CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF CRIME IN INDIA

Crime is anti-social behaviour which a group rejects and to which it attaches penalties. In this way all those activities for which society lays down attached may be sinful but they would not be criminal This constitutes a definition of crime from the social viewpoint. From the legal viewpoint, violation of law constitutes crime. In the words of Barnes and Teeters, “The term “Crime” technically means a form of anti-social behaviour that has violated public sentiment to such an extent as to be forbidden by statute”. This definition does not include those anti-social activities which are not prohibited by law. Actually, criminality should attach both to anti social activities and to activities forbidden by law. Though no punishment is prescribed for anti-social activities, the public opinion always condemns them. According to Garofalo even the actions contradictory to the prevalent conceptions of pity and truth should be considered criminal.

What Are the Major Causes of Crime and How Can Crime Be Prevented:

The main cause of crime are –
(1) Social, (2) Economic, (3) Physical and developmental (4) Geographical (5) Political The main social causes of crime are as follows:

  • Family and Crime – The family is the most dominant factor in the social causes of crime in India. Now-a-days family disorganisation is to be seen in India. The control previously exercised by the family over the individual is now lacking. In urban areas, all the members of a family are to be seen pursuing their individual paths. With the lifting of family control there are no restrictions to the criminal tendencies of children. Now that the natural relations between parents and children are devoid of love both young boys and girls are prone to criminal activity. Even in the villages the adolescents and young men and women do not respect their elders, and they want to lead a carefree; unrestricted, individual life. Due to all these causes, sex crimes are increasing. One main cause of adultery, abortion, miscarriage, prostitution and juvenile delinquency is the undesirable domestic conditions.
  • Absence of Social Control – A second social cause of crime in India is absence of social control. Previously, the caste panchayats in the village kept control over the behaviour and conduct of the members of the caste. It was extremely difficult to conceal crime in the village and when any crime was revealed the caste panchayats meted out very stern punishments, going to the limit of exterminating the guilty persons from the caste. This tended to control and check crime effectively. Today, these social organisations no longer exist. They have been derived of all their authority. Secondly, with better facilities of transport being available the criminal can commit the crime and abscond from the village to the town of to the village from the town. In urban areas no one is troubled about caste organisation. Now-a-days in big cities, even doing favour to neighbourers is a defunct practices because few have intimacy with their neighbourers and social relationships have been impersonal. Any individual can commit a crime and conceal his identity in the city mob. In this way, the disappearance of the control of caste organisations is another cause of crime in India.
  • Defective Education – Modern education in India is very defective. It does not develop the character of students in right directions. Instead it has led to an increase in selfishness, disorderliness and impertinence. Ethical and religious education has no place in the modern education system. Besides this, even after completing his education an individual does not become capable of earning his livelihood and many well educated people remain unemployed for many years. Late employment leads to late marriage.
  • Lack of faith- not believing enough in the power of one's own internal weapons (against inner demons), such as: courage, tolerance, understanding, forgiveness, mercy, honesty, sincerity, integrity, honor, modesty, humbleness, generosity, love, compassion, kindness, detachment, patience, self-discipline, temperance, etc. As a result of not trusting inner resources, there is no enough motivation to develop them and use them. Art Solutions - get the freecrime cure (the link is below); watch inspirational films and read inspirational stories of good qualities conquering the bad ones.
  • Imbalance - most criminals are simply too strong physically, pumping up the body muscles, but not enough the mental and emotional muscles. The reason why their strength becomes weakness is because they are not balanced. Art Therapy Solutions - get the free artistic crime cure (the link is below); watch the movie trilogy 'Samurai' by legendary Japanese director Hiroshi Inagaki. It tells the story of the greatest Samurai warrior in Japan - Musashi Miyamoto, his journey from being just a tough warrior to a true hero, equally strong on all three accounts: physical skills, mental calmness and emotional state. Watch all three films online here for free.

    • All these causes tend to aggravate criminal activity:

