ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a criminological framework by examining the concept of criminal law and its creation. It argues that criminal law, and thus official recognition of “crime” and “criminals,” is entirely relative to time and space. Every crime consists of specific elements that must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt to support a conviction. In Iraq, prior to the 2003 American invasion and the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime, it was a serious crime to disfigure statues or paintings honoring the Iraqi leader. The relativity of crime/law is, to some degree, a function of other social forces that shape the law. Many commentators allude to the extraordinarily high rates of alcohol problems in the history of convicted felons and conclude that alcohol causes crime. Sodomy is a salient example of this variety of crime, and it has been especially conspicuous with the focus on homosexuality.
