention is subject to many other exceptions and qualifications. For a very few offenses, known as offenses of strict liability, it is abandoned completely or is allowed only a limited scope. For example, employers may be held liable if employees are injured on the job, regardless of how carefully the employers followed safety precautions, and manufacturers may be held liable for injuries that result from product defectiveness, even if they exhibited no fault or negligence in the manufacturing process whatsoever. For a very few other offenses, the individual must have a “specific intent” either to commit a crime (e.g., a common definition of burglary involves breaking and entering a dwelling “with intent to commit a felony therein”) or to achieve the consequences of an act (e.g., first-degree murder usually requires the specific intent to achieve the death of the victim). The fact that an individual had been drinking or using drugs before committing a crime is not in itself a defense, except possibly for crimes that require such specific intent. Provocation is not generally a defense either, except in cases of murder, where evidence of a high degree of provocation (in English law, sufficient to provoke a reasonable person into acting in the same way as the accused) could result in a verdict of manslaughter, even if the killing was intentional. On the other hand, some “felony murder” statutes attribute criminal intention to any deaths that occur during the commission of certain “dangerous felonies.” This is similar to strict liability. For example, in one case in the United States, a person committing a robbery took a hostage, who then was accidentally killed by the police. The robber was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

In most countries the detection of crime is the responsibility of the police, though special law enforcement agencies may be responsible for the discovery of particular types of crime (e.g., customs departments may be charged with combating smuggling and related offenses). Crime detection falls into three distinguishable phases: the discovery that a crime has been committed, the identification of a suspect, and the collection of sufficient evidence to indict the suspect before a court. Many crimes are discovered and reported by persons other than the police (e.g., victims or witnesses). Certain crimes—in particular those that involve a subject’s assent, such as dealing in illicit drugs or prostitution, or those in which there may be no identifiable victim, such as obscenity—are often not discovered unless the police take active steps to determine whether they have been committed. To detect such crimes, therefore, controversial methods are sometimes required (e.g., electronic eavesdropping, surveillance, interception of communications, and infiltration of gangs).

Civil law

Whereas the criminal legal systems of most English-speaking countries are based on English common law, those of most European and Latin American countries, as well as many countries in Africa and Asia, are based on civil law. The civil-law tradition originated in the Law of the Twelve Tables (451–450 BC), a legal code that was posted in the Roman Forum. In civil law the legislature, as the representative of the public, is viewed as the only valid source of law. It attempts to provide a complete, detailed, and written legal code that is understandable to the common citizen and applies in virtually all situations. Therefore, legal codes in civil-law countries tend to be much lengthier than those in common-law countries, if indeed those countries have them at all. The typical pattern in civil law includes a definition of an offense, various relevant legal principles, and a list of specific applications of the law and specific exceptions. Judges are expected to apply the law as it is written and generally are prohibited from engaging in the type of interpretation that regularly occurs in common-law systems. If more than one law applies to a case, or if the circumstances are such that the law’s application is unclear, then judges refer to the legal principles that are contained in the law. Owing to the central role of the legislature in developing the legal code, civil-law systems also generally lack the type of judicial review that in common-law countries results in what is called case law (i.e., law that derives from judicial interpretations of legislative statutes or the constitution).

There are three categories of crime: felony, misdemeanor, and violation. A felony is the most serious of crimes, usually resulting in long periods of prison time and heavy fines. A misdemeanor is a less serious crime that usually results in a short period of time in jail and/or small fines. A violation is the least serious offenses of breaking the law. Violations are usually given through warnings, tickets, or small fines.

