Criminology

Project

on

Factors affecting Rate of crime and

Victimization in India

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Ms. Shikha Dhiman Anmol Rattan Gupta
Asst. Professor of Law 252/15
University Institute of Legal Studies Section D
Panjab University Semester 10
Chandigarh University Institute of Legal Studies
Panjab University
Chandigarh
Table of Contents
Acknowledgement.............................................................................................................3
Introduction.......................................................................................................................5
What is crime?.............................................................................................................................5
Etymology of the word crime.......................................................................................................5
Causes of crime............................................................................................................................6
Factors affecting crime.......................................................................................................7
Literature Analysis.......................................................................................................................9
Crime Functions..........................................................................................................................11
Victimization in India.......................................................................................................15
Who is a victim?.........................................................................................................................15
What is Victimology...................................................................................................................15
Consequences of crimes.............................................................................................................15
Victimization..............................................................................................................................16
Factors affecting Victimization.........................................................................................16
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................18
Acknowledgement
I would firstly like to thank God for giving me this gift of life without which nothing would

be possible.

Next I would like to thank my teacher Dr. Shikha Dhiman for teaching us this subject and

always being there for us to help us and guide us through the process of learning this subject.

Due to the Coronavirus, our classes had to be cut short, but our teacher, Ms. Dhiman still

made all efforts to teach us through online resources which were indespensible in making this

project.

Next I would like to thank my Parents for always being there for me and supporting me

through all my life’s endeavours.

I would also like to thank all the authors, contributors and writers on the internet who publish

their articles and share their knowledge with the world to promote education and literacy.

Thank you

Anmol R. Gupta
FACTORS AFFECTING RATE OF
CRIME AND VICTIMIZATION IN
INDIA

Introduction

In order to understand and get a clear picture of the topic at hand, it is important to address

certain background issues like what is crime, who is a victim and what is victimization.

What is crime?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition 2009, a crime is an unlawful act

punishable by a state or other authority. There is no universally accepted definition of crime

in modern law although statutory definitions have been made. Crime, therefore, is mostly a

category created by law. Any action that is declared by law as such.

One definition of crime is that a crime is an action that is harmful to individual, community,

society, state. Such acts are forbidden by law and are punishable.

Etymology of the word crime

The word crime is derived from the Latin root cernō, meaning "I decide, I give judgment".

Originally the Latin word crīmen meant "charge" or "cry of distress."1 The Ancient Greek

word κρίμα, krima, from which the Latin cognate derives, typically referred to an intellectual

mistake or an offense against the community, rather than a private or moral wrong.2

1
Klein's Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language
2
Bakaoukas, Michael. "The conceptualisation of 'Crime' in Classical Greek Antiquity
Causes of crime

Human nature in the post-war period is pretty much what it was during the war, and before

the war. The same old forces operate, even though changed conditions may have altered the

importance of some of them. For the last hundred years we have tried to apply scientific

methods of research to such a question as what causes crime.

We haven’t learned all the answers, but we have found out some things, and we have

disproved other beliefs that used to be commonly accepted. We no longer believe, for

instance, that a criminal is possessed of the devil or was born under an unlucky star.

One major discovery has been that virtually all of us, form our moral standards from those

with whom we come into closest contact during our formative years. We behave as do the

people we like and admire, because we are eager to have their respect. That is why most of

our elementary ways of thinking and living are formed by our home and neighbour-hood

contacts.

In cities the highest delinquency and crime rates are in the slum areas, for perfectly

understandable reasons. Here are the poorest housing conditions, the largest families, the

smallest incomes, the worst health problems, the largest number of homes with parents who

have themselves been in trouble with the law, and the least supervision over children.

Boys and girls whose homes are overcrowded and have no recreational facilities have little

choice except to play in the streets and alleys. Gangs are formed, and it is easy for their

members to drift into petty thievery or worse forms of misconduct. Youngsters learn about
the evil side of life too early. Often the neighbourhood toughs and gangsters become their

heroes.

It cannot be emphasized too strongly that in spite of these temptations, the vast majority of

slum children grow up to be decent, law-abiding citizens. It must likewise be admitted that

criminals do occur among all classes of society and that neither wealth, nor careful

upbringing, nor high intelligence is a sure guarantee against criminality.

Nevertheless statistics prove that the majority of our professional and habitual criminals got

their start in some city slum. For example reason children of foreign-born parents and

children of American Negroes have such high delinquency and crime rates is that a large

proportion of them have been compelled by economic or other causes to grow up under slum

conditions.

