CRIME

Introduction:
Man is believed to have evolved from an ape-like ancestor. With the evolution of man has
evolved his mind and thinking. Man started using the raw leaves, insects and animals as his
food. Later, on discovery of fire, he learnt that food was tastier when cooked. He used animal
skin to cover his body. He stayed in caves to protect himself from the extremities of the climatic
conditions. From raw leaves to pizzas and burgers, from fire to microwave ovens, from animal
skins to pepe jeans, reebok shoes, etc and from caves to skyscrapers, we can see how human
mind and thinking has evolved and led to the modern day comfortable and luxurious living.
The thinking has evolved in both the positive as well as negative perspectives. Though the
human mind created luxuries, due to simultaneous increase in population, many people were
deprived of the basic necessities which led to the development of the negative thinking. People
wanted to fulfil their basic necessities at any cost and hence they started resorting to crime.
Crime is an offense which violates the law of state and is disapproved by the society. In olden
days, the crime rate was not very high. But as time progressed, the crime rate has increased
alarmingly. This increase in crime rate may be due to various causes and social problems.
What is crime?
Crime is a public wrong. It is an act of offense which violates the law of the state and is strongly
disapproved by the society. Crime is defined as acts or omissions forbidden by law that can be
punished by imprisonment or fine. Murder, robbery, burglary, rape, drunken driving, child
neglect and failure to pay taxes are examples of crimes. The term crime is derived from the
Latin word “crimen” meaning offence and also a wrong-doer. Crime is considered as an anti-
social behaviour. Each society may define crime in a different perspective. A crime may be
legal or illegal. Illegal and punishable crime is the violation of any rule of administration or
law of the state or practice of any wrongdoing and harmful to self or against third parties,
provided in criminal law. Legal and not punishable crime is all acts of self-defense.
What is criminology?
The scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behaviour in both the
individual and in society is called criminology.
Elements of crime:
For an act of crime to be accomplished, the following four elements are needed: ·
Individual: The first and the most important element for commission of a crime is an individual
who has an intention and is prepared to commit a crime. ·
Mens rea: Mens rea in Latin means “guilty mind”. For a crime to be committed, a criminal
intention is an essential element. ·
Actus rea: Actus rea in Latin means “guilty act”. For a crime to be committed, along with a
criminal intention there should also be an external act. ·
Injury/hurt: The criminal act should be accompanied by an injury or hurt which is physical,
mental or monetary which violates a law of state.
Stages of committing a crime: The commission of crime involves four stages: ·
Intention: For the commission of crime, the first important stage is criminal intention.
However, just having a criminal intention is not punishable until it is conveyed to someone else
in words or by acts. Example: An intention to kill someone. ·
Groundwork: To commit a crime, prior preparation is necessary if the crime is intentional. It
is difficult for the court to punish an individual purely based on a preparation plan until and
unless it is executed. For example, murder, dacoity, etc. ·
Preliminary crime: An attempt to commit a crime is considered as preliminary crime. An
attempt should include a criminal intention, an act towards committing a crime and an act of
crime which is not completely accomplished. Example: Attempt to murder ·
Completion of crime: This is the last stage in commission of crime. The criminal completes
the crime. A suspect is guilty of an offence only if he succeeds in his criminal activity.
Example: Successful accomplishment of murder
Causes of crime:
No individual is a born criminal, it is the situations and the conditions around the individual
which make him act as a criminal. There are several causes which make an individual turn into
a criminal. The main causes of crime are:
a. Social causes b. Economic causes c. Psychological causes d. Biological causes e.
Geographical causes
Social causes of crime: The social causes of crime include the following:
i. Family disorganization: Family plays the most important role in an individual’s life.
In olden days, there were joint families and there was always a family control on
the children. In urban areas today, each member of the family is busy pursuing their
own paths. The children are neglected and family control is lifted up and hence
there are no restrictions. Individuals who are a part of nuclear families and broken
families resort to crimes due to lack of love, affection and proper attention.
ii. ii. Upbringing of the individual: Too much strictness causes heavy influence on
minds of the children. Scolding and abusing children causes humiliation and
irritation in children and they become delinquents. Moral values are imported to
children by their parents. It is the duty of the parents to nourish their children in
healthy circumstances. If the parents resort to illegal acts, the children will also do
the same. A child is first influenced by his parents and then by his own brothers and
sisters. If they resort to illegal acts such as selling block tickets at cinema theatres,
the younger ones also tend to do the same acts.
