Fincham on Defining Art Crime

Derek Fincham (South Texas College of Law) has posted What is Art Crime? (Journal of Art Crime, Vol. 1, pp. 54-57) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Art, like any other object of value is often the target of criminal actions, from theft to forgery and even vandalism. These crimes are breaches of laws or norms prescribing how humans ought to behave. Art, generally speaking, is the process of arranging sounds, colors or elements in a way, which appeals to senses, thought or emotion. Art is created for a number of reasons: it is a basic human impulse, it allows us to experience the mysterious and sublime, it conveys the inner-workings of the human imagination, allows for communications, it entertains us, attempts to create political or societal change, or even questions basic assumptions. But the term “art” also applies to judgments of value; it is a measure of value or quality determined by an individual. In this way the definition of art and crime may be subjective, but also subject to the same kind of norms and value judgments we attach to crimes.