Can a crime be legal?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 30 May 2013 at 22:14

Just saw again an advert for a film saying all crime will be legal for 12 hours

I said I believed that statement was wrong how can something contradict its own meaning. I said the statement should be for 12 hours there is no law.

What started as a simple throw away statement started a bit of an argument so wondered if you good folks would read my view and why I say that :

So crime is defined as "an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law".
This leads us to law which is defined as "the system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties"

So in effect the statement says we have these rules which if you break one means you have comitted a crime, but we are ignoring that and saying they are not crimes.
So in effect this is a crime but for 12 hours its not a crime, so a "legal illegal activity"

So I resort to it should say "For 12 hours there are no laws"

Wierd post I know but does it make sense?

cm1179 · 30 May 2013 at 22:15

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Wierd post I know but does it make sense?

absoloutely not.

areksnumbr1sxylady · 30 May 2013 at 22:28

Can I have what you are having?? Seems nice....

dirtychinchilla · 30 May 2013 at 22:31

I get you, dude. You're absolutely right, but you're also right in saying that you're thinking about it way too hard

One · 30 May 2013 at 22:33

But surely this 12 hours of no laws would have to be written into law otherwise there would be no laws forever as there'd be no laws in place to create new laws or bring back the old ones. So 'for the next 12 hours there is only one law that for 12 hours all other laws are postponed.' This however is not quite as catchy as 'all crimes are legal for 12 hours', if that can be called 'catchy' in the firstplace.

Clipsey · 30 May 2013 at 22:34

As long as you get the idea of the film (Purge), then don't read in to the technicalities too much

semi-pro waster · 30 May 2013 at 22:36

It would appear to be saying that for 12 hours nothing will be considered a crime (or illegal if you prefer) so yes, you could equal render that as "there are no laws for 12 hours" - but it's a film tagline, getting worked up about inaccuracies in films could well take up the rest of your natural life...

Pudney · 30 May 2013 at 22:36

desires said:
But surely this 12 hours of no laws would have to be written into law otherwise there would be no laws forever as there'd be no laws in place to create new laws or bring back the old ones. So 'for the next 12 hours there is only one law that for 12 hours all other laws are postponed.' This however is not quite as catchy as 'all crimes are legal for 12 hours', if that can be called 'catchy' in the firstplace.

Of course not, you'd right the law to say at X time all laws stop and at Z time all laws start, therefore at Y time no laws are in effect including the law which stops and starts laws. Law.

Biohazard · 30 May 2013 at 22:37

I AM THE LAW

Scougar · 30 May 2013 at 22:40

If it's a legal crime, then it wouldn't be a crime.

Any time it looks like it might be a legal crime, that's just abuse of the law really and deliberate failure to not prosecute.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 30 May 2013 at 23:16

Clipsey said:
As long as you get the idea of the film (Purge), then don't read in to the technicalities too much

Ah yeah thats the film

Looks like its a deliberate ploy to reduce the population, at least from the trailers

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 30 May 2013 at 23:17

dirtychinchilla said:
I get you, dude. You're absolutely right, but you're also right in saying that you're thinking about it way too hard

Cheers, I just made a statement but it caused quite a reaction lol

I need to walk away for 10 minutes to avoid escaltion so thought I would post here. Its all calmed down now

Fenris · 30 May 2013 at 23:19

Eh, who cares, frankly the film looks garbage.

gregorius · 31 May 2013 at 08:14

One might wish to divide laws into two categories: one the one hand there are laws that derive from the very nature of things themselves; on the other hand there are those laws that are made by fiat of the state or community. Very roughly these categories are called "natural law" and "positive law" respectively.

Some would argue that the first category is non-empty. In that case, one should say that the scenario of the film is descibed by the suspension of justice: certain actions remain illegal under the natural law but they might remain unpunished.

Some would argue that the first category is empty. In that case, the scenario of the film should be described as as a suspension of law.

LateX'Dog · 31 May 2013 at 08:19

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Just saw again an advert for a film saying all crime will be legal for 12 hours

I said I believed that statement was wrong how can something contradict its own meaning. I said the statement should be for 12 hours there is no law.

What started as a simple throw away statement started a bit of an argument so wondered if you good folks would read my view and why I say that :

So crime is defined as "an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law".
This leads us to law which is defined as "the system of rules which a particular country or community recognizes as regulating the actions of its members and which it may enforce by the imposition of penalties"

So in effect the statement says we have these rules which if you break one means you have comitted a crime, but we are ignoring that and saying they are not crimes.
So in effect this is a crime but for 12 hours its not a crime, so a "legal illegal activity"

So I resort to it should say "For 12 hours there are no laws"

Wierd post I know but does it make sense?

If your a celebrity, politician or own millions of pounds, everything is legal.

sbi5ar · 31 May 2013 at 08:20

My question would be... Would anyone from OCUK deviate from their normal life to commit a 'legal crime' during this 12 hour window?

Not sure I would do anything... I have morals! (jumps on high horse and gallops away!)

ubersonic · 31 May 2013 at 08:25

/shrug, killing somebody is a crime but its legal in self defense...

Haggisman · 31 May 2013 at 08:32

sbi5ar said:
My question would be... Would anyone from OCUK deviate from their normal life to commit a 'legal crime' during this 12 hour window?

Not sure I would do anything... I have morals! (jumps on high horse and gallops away!)

Dunno - I quite fancy a new car!

Wonder how that would work with registration etc.... *ponders*

MowyTone · 31 May 2013 at 08:37

You mean I could hang round schools again for 12 hours? hmmm

Spektor · 31 May 2013 at 08:39

Start rinsing out your crack pipe between uses.