iii. iii. Defective education: Lack of proper education results in poor judgement and the
individual will fail to distinguish between right and wrong. Ethical and religious
education has no place in the modern education system. Even after completing
education, many individuals remain unemployed. Late employment leads to late
marriage increasing criminal activity.
 iv. iv. Hype created by media: Cinemas and newspapers have led to an increase in
criminal activity. The hype created by the media relating to different crimes, modus
operandi and the consequences motivate young individuals to resort to crimes.
v. v. Drinking and drug use: The consumption of alcohol and use of drugs of abuse
are the most important causes of crime. Under the influence of alcohol and drugs,
the person loses his sense of discrimination between good and bad and right and
wrong and hence commits crime. This not only affects the individual but also his
entire family.
vi. vi. Unhappy marriages and dowry system: A marriage where a girl or boy dislikes
his partner & remains unhappy and may force individuals to commit suicides.
Dowry system is also a main cause of crime.
vii. vii. Family planning: In poorer sections of society, parents do not follow family
planning and they have a large number of children. But they are unable to fulfil the
basic necessities of children due to their meagre income. To fulfil their basic
necessities, these children become preys of pick-pocketing, smuggling, prostitution,
etc.
viii. viii. War and post-war conditions: Wars in different countries create unbearable
social and economic circumstances. The individuals who lose their parents and
loved ones during war become prey to bad habits.
ix. ix. Social disorganization: Disorganization in the society or country may affect
badly upon the people’s living. For example, prior to Britishers, Indian villages
were very peaceful and self- sufficient. Due to the British rule in India, rapid
changes such as industrialization, urbanization, etc. occurred. Joint families
disappeared and nuclear families came in. Unemployment increased. India was split
into 3 countries, i.e., India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. During the partition,
immigrants flew from one country to another. The immigrants had no food,
livelihood. To earn livelihood, these immigrants started illegal acts such as
smuggling, weapon- selling, etc. Social disorganization causes decline in the
effectiveness of institutional and informal forces and weakens the social control in
communities or neighbourhoods. This results in crime. ·
Economic causes of crime:
The economic causes of crime include:
i. Poverty: Money is the centre of life. Everything and every relation in this world is
dependent on money. Poverty is the mother of crime. The poor people are unable
to fulfil their basic necessities. To fulfil the basic necessities, they resort to crimes
like burglaries, murders, suicides, etc
ii. Unemployment: Many young individuals who are continually unemployed resort to
suicides due to frustration. Some others resort to thefts, pick-pocketing, robberies,
etc. Hence, unemployment is a major cause of crime.
iii. iii. Industrialization and urbanization: Urbanization is the result of industrialization.
The long working hours and the petite amount of money they get, results in
individuals resorting to crime. ·
Psychological causes of crime:
The psychological causes of crime include:
 i. Intellectual weakness: Weak minded persons tend to criminal activities very easily.
Intellectual weakness is a cause of crime.
ii. ii. Mental diseases: The person who suffers from mental disorders tends to do
illegal and violent activities. Such individuals become unsocialized, irritable, cruel,
obstinate, suspicious, self-centred, lonely, full of feelings of revenge, backward and
hypersexual or uncontrolled in their behaviour. Such individual does not repent for
his violent acts.
iii. iii. Characteristics of personality: Due to social, economic or psychopathic reasons,
an individual may turn into a psychic. An abnormal person possesses degree of
freedom, irresponsibility, revolt, homicidal tendency, suspicion, lack of control,
sadism, emotions, social maladjustment, ill-behaviour, immaturity, etc. He tends to
do violent acts. He becomes naughty, explosive, disobedient and unsocial. He
indulges in gambling, cigarette smoking, narcotic drug consuming, breaking things,
absconding from house, prostitution, thieving, etc.
iv. iv. Emotional instability: An abnormal individual possesses emotional instability.
