CRIME CONTROL - QUANTUM MECHANICAL WAY

By

S.P.Srivastava,I.P.S.

An analysis of crime perception and its

management in the light of evolving scientific
thoughts

INTRODUCTION

Plato had portrayed science as an activity with double benefits: science as pure thought
helps mind to find truth, and science as power provides tools for effective action. Gerald
Holton 1 , a noted philosopher has observed “The main flaw in this image is that it omits
a third vital aspect: science has always generated an important part of our symbolic
vocabulary and provided some of the metaphysical bases and philosophical orientations
of our ideology. As a consequence, the methods of arguments of science, its conceptions
and its models, have permeated first the intellectual life of the time, then the tenets and
usages of every day life.” In this light it is my endeavor to analyze philosophical
orientations and scientific evolutions in the realm of one of the basal instincts of
mankind; the crime.

QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE

Since the advent of civilization, human mind has been preoccupied with the quest for
knowledge. There has been a variety of things happening around, which arouse curiosity
for understanding and desire to control and manage according to one’s own design.
People saw sunrise and set, seasons set in and disappear, natural events, which brought
prosperity and happiness and caused havoc also at times. Flood and fire, thunder and
storm, cyclone and earthquake, and many more forms of calamities made them shiver and
fear.

Human mind tackled this with two broad approaches or two modes of consciousness,
which can be termed as rational and intuitive. Rational approach was based on experience
one had with the objects and events, and belongs to the realm of intellect laying emphasis
on objectivity. It relies on measurable and verifiable facts and their analysis. Objectivity
is a crucial factor of this knowledge and, therefore, object interacted with is dissected to
1
Ideas in Science-Edited by Oscar H.Fidell, A Readers Enrichment Series, Published by Washington
Square Press,Inc.
measurable and verifiable abstract entities. Intuitive approach, on the other hand, is pure
subjective and lies in the realm of faith and emotions. It experiences the object in its
entirety in relation to oneself and the whole existence. It demands no explanation.

At the dawn of human evolution, measuring and verifying tools were not developed,
invented, or known; events and surroundings were understood from within the realm of
faith. Cause of events was attributed to unknown forces of nature, at times personified in
the form of God or different deities. Pleased deity showered good harvest and pleasant
climate; his wrath caused disaster and calamities. Various religions and sects evolved by
basing themselves on particular deity, claiming his superiority, and then by preaching
methods on how to avoid wrath and win the blessings of that deity. Faith was the
dominant factor that guided human actions and shaped worldview perspective.

UNDERSTANDING OF CRIME

During this period, when faith was the predominant guiding factor, crime was managed
with this mindset. Defiance of dictates of the priest and disrespect to the deity was the
most heinous of crime. Crime that emerged very early in human history are, therefore,
sacrilege or the violations of supernatural taboos. Treason or disloyalty to the group,
especially in time of conflict or war, was perhaps the second most universal and among
the first few acts to have been recognized as a public wrong. Persons who could establish
themselves as the one chosen by, or closest to God, wielded supreme authority to decide
the guilt and award punishment.

DETERMINISTIC WORLD VIEW

Gradual invention of refined scientific tools paved the way for seeking rational
explanations of events, which were hitherto attributed to whims and fancies of
supernatural forces. The world view started changing with frequent discoveries in
science, especially in physics and it reached its apex when Newton proposed a
mechanical model of the universe. The giant cosmic machine was seen as being
completely causal and deterministic. Future of any part of the system could in principle
be predicted with absolute certainty if its state at any time was known in all details. The
role of supernatural power thus became less relevant and the authority of those "God
men" could no longer remain absolute.

CRIME AND CLASSICAL CONCEPT

Formidable success of Newtonian model of mechanistic world waded its way into
every mode of human expression until it became undisputed world view. Determinism
became the guiding thought process of philosophers, poets, painters and thinkers. A new
approach of perception and interpretation evolved in the realm of interpersonal
relationships and societal conduct, including acts of crime. Invention of new
machines/engines, which changed the life of men, established the authority of scientific
determinism even further .Newly infused rationality and objectivity questioned the very
definition of crime and its methodology to deal with it. Not believing in God or not
performing a ritual (considered as sacred) could no more be treated as a social crime. It
came down to the pedestal of a personal choice. As it became evident that new standpoint
is needed to define crime as such, so also need arose for evolving a rational process to
establish guilt and inflict uniform punishment.

