Quote:
Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
Argue about the technicalities all you like (and I'm not saying we shouldn't), but the point here is that we have someone in a position of power who takes others to task because they wrongly believe that something "illegal" should be a crime? Maybe she needs a dictionary for her birthday.
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This is really hard for people to understand and I deal with this often in my work, but the fact is that not everything illegal is a crime. There is a difference between a violation of the law and a CRIMINAL violation of the law.
In my home state of Wisconsin, for instance, there's been an ongoing debate regarding criminalizing first offense drunk driving.
A "crime" is an illegal action that violates a CRIMINAL CODE. An action that is illegal is far more broad.
The recent labor controversy in Wisconsin is an excellent example of this distinction. The Democrat senators that left the state to avoid a quorum did so illegally. However, it was NOT a criminal action.
Another great example are laws concerning conspiracy. There are many actions one can take that are illegal but NOT criminal except when speciifcally planned with willful intent to violate law.
The bottom line: illegal and criminal are terms meaning very different things.