Criminology: Definition, Nature and Scope
Q. 1 (a). Define criminology and what are its main functions.
Ans. The concept of crime has undergone great changes during the recent times. The crime is essentially concerned with the conduct of individuals in society. It is well known that the man by nature is social and his interests are best protected only as a member of the society. Everyone owes certain duties towards his fellow-men and at the same time has certain rights and privileges which he expects others to ensure for him. Although most of the people prefer to follow a ‘live and let live’ policy, there are a few who for some reasons or the other deviate from the normal behavioural pattern and associate themselves with anti-social elements. Deviation from the socially sanctioned Codes for the breaking of law is the basic characteristic of crime. If crime is regarded as an index of the social stability. we can very safely say, keeping in view the increasing crimes, that modern society is crumbling, the modern crime is also well organised. This obviously imposes an obligation on the State to maintain normalcy in society. The process of determining as to what is right and what is wrong is regulated through the instrumentality of law. The conduct which is considered to be so wrongful as to be dangerous to the peace and order in the society is inhibited by the law and the punishment is provided therefor. Such conduct labelled as a crime is defined by the penal provisions made by the State.
To define ‘crime’ is by no means an easy task. Cross and Jones defines crime as a legal wrong the remedy for which is punishment of the offender at the instance of the state. Tappan defined crime as an intentional act and omission in violation of criminal law. Sutherland characterises crime as a symptom of social disorganisation. It may be said that a crime is an act forbidden by law, the punishment for which is provided by law.
Definition of criminology.- There is no universally accepted definition of criminology. The problem of crime eradication essentially involves the need for a study of the force operating behind the incidence of crime and the multiple factors affecting the personality of the offenders. This has eventually led to the development of criminology during the preceding three centuries. The purpose of the study of this branch of knowledge is to analyse different aspects of crime and devise effective measures for the treatment of criminals to rehabilitate them in society. Thus, the subject of criminology has a practical utility in so far as it aims at bringing about welfare of the community as a whole.
The following are some of the important definitions of criminology.
1. Dr. M.J. Sethna. “Criminology we should say is the study of the meaning and the constituent factors of crime, understanding of the causes, of the remedies what goes by the name of the crime.”
2. Donald Taft.- According to Taft, “In its broadest sense is the study which includes all subject-matter necessary to the understanding and prevention of crimes together with punishment or treatment of delinquents and criminals. In narrow sense, criminology is simply study which attempts to explain crime to find out how they get the way.”
3. Webster.-“Criminology is the scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon, or criminals and mental traits, their habits, their discipline etc.”
4. Elliot and Merril.-“Criminology may be defined as the scientific study of crime and its treatment.”
5. Hurbert Johnson.- “Criminology is the scientific and practical application of findings in the areas of (a) a crime causation, criminal behaviour and etiology. (b) the nature of social reaction as symptom of the characteristics of society and (c) the prevention of crime.”
6. Sutherland.- “According to Sutherland, Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon.”
Sutherland has classified Criminology into three categories. He observes, “Criminology” consists of three principal divisions as follows:-
(a) the sociology of law which is an attempt at scientific analysis of the conditions under which criminal laws developed and which is seldom included in general books of criminology.
(b) criminology, which is an attempt at scientific analysis of the causes of crime; and
(c) penology which is concerned with the control of crime.
Functions of Criminology. The main functions of Criminology may be defined as follows:
1. To study the crime causation, criminal behaviour and etiology.
2. To study the nature of the societal reaction as a symptom of the characteristics of the society.
3. The prevention of the crime.
Thus, it is clear that the main function of criminology is to formulate the criminal policies. It is for this reason that Sellin has observed that the object of the criminology is to study the sequence of law making, law breaking and the reactions to law breaking from the point of view of the efficiency of law as a method of control.