He does not like discipline. He suffers with inferiority complex. He indulges in
criminal behaviour. He does violent acts with emotions. If his hero steals a diamond
from Government treasury, he sees the picture several times and repeats the same
act. ·
Biological causes of crime:
Many biological factors like age, gender, hormones, etc. act as causes of crime.
i. Age: Crime is more prominently committed by individuals in the second and third
decades of life
ii. ii. Gender: On a whole, males commit more crimes when compared to females.
iii. iii. Body type: Muscular body type individuals are found to commit more crimes.
iv. iv. Hormonal causes: Testosterone hormone is the hormone which is correlated to
criminality. ·
Geographical causes of crime:
Cities or counties with larger populations have higher crime rates. Poorly maintained
neighborhoods correlate with higher crime rates. High residential mobility is associated with
a higher crime rate. More taverns and alcohol stores, as well as more gambling and tourist
establishments, in an area are positively related to criminality. There appears to be higher
crime rates in the geographic regions of a country that are closer to the equator
Concept of crime
We use the definition advanced by most criminologists: crimes are defined as actions or non-
actions that violate the criminal law. Examples are theft, trafficking, or tax evasion. An
example for non-action is not intervening if one could prevent a murder. There are many other
definitions of crime. The question thus arises as to whether this is a “good” definition. Before
this question is addressed, we will provide a brief reminder of some basics of concept formation
that do not seem to be common knowledge among many criminologists (and other social
scientists as well).
Concept of crime (theory)
Nature and definition of crime
Nature of crime
In ancient time any act by a person or even an animal which caused harm to any other person
was considered as punishable crime. The punishments at earlier times were way different that
it is now. The wrongdoers were beheaded or thrown out of the country as per their acts. To
punish animals, stones were thrown at them.
Two of the common views that explain the nature of crime are its condition as being a social
construct and being an individual criminality.
1. Crime is dynamic/changing concept
Crime is a changing concept dependent upon the social development of people that is
upon the fundamental interest and values dominating their common beliefs. But as the
time passed by and humans started to regularise themselves the Nature and Definition
of crime became clearer. The nature of crime is changing due to the changes in the
society and the environment. Today one cannot view crime with a single perspective
alone.
2. Social construct
A social construct is a concept that exists not in objective reality, but as a result of
human interaction. It exists because humans agree that it exists.
3. An individual criminality
Individual crime, carried out by one person, can still instill fear and mistrust in the
community. Bank robbery, assault, rape, auto theft and identity theft are examples of
crimes often carried out by a single man or woman. The loss of money can be
substantial if a robbery occurs in a bank.
Role of Government and Society
Development of crime can largely be due to the role of laws and the government itself in the
society. The punishment when a crime takes place is left on the hands of the government. The
government is guided by policies and rules that have been promulgated to protect the welfare
of the majority or the greater good.
Very Often crimes are creation of government policies and the government in power forbids a
man to bring about results which are against its policies. The very definition of crime depends
upon the values of a given society.[1]
There is a division created by the morals that tends the government to make rules which
outlaws certain acts which wouldn’t have been a crime otherwise. For instance, the non-
violent drug offences are considered as crimes because it is declared by the government.
Indeed it wouldn’t be a crime the government didn’t categorise drugs something as illegal. In
such context people turn as ‘moral entrepreneurs’. By believing that drugs are evil, or
adultery is bad or even bigamy is evil, they try to convince their society’s authority to make
violating their mores a crime.
Also in this form of government construction of crime, public play an important role in the
prohibition or in the process of making something illegal. For terms of Sec. 377 of IPC were
decriminalised due to the changing in the minds of the public in general and all the people it
was effecting. Also like the prohibition of alcohol drinking or smoking at certain places, the
coalition of the public is necessary.
Definitions of Crime
At first, Crime was defined as- An act or omission of an act that is prohibited and punishable
by the federal statutes. Four essential conditions or an act or omission to be considered as
crime are:
• The act is considered wrong by the society,
• the act causes harm to the society in general or to those in need of protection,
• The harm is serious and the remedy must be dealt by the criminal justice system.
A crime may be an act of disobedience to such a law forbidding it or commanding it. But
then, sometimes, disobedience of law may not be a crime, for instance disobedience of civil
laws. Therefore, crime would mean something more than mere disobedience of law[2].
A crime is a deemed by law to be harmful to society in general, even though its immediate
victim is an individual. In case of murder, it injures a particular victim but its disregard of
human life results in putting it beyond the matter of mere compensation between the murder
and the victim’s family. Those who act in such a manner are preceded against by the state in
order that, if convicted, they may be punished.[3]If the punishing of a wrongdoer is the
remedy given and enforced by the prosecution at the suit of the crown, the wrong so
addresses is crime or criminal in nature.[4]
According to Sir William Blackstone: “An act committed or omitted in violation of Public
Law forbidding or commanding.”[5]
The Elements of a Crime
To convict a person of most criminal offences the two elements are very important to prove:
Actus Reus and Mens Rea. Actus Reus refers to the physical act involved in committing the
offence described by the criminal law. Mens rea means that the accused person had the intent
to commit an offence or knowledge of what he or she did was against the law. The intention
of a person to commit a criminal act means that the person meant to do something wrong and
knew or should have foreseen the results of the wrongful act. Intent is not the same as motive.