Poverty and the slum life which it causes are not the only sources of crime. Sometimes lack

of intelligence or a disordered mind is responsible. Sometimes the emotional life of an

individual is warped by conflicts, the nature of which we do not yet fully understand.

Sometimes the very punishments we impose upon an offender stir up the rebellions side of

his nature and turn him into a confirmed criminal instead of reforming him. Sometimes the

spectacle of supposed leaders of the community enriching them-selves by graft or financial

manipulations leads to a cynical lowering of moral standards on the part of the rest of us.

Factors affecting crime

It is important to study what incites people to commit a crime. From time immemorial, crime

has plagued every society in human history. The history of crime is as old as the history of

mankind. The first crime was committed by Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve when he

murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy.3

Though, there is no universal definition of the crime, but a good definition is as follows, “A

crime as an act or omission of human conduct harmful to others which the state is bound to

prevent. It renders the deviant person liable to punishment as a result of proceedings initiated

by the state organs assigned to ascertain the nature, the extent and the legal consequences of

that person’s wrongness”.4

There are basically three determinants of crime i.e. Economic, Demographic and Deterrent

factors.

Economic factors include

 per capita income,

 poverty level,

 GDP of the state,

 unemployment.

All of these economic variables have either negative or positive impact in determining crime

rate in a state.

Demographic variable includes5

3
Gilani, Rehman, Gill, (2009), Unemplyment, Poverty, Inflation and Crime Nexus: Cointegration and Casuality
Aanalysis of Pakistan
4
Auolak, M. A. (1999) Prison Administration in Pakistan. Lahore: S and S Publishers.
5
Ehrlich, I. (1973). Participation in illegitimate activities: A theoretical and empirical investigation. The Journal
of Political Economy
  Sex Ratio,

 Education level,

 Number of Schools in a State.

We expect that all these demographic factors affect the crime rate in a state.

Deterrent variables like

 probabilities of being arrested and

 Number of convictions

determine the expected returns from crime.6

As per the data with NCRB (2012), Kerala has the maximum per capita crime in India with

0.00516 cases per individual followed by Puducherry with 0.00351 cases registered per

person under IPC. Nagaland has the least number of per capita cases registered in India, as

can be seen from the following table.

Literature Analysis
There have been a lot of studies to establish the relationship between the rate of crime and the

factors affecting it.

6
Becker, G. S. (1968). Crime and punishment: An economic approach. Journal of Political Economy
1. Gary Becker in his book “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach,” 1974

presented a model based on the cost of crime. He explained the economics of crime in

terms of cost and benefits of a particular crime. He stated that cost of different

punishments to an offender can be made comparable by converting them into their

monetary equivalent or worth.

2. Dreze and Khera in their study “Crime, Gender, and Society in India,” 2000 analyzed

the effect of gender and demography on the crimes committed and reported in India.

The authors stated that education has a moderate influence on the criminal violence.

Murder rate strongly correlates with sex ratio, where a higher sex ratio results into

lower murder rate.

3. Gumus in his article “Crime in Urban Areas: An Empirical Investigation,” 2003

studied the effect of per capita income, income inequality, population, and presence of

black population on the crime rate in the US and stated that these all are important

determinants of the crime rate. Unemployment rate and police expenditures have also

an impact on crime but not as much as other stated factors.

4. Dubey and Aggarwal’s “Crime, Crime Rates and Control Techniques: A Statistical

Analysis (2015)” states that political, economic and socio-cultural factors play a vital

role in crime and crime control practices in India. They stated that the financial crisis

and the current political stalemate in India have contributed to increasing crime rate.

5. Dutta and Husain in their study “Determinants of crime rates: Crime Deterrence and

Growth in post-liberalized India, 2009” investigated the impact of deterrent variables

like police force & arrest rate and socio-economic variables like poverty &

urbanization on crime in India. They concluded that deterrence is likely to have a

significant negative impact on crime rates and economic growth is an important

determinant of crime rates.

Crime Functions

 Poverty level (% of people below poverty line): One of the most important reasons

which may incite crime in human beings is their poor financial condition. Statistically,

poverty goes hand-in-hand with crime. Where poverty is prevalent in a community,

that community will experience higher levels of crime. Generally, it's not the poverty

itself that leads to higher crime rates but the factors associated with poverty, such as

chronic joblessness, less access to quality schools, employment, role models and the

real or perceived lack of opportunity. Crime offers a way for less-advantaged people

to access goods they may not otherwise afford. Often, the prize outweighs the risk of

being caught, since impoverished people may believe they have less to lose than does

a wealthy person.