Gender patterns

Crime is predominantly a male activity. In all criminal populations, whether of offenders passing through the courts or of those sentenced to institutions, men outnumber women by a high proportion, especially in more-serious offenses. For example, at the beginning of the 21st century, in the United States, men accounted for approximately four-fifths of all arrests and nine-tenths of arrests for homicide, and in Britain women constituted only 5 percent of the total prison population. Nevertheless, in most Western societies the incidence of recorded crime by women and the number of women in the criminal-justice system have increased. For instance, from the mid- to late 1990s in the United States, arrests of males for violent offenses declined by more than one-tenth, but corresponding figures for women increased by the same amount. To some analysts, those statistics indicated increasing criminal activity by women and suggested that the changing social role of women had led to greater opportunity and temptation to commit crime. However, other observers argued that the apparent increase in female criminality merely reflected a change in the operation of the criminal-justice system, which routinely had ignored crimes committed by women. Although arrest data suggested that female criminality had increased faster than male criminality, the national crime victim survey showed that violent offending in the United States by both males and females had fallen in the same years. At the beginning of the 21st century, the rate of murders committed by women was about two-fifths below its peak in 1980.


Age patterns

Crime also is predominantly a youthful activity. Although statistics vary between countries, involvement in minor property crime generally peaks between ages 15 and 21. Participation in more-serious crimes peaks at a later age—from the late teenage years through the 20s—and criminality tends to decline steadily after the age of 30. The evidence as to whether this pattern, widely found across time and place, is a natural effect of aging, the consequence of taking on family responsibilities, or the effect of experiencing penal measures imposed by the law for successive convictions is inconclusive. Not all types of crime are subject to decline with aging, however. Fraud, certain kinds of theft, and crimes requiring a high degree of sophistication are more likely to be committed by older men, and sudden crimes of violence, committed for emotional reasons, may occur at any age.

Social-class patterns

The relationship between social class or economic status and crime has been studied extensively. Research carried out in the United States in the 1920s and ’30s claimed to show that a higher incidence of criminality was concentrated in deprived and deteriorating neighbourhoods of large cities, and studies of penal populations revealed that levels of educational and occupational attainment were generally lower than in the wider population. Early studies of juvenile delinquents also showed a high proportion of lower-class offenders. However, later research called into question the assumption that criminality was closely associated with social origin, particularly because such studies often overlooked white-collar crime and other criminal acts committed by people of higher socioeconomic status. Self-report studies have suggested that offenses are more widespread across the social spectrum than the figures based on identified criminals would suggest.

Racial patterns

The relationship between racial or ethnic background and criminality has evoked considerable controversy. Most penal populations do contain a disproportionately high number of persons from some minority racial groups relative to their numbers in the general population. However, some criminologists have pointed out that this may be the result of the high incidence among minority racial groups of characteristics that are commonly associated with identified criminality (e.g., unemployment and low economic status) and the fact that in many cities racial minority groups inhabit areas that have traditionally had high crime rates, perhaps as a result of their shifting populations and general lack of social cohesion. Other explanations have focused on the enforcement practices of the police, which may be influenced by racial discrimination.

Countries with majority Muslim populations have adopted diverse legal systems. Those that were once English colonies (e.g., Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jordan, and some of the Persian Gulf states) largely adopted English criminal law and procedure, and those under French colonial influence (e.g., the countries of the Maghrib and North Africa, including Egypt, as well as Syria and Iraq) generally adopted civil-law systems. A third group comprises those states that retained or later adopted Islamic law—called the Sharīʿah—with few or no reforms (e.g., Saudi Arabia and Iran). (The last shāh of Iran had reformed a large amount of the law, building on previous colonial laws, but it was almost totally replaced following the Islamic revolution in that country in 1979.)

Islamic law is a theocratic legal system that is believed to be derived from God (Allah) through the teachings of Muhammad as recorded in the Qurʾān. In fundamentalist Islam, law is also derived from the teachings of Muhammad that are not explicitly in the Qurʾān. Laws do not originate from secular sources, such as kings or legislatures. The Sharīʿah serves as a criminal code that lists several ḥadd crimes, or offenses for which punishments are fixed and unalterable. For example, apostasy requires a death sentence, extramarital sexual relations require death by stoning, and consuming alcoholic beverages requires 80 lashes. Other lesser crimes (taʿzīr) allow judges discretion in sentencing offenders.