  • Cinema – Cinema has helped in the increase of crime in India. According to Blumen and Hansen, cinemas indirectly influence the male criminals. The cinema arouses criminal tendencies in men by teaching crime techniques, by exhibiting many kinds of crimes, by stimulating the desire for wealth and comforts, by showing ways and means of appropriating them illegally, by arousing the feelings of bravado, toughness and adventure, by arousing profound sexual urges, by stimulating day dreams of criminal jobs. In much the same way it directs or urges many young and inexperienced women to illegitimate relations and crimes by setting alight the sexual desire, the desire for exhibition, love making, independence and variety.
  • Newspapers – Besides cinemas, newspapers also have a hand in increasing criminal activity. Newspapers increase criminal activity by publishing methods of crime through news items, by printing many news items relating to crime, by making crime a general subject, by printing news of major crimes and showing their advantages, circulating the names of criminals, by highlighting causes which tend to increase crime in the name of studies of crime sand by warning and alerting criminals by publishing police methods. The recent wave of dacoities in India was to some extent indirectly assisted by newspapers.
  • Use of Alcohol – The consumption of alcohol also is one of the major causes of crime in India. Drinking is more prevalent among those who have low standard of life and it is also from among them that the greatest numbers of criminals are coming. There are large numbers of crimes committed under the influence of alcoholic stimulants. Drinking affects not only the drinker and makes him a criminal but it also has a deleterious influence on his entire family and inclines men, women and children towards crime. In this way, drinking increases crime both apparently as well as indirectly.
  • PROHIBITION of Widow Remarriage – In India widow remarriage is now legally accepted as valid but it is still looked down upon in society. Consequently many young widows do not remarry for the rest of their lives but such a decision does not annihilate their sexual passion and these rather lie dormant in a corner of the mind and wait for a suitable opportunity. Even if the widow is religious and saintly she is pursued by men and is lured to the path of evil and sin by many threats and coaxes. In this way, there is an increase in adultery, miscarriages, abortions, infanticides, etc. When their sinful practices are made public many women commit suicide.
  • Defects of the Marriage and Dowry System – In India the dowry system also is among the social causes of crime. On the one hand the dowry system urges the fathers of girls to earn money through illegitimate means for their daughter’s marriage, it on the other hand, leads to suicide by many young girls who can not bear to see the degraded condition of their parents, the dowry system as further encouraged late marriages, both in girls and in boys. In extreme cases, the lack of wealth compels a girl to remain unmarried throughout her life or at most she is married to an old man or to an unsuitable partner. All these also tend to increase sex crimes in society. Very often the parents do not care to ask the girl or boy for opinion and sometimes even proceed against it. This also results in suicide and other crimes.
  • Religion – Religion has also been one of the causes of crime in India. This doe not mean that religion itself encouraged crimes but the encouragement has come from the different sects who originated in the differences of opinion between people on matter of religion and in thehatred for other religions. In a general way, of course, communal riots and crimes such as looting, murder and so on, perpetrated in order to increase the followers of one’s own religion and to injure another religion have always been happening in India, but the crimes committed during communal riots in the name of religion, when the country was partitioned in 1947 were unequalled in the history of the world. Helpless women were denuded and taken in procession through the main roads all the time being whipped. Their breasts were cut off; they were violated and mutilated, their children’s hearts were cut out in front of their eyes. The most heinous crimes that can be discovered in the history of criminal activity have been perpetrated in India.
  • Changes in Social Values – There has been a tremendous change in social values in recent times in India. Now-a-days, new notions such as materialism, individualism, rationalism, the respect for wealth, absence of sex restriction etc, are becoming very popular in the country. This has led to a disregard of ancient social values and new values have been reinstated in their stead. There is no one common opinion of any kind in them. This disordered state of values also inspires crime because and individual can manage to produce an argument to justify even that which is improper. The preceding exposition on the social causes of crime in India will have brought to light the extent to which the defects of such social organizations as family, caste, religion, marriage etc, have no geographical, economic, political and other causes but it is intended merely show the important part played by social organization in crime.