 Literacy Rate: The literacy rate is an important variable that may help in determining

the crime rate of a state. It is expected that more the literacy rate of a state, the less the

crime would be. This is so because as the literacy rate of state increases, there will be

less unemployed people and therefore they will not opt for illegal ways to get money.

Though this may not be the case always because crime has more to do with

psychological factors but a negative relationship can be expected in literacy rate and

crime rate.

 Net Enrolment Ratio7 (Upper Primary Level): In this case, it may be expected that

more the enrolment rate, less the crime would be. The reason for this is similar to

what literacy rate does in a state.

7
Net Enrolment Ratio is the number of boys and girls of the age of a particular level of education that are
enrolled in that level of education, expressed as a percentage of the total population in that age group
 Per capita schools: Number of schools in a state may be related to the education level

of its residents. Though the number of people attending the schools is more important

to relate it to the crime rate we can assume that more the number of schools, more the

opportunity of education to its people.

 Rural population: There might be a relationship between the number of people living

in rural area and crime rate. It may be expected that more the percentage of the

population living in rural areas, less the crime would be as the probability of getting

caught in a rural area is more because there are fewer people in an area and they know

each other well.

 Sex Ratio: It can be said that a higher sex ratio (number of males to number of

females), more the crime rate in a state. This may be because of the following reasons.

More sex ratio may lead to more number of crimes if men are more prone to crime

than women because of the maleness effect. Higher sex ratios mean that fewer men

can be married, and marriage may discipline men (a civilizing effect). This effect has

been studied by Korenman & Neumark, 1991 in “Does Marriage Really Make Men

More Productive?”

 Household Availing Bank Services: There are not many studies about how the

number of household availing bank services may affect crime rate in India but we

expect that more the financial independence in a house, less the family members

prone to commit a crime. One of the factors from which financial independence come

is by having a bank account.

 Population Density: It can be argued that more the number of people living in an area,

higher are the chances that people will commit a crime. It is because, in a highly

dense area, people fight for the limited resources and when they can’t get hold of

them, they choose the wrong ways to acquire them.

 Per capita GSDP (Constant Price): Gross State Domestic product can be one of the

factors which can affect the crime rate in both ways. If crime were a rational thing, we

would expect the crime rate to go down if the GSDP is more i.e. if the state is rich

enough. But it can have a negative relationship too as the criminals will have more

chances to steal or a better reason to kidnap someone affluent.

 Per Capita Income (Constant Price): It can be assumed that less the income of the

people of a state, more the crimes would be. A study has been done by Benjamin

Northrup and Jonathan Klaer titled “Effects of GDP on Violent Crime” which

observed a rejection of null hypothesis that per capita has no effect on violent crime

rates.

 Total police per lakh of the population(Actual): The robustness of judicial system can

be measured by the number of police personnel. We have taken number of police

personnel per thousand population. It can be argued that more the police force, less

the crime would be. A great example would be the city of Chandigarh. A negative

relationship can be expected between the number of police personnel and the crime as

the probability of getting caught is increased by more number of police.

  Number of jails: Number of jails per capita is one of the determinants that tell the

robustness of judicial system of a state. Therefore we can expect a negative

relationship between number of jails and the crime rate.

 Minority Population: We will take the percentage of minority population as one of the

determinants of the crime rate. Though there is no previous study that is done on this

topic with reference to India. But, there are studies in the US which postulate that

because of increase in African American population (minority population in the US)

the crime rate increases. Glaeser and Sacerdote8 Grogger and Willis9 state that fraction

of African-Americans is an important predictor of crime. This is one of the reasons it's

important to study the percentage of the minority population of a state.

8
Glaeser, L. and Sacerdote, B. “Why is There More Crime in Cities? Journal of Political Economy” 1999
9
Grogger, J. and Willis, M., “The Emergence Of Crack Cocaine And The Rise In Urban Crime Rates” 2000
Victimization in India

Who is a victim?

Victim is a term used for a person who suffers adverse circumstances, often in relation to

having a crime committed against them. If someone is robbed, he or she is the victim. If

someone is killed, that person is the victim. The person who committed the crime is the

culprit.