Forensic science plays an important role in the investigation of serious crimes. One of the first significant achievements in the field was the development of techniques for identifying individuals by their fingerprints. In the 19th century, it was discovered that almost any contact between a finger and a fixed surface left a latent mark that could be made visible by a variety of procedures (e.g., the use of a fine powder). In 1894 in England the Troup Committee, a group established by the Home Secretary to determine the best means of personal identification, accepted that no two individuals had the same fingerprints—a proposition that has never been seriously refuted. In 1900 another committee recommended the use of fingerprints for criminal identification. Fingerprint evidence was first accepted in an Argentine court in the 1890s and in an English court in 1902. Many other countries soon adopted systems of fingerprint identification as well.

Fingerprinting was originally used to establish and to make readily available the criminal records of individual offenders, but it quickly came to be widely used as a means of identifying the perpetrators of particular criminal acts. Most major police forces maintain collections of fingerprints that are taken from known criminals in order to identify them later should they commit other crimes. The FBI, for example, reportedly held millions of prints in its electronic database at the beginning of the 21st century. Fingerprints found at crime scenes thus can be matched with fingerprints in such collections.
Historically, searching fingerprint collections was a time-consuming manual task, relying on various systems of classification. The development in the 1980s of computerized databases for the electronic storage and rapid searching of fingerprint collections has enabled researchers to match prints much more quickly.

Although the science of fingerprinting is popularly perceived as error-free, some critics have charged that it is not an exact science—in part because prints are rarely pristine when gathered at a crime scene—and that some defendants have been convicted on the basis of mistaken fingerprint identification. For example, in 2004 the FBI used a fingerprint to link Brandon Mayfield, an American attorney, to a train bombing in Madrid; however, he was vindicated after a review revealed that the fingerprint, used to obtain a warrant for his arrest, did not belong to him. According to the British standard, if a set of fingerprints found at a crime scene is incomplete, it may be said to match another set (e.g., a set stored in a fingerprint database) if the two sets share at least 16 characteristics. However, no particular number of characteristics is accepted everywhere, and some jurisdictions require as few as 12 characteristics to reach a conclusive identification.
A broad range of other scientific techniques are available to law enforcement agencies attempting to identify suspects or establish beyond doubt the connection between a suspect and a crime. Since becoming reliably available in the late 1980s, DNA fingerprinting of biological evidence (e.g., hair, sperm, and blood) can exclude a suspect absolutely or establish guilt with a very high degree of probability. Many other substances, such as fibres, paper, glass, and paint, can yield considerable information under microscopic or chemical analysis. Fibres discovered on the victim or at the scene of the crime can be tested to determine whether they are similar to those in the clothing of the suspect. Documents can be revealed as forgeries on the evidence that the paper on which they were written was manufactured by a technique not available at the time to which it allegedly dates. The refractive index of even small particles of glass may be measured to show that a given item or fragment of glass was part of a particular batch manufactured at a particular time and place. Computer networks allow investigators to search increasingly large bodies of data on material samples, though the creation of such databases is time-consuming and costly.

The relationship between crime and psychiatry
Lindsay D.G. Thomson, Louise Robinson, in Companion to Psychiatric Studies (Eighth Edition), 2010

