Criminal Justice Dual Credit Practice Test 2026 - Free Practice Questions and Study Guide

This question highlights the distinction between crimes defined by statute and acts that are criminal because of their inherent wrongness. Acts that are mala prohibita are offenses only because the legislature has designated them as illegal, such as certain regulatory violations or traffic offenses. Their wrongness depends on the law’s labeling, not on an ingrained moral wrong of the act itself. In contrast, mala in se refers to acts that are inherently wrong in their nature, like murder or robbery, where the wrongdoing is considered universal regardless of the statute. Lex talionis is an old principle of retribution, not a category of crime, and nolle prosequi is a prosecutorial decision to drop or not pursue charges, not a type of offense. Therefore, mala prohibita best fits the description.