What is Victimology

Victimology is the study of victimization, including the psychological effects on victims,

relationships between victims and offenders, the interactions between victims and the

criminal justice system—that is, the police and courts, and corrections officials—and the

connections between victims and other social groups and institutions, such as the media,

businesses, and social movements.10

Consequences of crimes

Emotional distress as the result of crime is a recurring theme for all victims of crime. The

most common problems, affecting three quarters of victims, were psychological problems,

including: fear, anxiety, nervousness, self-blame, anger, shame, and difficulty sleeping.11

These problems often result in the development of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder

(PTSD). Post crime distress is also linked to pre-existing emotional problems and

10
Karmen, A., Crime Victims: An Introduction to Victimology, Wadsworth Publishing, 2003
11
Sebba, L, Victims and the Criminal Justice System. Ohio State University Press, Columbus. 1996
sociodemographic variables. This has been known to become a leading case of the elderly to

be more adversely affected.(Ferraro, 1995)12

Victims may experience the following psychological reactions:

 Increase in the realization of personal vulnerability.

 The perception of the world as meaningless and incomprehensible.

 The view of themselves in a negative light.

The experience of victimization may result in increasing fear on the part of the victim, and

the spread of fear in the community.

Victimization

Victimisation (or victimization) is the process of being victimised or becoming a victim. The

field that studies the process, rates, incidence, effects, and prevalence of victimisation is

called victimology.

Factors affecting Victimization

1. Gender - Gender is significantly associated with the risk of violent victimisation, with

men being at considerably greater risk than women. For theft, however, the

differences in victimisation rates between men and women are negligible and not

statistically significant. For sexually related crimes, women are at a higher risk than

men. In the case of marriage related crimes like dowery related death and cruelty or

domestic violence, women are at a high risk than men.

12
Ferraro, K.F., Fear of Crime: Interpreting Victimization Risk, State University of New York Press, 1995
2. Age - The likelihood of being a victim of both violence and theft changes

dramatically with age, with younger age groups being at an increased risk of both

offences. Children are incapable of defending themselves against an attack are more

gullible. Younger adults or adolescents tend to undermine the potential risk of a given

situation and put themselves into risky situations which can lead to their

victimization.

3. Ethnicity - Victimisation rates vary considerably between ethnic groups, with people

of mixed ethnicity being more likely to be victims of violent crime (with and without

injury) and of both personal and household theft. Whilst people of mixed ethnicity are

at greatest risk across all the categories of theft and violence analysed, the picture for

other groups is less consistent.

4. Relationship status - People who are separated and single have the highest rates of

victimisation in terms of violent crime and personal theft, whereas those who are

cohabiting are at greatest risk of household theft. Across all categories those who are

widowed are at lowest risk.

5. Health status - Health status is a statistically significant factor affecting victimisation

rates for violent crime and, when other factors controlled, for theft too. Adults with

limiting disability or longstanding illness had a higher risk of being a victim of

violence with injury and ‘all violence’ than adults with non-limiting disability/illness

and those without disability or illness. Those with a disability (whether limiting or

not) were also at greater risk than the non disabled of falling victim to violence

without injury

6. Income - Analysis of the crime rates for violence and theft broken down by household

income show that these offences disproportionately affect the poorest in society.

7. Lifestyle Choices – People with riskier lifestyle choices are more prone to be

victimized than those people with less riskier lifestyle choices. For instance, both
 males and females who go out of their homes beyond 10 pm are at a higher chance of

victimization than those who do not go out.

8. Routine Activity – Those people who perform activities at a routine and fixed time,

example, walking at a fixed hour, or eating out at a fixed place, or taking the same

fixed route from their home to their place or work, etc., are at a higher risk of being

victimized because the culprit may be tracking their movements and hence they

become easy targets.

Conclusion
In India, due to the population crisis, lack of enforcement resources and easy availability of

country-made weapons, the crime rates in India are high. Factors leading to crime and factors

leading to victimization may sometimes overlap among each other. For example, illiteracy or

poverty are two of the most major factors which lead to crime and victimization both because

due to illiteracy and poverty, a person may be forced to commit crime and make ends meet.

Due to these actions, and being involved in crime, the person is at a greater risk of being a

victim of crime also because of revenge and being in situations that put him or her at a risk.

Increase in the ratio of jails per thousand people and police personnel per thousand people by

generating employment in enforcement agencies like the Police force of the state, there is a

chance to reduce the crime rate in India and also reduce the rate of victimization in India.

Although these measure requires an increase in budget as well, but decrease in crime and

victimization will lead to overall development in the society as a whole.