    • Economic Causes

    The main economic causes of crimes are the following:
  • Poverty – In India one sees extreme poverty. Poverty is a major cause of crime, since a hungry man can do literally anything in order to appease his hunger. One comes across instances where a criminal commits a crime immediately on his release from prison in order that he may be imprisoned again where he is assured of a square meal. Outside the prison he ahs no such assurance. Dr. Haikerwal has investigated that in the period 1917 – 1927 thefts increased in number when the prices of wheat went up, decreased when wheat prices fell. In this way; a close relation is found to exist between the number of crimes and the prices of food-grains in India. It was found in the course of a study conducted upon the prostitutes of Kanpur that one major cause of prostitution is poverty. Poor girls are easily enticed by men who violate them, take away their virginity and put them on the market. One even comes across news of suicides and murders of families due to povery.
  • Unemployment – Unemployment, much like poverty is a major cause of crime in India. Many young men commit suicides when they are frustrated by extreme poverty and continued unemployment. Many others turn to thieving, picking pockets, robbery etc. Among the people who are seen creating disturbances, causing violence, etc; the majority are the unemployed. Most gangsters do not work, Gangsterism is their only occupation.
  • Industrialisation – Industrialisation is also an important cause of crime in India. It has destroyed the family life of millions of labourers. They work very hard for eight to ten hours in the day during which they have to suffer many indecencies and for this they have to live in towns far away from their families. Continued existence of this type leads them to indulge in drinking alcohol and in prostitution and this encourages other crime. In India, the most prospering centres of prostitution are important industrial towns which, at the same time, foster crimes such as murder, assault, disturbance, robbery, etc. Industrialisation has encouraged crime also due to another reason. Housing becomes a problem in an industrial town when the population increases beyond limits in some towns thousands of families live in houses having no more than one room each. In such conditions the married women have no privacy and children and unmarried members witness happenings which they should not see. This had a bad influence upon them and sex crimes increase among them. Sex crimes increase tendencies to other crimes which then take place. In industrial towns many thousands of labourers and men otherwise are compelled to live alone and this tends to split the ration of men to women, which consequently encourages sex crimes. Many girls from rural areas are deceived with promises of employment and brought to towns where they are forced to adopt prostitution.
  • Urbanization – Urbanization is the result of industrialization and other causes. Hence all those crimes caused by industrialization are also caused by urbanization. In cities the society fails to exercise control over the individual who loses his identity in the mob after having committed a crime. There is no such facility, however redoubtable in the village. In towns there are better opportunities for picking pockets and practising deception in a crowd. There is absence of healthy recreation in the town and hence the crimes are committed. Gambling dens, indecent theatres and wine shops provide means of spurious recreation. This encourages crime. It is evident from the foregoing account of the socio-economic causes of crime in India that there the main causes of crime is social and economic. Absence of reliable statistics makes it difficult to say definitely that the causes of crime here are hardly psychological. But what can be said is that since life in India still lacks some of the velocity and crowdedness of Western life, the psychological causes of crime in India do not compare favourably with their counterparts in America and other Western countries.

    • PREVENTATION OF CRIME IN INDIA.

    Defination of situational prevention and preventation of crime in India?

    Situational prevention comprises opportunity-reducing measures that (1) are directed at highly specific forms of crime, (2) involve the management, design or manipulation of the immediate environment in as systematic and permanent way as possible, (3) make crime more difficult and risky, or less rewarding and excusable as judged by a wide range of offenders. Several features of the definition relevant to the more extended discussion of situational crime prevention below should be noted. First, it makes clear that situational measures must be tailored to highly specific categories of crime, which means that distinctions must be made, not between broad categories such as burglary and robbery, but rather between the different kinds of offenses falling under each of these categories.

    The Four Components of Situational Crime Prevention

    As mentioned, much existing activity falling under the definition of situational crime prevention represents problem-solving undertaken by managers in a variety of public and private agencies. In some instances, mistakes might have been avoided and less time taken to develop solutions had those involved been familiar with the elements of situational prevention.
  • A choice approactheoretical foundation drawing principally upon routine activity and rational.
  • A standard methodology based on the action research paradigm,
  • A set of opportunity-reducing techniques, and
  • A body of evaluated practice including studies of displacement.

    • The Action Research Methodology

    The standard methodology for a situational project, situational prevention's second component, is a version of the action research model in which researchers and practitioners work together to analyze and define the problem, to identify and try out possible solutions, to evaluate the results and, if necessary, to repeat the cycle until success is achieved. As mentioned, this is essentially the same problem The influence of the action research paradigm can be seen in the following specification of the five stages of a situational prevention project :
    1. collection of data about the nature and dimensions of the specific crime problem;
    2. analysis of the situational conditions that permit or facilitate the commission of the crime in question.
    3. systematic study of possible means of blocking opportunities for these particular crimes, including analysis of costs.
    4. implementation of the most promisingproblem-oriented policing as well as in many other forms of social intervention, andbecause of its extensive pedigree has required little modification for use in situational crime preventation.

    Crime prevention is the attempt to reduce victimization and to deter crime and criminals. It is applied specifically to efforts made by governments to reduce crime, enforce the law, and maintain criminal justice. They agree that governments must go beyond law enforcement and criminal justice to tackle the risk factors that cause crime because it is more cost effective and leads to greater social benefits than the standard ways of responding to crime. Interestingly, multiple opinion polls also confirm public support for investment in prevention. Waller uses these materials in Less Law, More Order to propose specific measures to reduce crime as well as a crime Some of the highlights of these authorities are set out below with some sources for further reading.Risk factors that cause crime
  • Create, implement and monitor a national action plan for violence prevention.
  • Enhance capacity for collecting data on violence.
  • Define priorities for, and support research on, the causes, consequences, costs and prevention of violence.
  • Promote primary prevention responses.
  • Strengthen responses for victims of violence.
  • Integrate violence prevention into social and educational policies, and thereby promote gender and social equality.
  • Increase collaboration and exchange of information on violence prevention.
  • Promote and monitor adherence to international treaties, laws and other mechanisms to protect human rights.
  • Seek practical, internationally agreed responses to the global drugs and global arms trade. prevention - There are plenty of people out there contemplating illegal or immoral acts, who should be prevented to act on it.

