A. The general purposes of the provisions governing the definition of offenses are:
1. To forbid and prevent conduct that inflicts or threatens substantial harm to individual or public interests;
2. To safeguard conduct that is without culpability from condemnation as criminal;
3. To give fair warning of the nature of the conduct declared to constitute an offense; and
4. To differentiate on reasonable grounds between serious and minor offenses, and to prescribe proportionate penalties for each.
B. The provisions of this criminal code shall be construed according to the fair import of their terms, and when the language is susceptible to differing constructions, it shall be interpreted to further the general purposes stated in this criminal code.
C. In adopting state statutes by reference, only those crimes and offenses under the jurisdiction of a municipality are intended to be adopted and, in those sections adopted which define both misdemeanors and felonies, only the language applicable to misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors is to be applied. (2007 Code)