ABSTRACT
Crime is a truly egalitarian phenomenon: it pays no heed to the victim’s age, class, race, social status, or even to their previous victimisation; its occurrence does not depend on time of day, day of the week, or month of the year; it pays no attention to international boundaries or cultural divides; it has no respect for social rules and moral values. Crime can arrive in many forms: there are violent crimes, sexual crimes, crimes against property, victimless crimes, and white-collar crimes; there are terrorist offences, crimes perpetrated against the state, and crimes perpetrated by the state; there are crimes that cause deep distress and crimes that go unnoticed; and there are crimes that are solved and crimes that remain unsolved.