CRIME MANAGEMENT IN CLASSICAL ERA

Mechanistic world view and its successes proved beyond doubt that the forces of nature
can be exploited. It was, therefore, natural to perceive that human conduct can also be
influenced. Crime was perceived as an event, caused by its perpetrators under the
influence of defined set of circumstances, which could be manipulated. By invoking
preventive, punitive and curative measures, this aspect of human conduct can be guided
towards a crime-free situation. It envisages an institutionalized framework, which would
bring about objectivity. Pursuant to this, it is likely that criminal justice system came into
being. Various acts and codes were legislated, wherein several categories of crime were
defined, along with procedures and methods to arrive at finding and establishing guilt.
Institution of police was enshrined with the responsibility of establishing the guilt. Since
establishing the guilt was the first and foremost requirement, police acquired an
exceptional status in the entire scheme of things. Being in this pursuit for long, watching
the results of their actions by way of people being executed and punished, thus leading to
its inevitable impact on the crime environment, the police in particular came to believe
that crime was controlled by them.

POLICE SETUP AND CLASSICAL CONCEPT

Police organization gradually developed into a structured and hierarchically-managed

institution with its emphasis on objectivity. Infused with the idea of being able to
control crime, it obviously thought to control its constituent elements as well. It gave
rise to concept of control and supervision in the scheme of managing the organization
as well.

QUANTUM MECHANICAL CONCEPT

As science advanced, invention of sensitive tools of observations enabled scientists to

explore deeper into molecules and atoms and reach out to fundamental particles, with the
result that gradually classical theories, hitherto so powerful, started crumbling.

INADEQUACY OF CLASSICAL CONCEPT

Turing wrote in a letter to his mother: “It used to be supposed in science

that if every thing was known about the universe at any particular moment, then
we can predict what it will be through all the future....Further, modern science however
has come to the conclusion that when we are dealing with atoms and electrons, we are
quite unable to know the exact state of them, our instruments being made of atoms and
electrons themselves. The conception then of being able to know the exact state of the
universe then must really break down on the small scale. ”2

WAVE PARTICLE DUALITY

While classical physics could explain satisfactorily any phenomenon at the macro level,
its inadequacy became more prominent at micro level. For instance, while understanding
the nature of light,.Newton explained it satisfactorily as composed of particles. Sun
light according to him was nothing but incessant rain of light particles of varying colors.
Trouble started with when Young made a double slit experiment, whose result could not
be explained with Newtonian concepts. Keep an opaque screen in front of a
light object, say a candle, make a small hole and we see a small light dot on the wall
behind the screen, which goes to prove that light is composed of particles. If we make
two holes, slightly separated apart in the screen, we do not get two dots behind the screen
as expected; rather we observe dark and white bands similar to a train of waves we
observe when we drop a stone in a pond, with troughs and s. This is possible only if
light is composed of waves. However, if it is wave, then single slit effect cannot be
explained. So simple an experiment and so intriguing the observations. Great scientists
experimented and re experimented, argued and counter-argued and eventually agreed
upon that light is both. It is composed of discrete particles and is all pervading continuous
wave as well. It is particle when there is single slit and wave when there are two slits.
Potentially, it is both at the same time. It will collapse into either of the two, depending
on how we are interacting with it (single slit or double).

UNCERTAINTY AND PROBABILITY CONCEPT

It is now settled that every particle has a wave associated with it; each particle actually
exhibits wavelike behavior. Gradually, rigid definiteness of deterministic concept melted
and paved the way for probability. Thus if your car is parked in your garage, we say
probability density of finding your car in your garage is maximum; however, it being in
my garage can not be totally ruled out. It may sound strange for an object like a car but a
different rule of game is prevalent at the micro level; here, principle of uncertainty rules
the arena. German physicist, Werner Heisenberg, articulated in 1927 that the position and
the velocity of an object cannot both be measured exactly at the same time, even in
theory. The very concepts of exact position and exact velocity together, in fact, have no
meaning in nature. Any attempt to measure precisely the velocity of a subatomic particle,
such as an electron, will knock it about in an unpredictable way, so that a simultaneous
measurement of its position has no validity. This result has nothing to do with
inadequacies in the measuring instruments, the technique or the observer; it arises out of
the intimate connection in nature between particles and waves in the realm of subatomic
dimensions. A fundamental concept in quantum mechanics is that of randomness, or
indeterminacy. In general, the theory predicts only the probability of a certain result.
Einstein, though a father figure in development of quantum concept, however, till end
could not reconcile with this idea of uncertainty, and kept on believing that “God does

2
The great philosophers - edited by Ray Monk and Frederic Raphael
not play dice”. Richard Feynman, one of the greatest physicists, has observed “We have
found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize the
ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of
varying degrees of certainty-some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely
certain.” 3

