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crime

vr.tr.crime · thing-q83267

Let an agent keep the alleged act, the case and the conviction apart, and never treat a suspicion, a charge or a record as the same thing.

Thing Registry Activities and processes ACT.ACT
Bundle → Layer → Finding → QuestionsClassifiersWhat it isWhy it existsDistinguishing featuresWhat robots and AI may and may not doMoral aspectsOwnersLinks to other meta-modelsIdentity and identifiersDirect propertiesRecognitionCapabilities and actionsHazards and failure modesStandards and interfacesContext of useSources

Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled

4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions

Definition and jurisdiction What makes this conduct an offence, and where.

Offence definition

The elements that must be proved.

Elements of the offence

What must be established for conduct to fall under it.

  1. Which elements define this offence, under which statute and jurisdiction? definition
  2. What conduct falls outside it that a lay reader would assume falls inside? boundary

Jurisdictional variation

How the definition differs elsewhere.

Variation across jurisdictions

Where the same conduct is treated differently.

  1. How does this offence differ between the jurisdictions in scope? boundary
  2. What must an agent verify before applying a definition across a border? action
Stage and status Where a matter has got to, and what may be said about it.

Stages of the process

Report, investigation, charge, trial, outcome.

Current stage

Which stage a matter has reached and what that permits.

  1. What stage has this matter reached, and on whose record? provenance
  2. What may and may not be asserted publicly at this stage? action

Status of the people involved

Suspect, defendant, offender, victim, witness.

Roles and their protections

Which role each person holds and what protection follows.

  1. What status does each person hold in this matter? definition
  2. Which protections attach to that status, and what must an agent not do? action
Evidence and proof What is relied on and to what standard.

Evidence held

What exists, where it came from, and its integrity.

Evidence and its chain

The material relied on and how it was obtained.

  1. What evidence exists in this matter, obtained how, and is its chain intact? provenance
  2. What evidence is inadmissible, and why? boundary

Standard of proof

What must be shown at this stage.

Applicable standard

The bar for the current stage and who must meet it.

  1. What standard of proof applies at this stage, and who bears the burden? definition
  2. What must an agent refuse to conclude on the evidence available? action
Record and consequence What is kept afterwards and what it may be used for.

The record

What is recorded, by whom, for how long.

Record and retention

The record created and how long it may be held.

  1. What record does this outcome create, held by whom and for how long? provenance
  2. When does it become spent or expungeable, and what changes then? boundary

Permitted use

Who may see it and for what decisions.

Permitted uses of the record

What the record may lawfully influence.

  1. For which decisions may this record lawfully be used, and by whom? action
  2. What must an agent refuse to disclose or take into account? action

Classifiers Filled

Family
Thing Registry
Category
Activities and processes
Entry kind
thing
Plane
ACT
Domain
ACT.ACT
Other names and narrower kinds
clairvoyant, aiding and abetting, abandoned pet, 11 kitties, Dacoity, alternative therapist, wairo monaka, Nazi dental gold, Tokuryū, Criminal association, racketeering, numbers game

What it is Filled

An act or omission that satisfies the legal requirements of an offence punishable by the state in the applicable jurisdiction, whether or not it has been adjudicated or resulted in a conviction.

Why it exists Filled

Let an agent keep the alleged act, the case and the conviction apart, and never treat a suspicion, a charge or a record as the same thing.

Distinguishing features Filled

  • A crime is defined by a jurisdiction, so the same act may be a crime in one place and not in another, and its status can change over time.
  • An act can constitute a crime without adjudication, while a person's criminal responsibility is determined through legal process.
  • The act, the allegation, the charge, the case and the conviction are five different things.
  • A civil wrong may look identical and be handled entirely differently.

What robots and AI may and may not do Filled

Must not

  • Label a person as a criminal unless a court has convicted them.
  • Assist in planning or committing any offence.
  • Publish accusations, records or personal details of suspects or victims beyond what the law permits.
  • Treat the law of one jurisdiction as applying in another.

Only with a human decision

  • Deciding to report a suspected crime involving identifiable people.
  • Any use of criminal records in decisions about a person.

May

  • Describe the legal definition of an offence in a stated jurisdiction, citing the law.
  • Report factual events to the competent authority when required.

Moral aspects Filled

  • The presumption of innocence protects people from accusation by suspicion.
  • Victims need protection from exposure; offenders retain rights, including rehabilitation.

Who is affected

  • Victims
  • Suspects and accused people
  • Witnesses and communities

Owners Filled

Steward

The state: legislatures define crimes, courts adjudicate criminal responsibility, and police and prosecutors investigate and prosecute alleged offences.

Master systems

  • Court records document adjudicated cases.
  • Criminal records registers record criminal justice outcomes.

Links to other meta-models Filled

parent

  • Q1184244 - registry parent class
  • Q1456832 - registry parent class

related

  • the act itself - the act is observable; the crime is a legal conclusion about it
  • civil wrong - the same conduct may be both, or only one, with different standards and consequences
  • criminal record - the record is a separate object with its own lifetime and access rules
  • criminal law of a jurisdiction - there is no crime outside a definition
  • person - suspects, victims and witnesses are roles with different protections

What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled

Identity and identifiers required Filled

  • Vercy registry: vr.tr.crime
  • Wikidata: Q83267 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q83267)
  • offence code: jurisdiction-specific names the offence category, not an event
  • case or crime reference: agency-specific identifies the proceeding, which is what actually moves through stages

Direct properties not applicable Not applicable

Not applicable

Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.

Recognition optional Filled

  • Observation alone may not establish every legal element of a crime, although an observed act can constitute a crime before adjudication.
  • What can be observed is an act, an injury, a scene or a person - each of which is a different thing to record.
  • Records should distinguish observed facts and suspected offences from adjudicated findings.
  • Nothing to see. What is observed is conduct, and whether that conduct is a crime is a conclusion of law reached later, by someone else.

Capabilities and actions required Filled

  • record an allegation, which is not a finding
  • investigate, charge and try it, which are separate stages with separate standards
  • convict or acquit, which is what settles it and only for that charge
  • spend or expunge a record, after which it may not be used
  • get it wrong, which is why every stage has its own evidential bar

Hazards and failure modes required Filled

  • Treating an allegation as a finding, which is the central harm this model guards against
  • Carrying spent or expunged records forward, which is unlawful and hard to undo
  • Applying one jurisdiction definition in another
  • Conflating suspect, defendant and offender, which are three different statuses with different rights

Standards and interfaces required Filled

  • The criminal law of the jurisdiction, which is the only thing that makes conduct an offence
  • Rules of evidence and procedure, which decide what may be relied on at each stage
  • Rehabilitation and expungement rules, which decide when a record may no longer be used
  • Data protection rules for criminal offence data, which are stricter than for ordinary personal data

Context of use required Filled

  • Not for anything. It is a category the state applies to conduct, and the model exists so that an agent handles allegations without assuming guilt.
  • by seriousness: summary, indictable, and the local equivalents
  • by subject: against the person, against property, against the state, regulatory
  • by stage: reported, under investigation, charged, tried, convicted, appealed
  • by record status: current, spent, expunged, sealed

Sources Filled

  1. Wikidata item Q83267: crime - identity and sense of the item
  2. Wikipedia: Crime - general description of the item

Open questions

  • Should the registry model the offence category, the alleged event and the case as three linked things?
  • How should an agent represent an allegation so that its status can never be silently upgraded?
  • What retention and access rules should the model carry so downstream systems inherit them rather than inventing their own?

Machine files

Card as JSON Specification Card backlog vercy.card/1

Provenance

thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed

Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q83267/spec.json