A motive can be understood as the reason that a person commits a crime, while intent refers
to that person’s state of mind and willingness to break the law.
Just indicting that a person had knowledge of certain facts is enough to ascertain the presence
of Mens Rea. Sometimes Mens Rea is not necessary to ascertain the act as an offence. Such
as matters relating and dealing with environment protection and workplace safety, these are
meant to protect the public welfare. Here Strict Liability and absolute liability comes into
picture. Strict liability means when a person may prove that they had the knowledge of the
facts and consequences and with due diligence tries to avoid it but it was out of their power.
Absolute liability is such driving without a driving license, there is no defence possible.
A crime, therefore, involves:
• harm, brought about by human conduct which the sovereign power in the state desires
to prevent.
• Legal proceeding of a special kind that are employed to decide whether the person
accused is guilty of the harm caused, and is, according to law, to be held legally
punishable for doing so.
Involvement of people in crime
In order to establish an act as a crime against a person, the involvement of certain parties is
essential. The Perpetrator is the person who actually commits the crime/ offence. If there are
more than one person involved then it is known as “co-perpetrators.” To be involved in a
crime it is not necessary to be directly being involved in the crime. There can be other, non-
participating “parties to a crime.” The victim is the one against whom the crime actually took
place. There can be multiple victims for an act by one or more perpetrators.
Illustrations
1. If a person uses the internet to commit crimes is considered as cyber-crimes. For example
hacking into other’s accounts or systems, identity theft, sharing or downloading pirated data,
pornography etc. all are considered as cyber-crime. Anyone using the internet can be a victim
to an act of cyber-crime.
2. If a person is involved in taking the life of some other person willingly with a guilty intent
then it is a crime as it is covered under the definition of Murder or Culpable Homicide under.
3. In a case where X person shoots another person Y, resulting in his death, such a situation
cannot be covered under the definition of crime as the action of the X are not criminal but
necessary as per the circumstances for self-defence.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the definition of crime scene?
A crime scene is any location which is associated with a committed crime. Crime scene
contains physical evidence that is pertinent to a criminal investigation.
The crime scene can be either where the crime took place or any location that contains
evidence related to a crime. Scenes are not limited to location but can be object, person or
place associated with the criminal behaviours that occurred.[6]
Overall the criminal investigators work in the following manner:
a. After reaching the crime scene they conduct a walk through to analyse the situation and
seal the area.
b. Then with the help to forensic science investigators they document the whole situation by
taking photographs and sketches.
c. They collect the evidence carefully so that not a single piece of evidence gets destroyed or
contaminated.
d. These evidences so collected are sealed and contained with due care and then sent to
forensic labs for further examination.
Crime scenes can be outdoors or indoors.
1. Outdoor crimes are the most difficult to examine because there are chances of losing or
contaminating the evidences that might lead to the perpetrator. Also a crime scene in an open
area suffers environmental changes due to which evidences get lost.
2. Indoor crimes are easy to be contained and sealed if the investigators reach on tome and
are cautious enough.
2. How is the nature of crime changing?
• The changes have been noticed that people who did not committed crime, due to the
availability of knowledge and technology are tempted to commit crime seeing how
easily it can be done and various ways of avoiding to get caught.
• Drug dealing which used to be done face to face in the middle of street with the fear
of getting busted now can be done online with just some clicks of a keyboard.
• Distance is just a number now with various means of transport are available a
wrongdoer can easily commit a crime in one city and move to another city in hours.
• The lack of interaction among people, not knowing who actually lives next door
makes it easy for perpetrators to find their targets and commence their activities.
• With such changing happening in the nation the police authorities are also required to
change their methods of tracking the criminals and increase their technical ability.
With the criminals being smart the authorities are required to be smarter.
• Criminals are adapting to the measures taken by the police authorities.
• Local gang members have noticed that they can make more money, with less risk of
getting caught and smaller penalties if they do get caught, by using technology.