CRIME CONTROL AND QUANTUM CONCEPT

Presently, our mind is obsessed with the thought of controlling the crime which is a
legacy of deterministic era . It is out of tune with quantum concept which has shaken the
very determinism out of its ground. There are in fact innumerable factors and
circumstances, both macro and micro, which give rise to crime psychosis. Because of
inherent uncertainty, the efforts made to manipulate these factors may not yield desired
consequences. Things to be controlled and one who controls, affects each other. In fact,
both are part of the same process. The "Controller" is controlled as well in the process of
controlling is transformed into a different "Controller" side by side as the "To be
controlled" situation takes up a different shape. The "To be controlled" situation has
infinite potentialities (like a particle has dual potentiality) and will collapse in a particular
way depending on how "Controller" interacts with the situation - looking from the
controller point of view. And from "To be controlled” point of view, "Controller" has
also infinite potential and will collapse in a particular way depending upon how "To be
controlled" has interacted.
Paul Davis 4 has described process theology as “Process thought is an attempt to view the
world not as a collection of objects or even as a set of events, but as a process with a
definite directionality". World is a community of interdependent beings like a living
organism rather than a collection of cogs in a machine. The example of kicking a stone
and dog would be more relevant to put the point across 5 . When you kick a stone, it will
react to the kick according to a linear chain of cause and effect. Its behavior can be
calculated by applying basic laws of Newtonian mechanics. When you kick a dog the
situation is quite different. Though a mechanistic interpretation was attempted to predict
the behavior (Pavlov) of the dog but it could not satisfactorily account for certain
observed variations. The dog will respond with structural changes according to its own
nature. Resulting behavior is generally unpredictable. Living organism behaves the
quantum way.

QUANTUM CONCEPT - CONTROL TO MANAGEMENT

As the quantum concept of worldview engulfs the thought process, perceptions

and responses will undergo gradual transformation. This is inevitable. It may be noticed
initially merely as a background noise but later its note and tune is bound to crystallize

3
Universe in a nutshell by Stephens Hawking
4
The mind of God by Paul Davis
5
The Hidden Connections by Fritjof capra
into a clear melody .In order to be prepared and avoid “future-shock”, it would be
required of us to be in synergy with the great cosmic design. If two entities ("Controller"
and "To be controlled") are no more distinct, rather are part of same process, the system
would demand them to cooperate and contribute symbiotically in order to enrich and
facilitate the process for harmonious evolution.

QUANTUM MESSAGE - COOPERATE AND CONTRIBUTE

Quantum message is loud and clear. Crime, or for that matter any aspect of a living
organism like the human society can, at the best be managed with symbiotic-dynamism
rather than be controlled by kicking - stone. It has to be a collective effort in which he/she
must contribute his/her professional worth in order to achieve crime-free environment
and cooperate with whomsoever he/she interacts in achieving this objective. Quantum
mechanics also establishes the theory of dependent origination. Cause and effect is not a
one-time phenomenon, taking place in isolation here and there. It is part of cyclic chain;
number of causes cumulatively gives rise to an effect, which in turn acts as a cause to
give rise to another effect, this process goes on and on. Crime situation is an event or an
effect, caused by numerous factors. Since we cannot know all the factors (limited by
uncertainty principle), it is not possible to fully control them. It is my hypothesis,
therefore, that "Crime" cannot be "Controlled" in the classical sense. Any effort in that
direction would be but a feudal arrogance - a deterministic drag, which has led the nation
to fall in to deep slumber of decided opinion; a root cause of all those deformities, which
have seeped slowly into this arm of criminal justice system. Yes, it can be managed and
can be managed effectively. It calls for a synergic change, a paradigm sift in the mindset
for smooth cooperation and effective contribution - a quantum mechanical requirement.
After all, nature does not act against itself.

CRIME MANAGEMENT MODULE

Any number of module can be devised depending upon the local circumstances, however,
whatever module is formulated, it must essentially include following steps:

• Accept and acknowledge the limitations, which are inherent to the system.
• Define a clear-cut role vis-à-vis that of other agencies (viz. Judiciary, Legislation,
Media, NGOs etc.) engaged in furtherance of the common objective (i.e., peace
and harmony - a basic ingredient for overall prosperity).
• Respect each other's role and allow full freedom of action to each within their
respective professional confines.
• Draw a professional boundary for action; below which one should not perform
and beyond which one must not transgress.
• Expect unexpected failures, as there is always a scope for enhancing professional
excellence and believe that other agencies are equally conscious of their
professional excellence - a backbone of cooperation.