    • Playing on their fear of punishment works for most, but is not enough for the others. - Social welfare is one of the greatest contra-measures to keep unemployed individuals from resorting to desperate means in order to keep a head above water.
    Sports provide a good outlet for young men and perhaps keeps them out of trouble.
    Art Therapy is another outlet that additionally provides a a sense of higher truth, a frame for the search for identity, a journey from the stressful reality to a transcendental world of pure penetration and splendor, means for helping us to cope with life's afflictions and paradoxes that could empower and inspire us to better our lives, find something powerful and special that easily deals with pessimism, distrust and lack of meaning...just to name a few.

    Converting - to convert a criminal into a honorable citizen it takes more than implementing fear of punishment. Arts can do wonders in transforming any individual, including criminals. Talidari's triple action transition formula used in the crime cure 'Jump' uses the power of inspiration to stimulate criminals to make a jump to the right side.

    Reformation - remodeling the system (educational, economic, jurisdiction...) that breeds criminals is a core necessity. There is a saying telling that if you want to change others, start by changing yourself. Everything is related and we all are in a way responsible for the way our world is. By transforming the causes (one of which is the system) we can both prevent and reduce crime.
    Punishment - No doubt, every person who harms another should be punished, but also rehabilitated so that the crime is prevented from reoccurring. Punishment is good for two reasons: it shows the offender that one can not get away with doing the wrong things, and as a form of prevention - the fear of punishment is often (but not often enough) main reason for law-abiding citizens not to slip to the other side of the tracks. However, the question is how severe the punishment should be. A sentence that is longer than 2 years can have contra-effective results, apart from the cost for us taxpayers. Coming out after too many years being locked has proven to be more difficult to re- integrate and make it out there, and more easy to resort back to crime. Investing in improving the system instead of in accommodating prisoners seems more effective long-term.

    Crime and Punishment and Its Correlation.

    Why do we need laws? how do laws impact our society and human nature? Do we follow laws because we are afraid of consequences or because we are moral? If laws are the solution to crime, then why is that there is not a crime free society? These are the standard questions anyone would ask when they read any crime report or any law enforcement article on the newspaper. In this presentation I ve tried to collect answers for the above questions through my topic CRIME and PUNISHMENT and correlate them to get a better idea on my topic.
  • Laws don't impact our human nature, they just create a barrier around it. Our human nature is just like any other animal: eat, sleep, kill, reproduce. Without laws, we will regress back into our animal instincts and kill one another to get what we want.
  • Laws impact society by creating order. It would be more accurate to say that society is created by having laws in place as opposed to it being impacted by laws.
  • Without laws, society cannot exist. The laws can be understood or written, but the must be there in order to have a society.We need laws in society so our society can regulate and work properly.
  • They are designed to protect us and our property and to ensure that everyone in society behaves the way that the community expects them too. Without laws there would be complete anarchy.

    • Accordingly, efforts to decrease and reduce crime were targeted at the rehabilitation or moral re-orientation of the criminal: that is, to take away his or her motivation and incentive to commit a crime. Criminal eventscease to have much significance in themselves and become, instead,symptomatic manifestations of underlying criminal dispositions' .

    CRIME AND PUNISHMENT BASED SOCIETY

    In a society based on laws, crime and punishment are serious topics. Crime is present in every form in this world and for every crime the law has a punishment; the law has formulated a punishment to control the crime rates in the society.The crimes might be drug trafficking,gunrunning,moneylaundering,extortion,murder,fraud,homicide,robbery,poaching,assault.With each new crime that pops up, another method of detection is developed; and with each new crime that pops up, another means of protecting yourself comes to light.
    Punishments and imprisonments are already in place to decrease crime levels. Another way is to reduce the opportunities of crime for the criminals. This can be achieved by better lighting, improved security systems, locking bars and guard dogs.
    Moreover, if people are given proper education then there will be an automatic reduction in crime rate as they will be able to get a job which will be able to provide for their basic needs and wants. There are also treatment programs available which influences people to make positive choices and refrain from criminal activities.