Crime
Early history

Restrictions on behavior existed in all prehistoric societies. Crime in early human society was seen as a personal transgression and was addressed by the community as a whole rather than through a formal legal system, often through the use of custom, religion, or the rule of a tribal leader. Some of the oldest extant writings are ancient criminal codes. The earliest known criminal code was the Code of Ur-Nammu (c. 2100 – c. 2050 BC), and the first known criminal code that incorporated retaliatory justice was the Code of Hammurabi. The latter influenced the conception of crime across several civilizations over the following millennia.

The Romans systematized law and applied their system across the Roman Empire. The initial rules of Roman law regarded assaults as a matter of private compensation. The most significant Roman law concept involved dominion. Most acts recognized as crimes in ancient societies, such as violence and theft, have persisted to the modern era. The criminal justice system of Imperial China existed unbroken for over 2,000 years.

Many of the earliest conceptions of crime are associated with sin and corresponded to acts that were believed to invoke the anger of a deity. This idea was further popularized with the development of the Abrahamic religions. The understanding of crime and sin were closely associated with one another for much of history, and conceptions of crime took on many of the ideas associated with sin. Islamic law developed its own system of criminal justice as Islam spread in the seventh and eighth centuries.
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