North Dakota Code 12.1-01-02 – General purposes
The general purposes of this title are to establish a system of prohibitions, penalties, and correctional measures to deal with conduct that unjustifiably and inexcusably causes or threatens harm to those individual or public interests for which governmental protection is appropriate. To this end, the provisions of this title are intended, and shall be construed, to achieve the following objectives:
Terms Used In North Dakota Code 12.1-01-02
- following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Harm: means loss, disadvantage, or injury to the person affected, and includes loss, disadvantage, or injury to any other person in whose welfare the person affected is interested. See North Dakota Code 12.1-01-04
- Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
1. To ensure the public safety through: a. vindication of public norms by the imposition of merited punishment; b. the deterrent influence of the penalties hereinafter provided; c.
the rehabilitation of those convicted of violations of this title; and d. such confinement as may be necessary to prevent likely recurrence of serious criminal behavior.
2. By definition and grading of offenses, to define the limits and systematize the exercise of discretion in punishment and to give fair warning of what is prohibited and of the consequences of violation.
3. To prescribe penalties which are proportionate to the seriousness of offenses and which permit recognition of differences in rehabilitation possibilities among individual offenders.
4. To safeguard conduct that is without guilt from condemnation as criminal and to condemn conduct that is with guilt as criminal.
5. To prevent arbitrary or oppressive treatment of persons accused or convicted of offenses.
6. To define the scope of state interest in law enforcement against specific offenses and to systematize the exercise of state criminal jurisdiction.