Traditional view
Criminal behaviour, particularly violence, by the mentally ill has become a major public issue in the Western world. In the context of an increasing crime rate the public has identified the mentally ill as a significant contributory factor (Appleby & Wessely 1988, Levey & Howells 1995). The UK government has responded by emphasising public protection as paramount in its mental health policies. The question ‘how criminal are people with psychiatric disorder?’ can never be answered with certainty. As a proportion of all psychiatric admissions, the number of patients admitted compulsorily as a consequence of an offence is tiny. In 2003/04 there were 1300 hospital admissions in England and Wales under Part III (the criminal provisions) of the Mental Health Act 1983; this represents approximately 5% of all compulsory admissions to hospitals (Department of Health 2005).
Early research in this area concentrated on arrest rates in former psychiatric patients. These were shown to be minimally higher than those of the general population, or only higher for certain offences. However, when arrest rates of former mental hospital patients were compared with samples matched for demographic variables, the differences disappeared (Monahan & Steadman 1983). Thus for years a somewhat sanguine view of the relation between mental illness and violent offending prevailed. It was held that the well-established factors associated with offending, such as poverty, criminality in the family, poor parenting, school failure, and hyperactivity and antisocial behaviour in childhood, were powerful factors that overshadowed any effect due to mental illness (West 1988).

Criminal behaviour is defined by the laws of particular jurisdictions, and there are sometimes vast differences between and even within countries regarding what types of behaviour are prohibited. Conduct that is lawful in one country or

jurisdiction may be criminal in another, and activity that amounts to a trivial infraction in one jurisdiction may

constitute a serious crime elsewhere. Changing times and social attitudes may lead to changes in criminal law, so that behaviour that was once criminal may become lawful. For example, abortion, once prohibited except in the most unusual circumstances, is now lawful in many countries, as is homosexual behaviour in private between consenting adults in most Western countries, though it remains a serious offense in some parts of the world. Once criminal, suicide and attempted suicide have been removed from the scope of criminal law in some jurisdictions. Indeed, in the U.S. state of Oregon the Death with Dignity Act (passed in 1997) allows terminally ill individuals to end their lives through the use of lethal medications prescribed by a physician. Nonetheless, the general trend has been toward increasing the scope of criminal law rather than decreasing it, and it has been more common to find that statutes create new criminal offenses rather than abolishing existing ones. New technologies have given rise to new opportunities for their abuse, which has led to the creation of new legal restrictions. Just as the invention of the motor vehicle led to the development of a whole body of criminal laws designed to regulate its use, so the widening use of computers and especially the Internet has created the need to legislate against a variety of new abuses and frauds—or old frauds committed in new ways.


Africa
Criminal offenses in most modern African countries are defined in criminal or penal codes, a radical departure from the uncodified English criminal law on which many of these codes are based. Because of their origins, these codes generally reflect the penal assumptions of the original colonial power. The main concessions to local African values or problems are the inclusion of legislation against various customary practices, notably witchcraft; the extension of the criminal law in states with planned economies to cover economic crimes against the state; and, as a consequence of the soaring rate of some kinds of crime, special provision for certain offenses (e.g., armed robbery). Special tribunals, not subject to the ordinary rules of procedure, have been established in many African countries to deal with such offenses.
Sierra Leone retained a greater role for traditional, or customary, law than most other African countries. A former British territory that obtained independence in 1961, Sierra Leone adopted a “general law” based on English common law and on the statutes of the national legislature. In the mid-1960s those laws were consolidated in a single statute, but most of the population lived in rural areas and largely were governed by what was called “customary law.” Whereas general law now applies to the entire country, customary law, which originated in the customs and cultures of the indigenous peoples, still varies by area or district. Customary law is enforced in separate courts in which the judges are politically appointed tribal elders.
Nigeria established a tripartite system of criminal law and criminal justice. Its criminal code is based on English common law, but there is also a penal code based on the Sharīʿah and a customary law based on local traditions. In Zambia, local criminal courts handle the more-serious criminal cases, while customary courts handle most civil cases and less-serious criminal cases. Customary courts differ widely throughout the country—there are no lawyers and few formal rules of procedure, and the courts’ decisions often conflict with the formal law. In Uganda, in addition to formal criminal courts, customary courts are authorized to hear civil cases and criminal cases involving children, but in rural areas they often hear the entire range of criminal cases, including murder (homicide) and rape. In Zimbabwe, the Customary Law and Local Courts Act of 1990 created a single court system that hears both civil law and customary law cases at all levels of the judiciary, including that of the Supreme Court.