Q. 1 (b). Is it correct to say that Criminology is a science? If yes, then explain with reasons.
Ans. Is criminology is science?- It is difficult to treat Criminology as a science in real sense of the term. As Sutherland pointed out the essence of science lies in general propositions of universal validity which can be made only in regard to stable and homogenous unit. Crime which is the subject-matter of criminology is neither a stable nor homogenous concept. On the other hand, Webster defined criminology as the scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon, senomenon, or criminals and mental traits, their habits and discipline etc. According to Elliot and Merril, Criminology may be defined as the scientific study of crime and its treatment. It is the science of criminal behaviour.
According to Kenny “Criminology is a branch of criminal science which deals with crime causation, analysis and prevention of crimes.”
Q. 2. Discuss the scope and relevance of criminology.
Or
Describe the scope of the Criminology and state the importance of the study.
Ans. Nature and scope of Criminology.- The problem of crime eradication involves the need for a study of the force operating behind the incidence of crime and the multiple factors affecting the personality of the offender. This has eventually led to the development of Criminology. The principles of Criminology act as guidelines for formulation of penal policy. The modern clinical methods and reformatory measures such as probation, parole, open prisons and other correctional institutions are essentially an outcome of great Criminological researches during the past one hundred years.
Criminology as a behavioural science or study faces an almost unsolvable difficulty because of the extreme diversity of types of behaviour. It is particularly concerned with those particular conducts of individual behaviour which are prohibited by the society. It is therefore a social study which seeks to discover the causes of criminality and suggest remedies to reduce crimes. But judicial approach of criminology suggests that an act to become a crime must confirm to the following two cardinal principles of criminal liability.-
(i) Nullum crimen Sine Lege
(ii) Nulla Poena Sine Lege
According to the first principle no one is held criminally liable unless he has done an act which is expressly forbidden under the criminal law and has a reprehensible state of mind to do it. The second principle suggests that there is no liability under the criminal law for doing something that is not prohibited.
It is very difficult to confine the scope of any science permanently. However we may simply refer the various spheres included in the study of Criminology-
According to Elmere Hubert Johnson, we may classify the scope of Criminology into the following categories-
1. Crime causation, criminal behaviour and etiology.
2. The nature of societal reaction as a symptom of the characteristics of the society,
3. The prevention of crime.
Similarly, according to the Sutherland, the scope of the Criminology is as follows:
(1) the sociology of law,
(2) criminal etiology; and
(3) penology.
In brief, criminology deals with the nature of crime, analysis of criminal behaviour, punishment of criminals and finally treatment of criminals. The entire scope of the subject may be split up as follows:-
Criminologists are thus confronted with three major problems, viz.
(1) what conducts should be forbidden and enquiry into the effects of environment over these conducts:
(2) what condemnation is appropriate in such cases; and
(3) what kinds of sanctions are best to prevent these conducts.
Importance of Criminology.- Modern society is based on co- operation. The recent penological reforms have achieved considerable success in this direction. The criminal law has also been adequately modified to adapt to modern reformative policies. Some of the significant attributes of Criminology are, however noted below:
(i) Criminology is concerned with crime, criminals and criminal behaviour. It presupposes the study of criminal with basic assumption that no one is born criminal. It treats reformation as the ultimate object of punishment while individualizing the method of it.
(ii) As Taft put it, the study of Criminology also offers a background for profession and an opportunity for social-workers, police, lawyers, attorneys, judges, jurors, probation officers, detectives and others specialists like psychologists, psychiatrists and sociologists etc need a perfect knowledge of Criminology for their professional work.
(iii) Besides, theoretical knowledge, Criminology is also important from its applied point of view. Its main aim is to give practical shape to all the measures of crime control.
(iv) Criminology seeks to create conditions condusive to social solidarity. It also seeks to rehabilitate the criminals as useful members of the society.
Methods of Study of Criminology
Q. 3. Discuss critically the main methods of study of Criminology.
Ans. Methods of study of Criminology. Crime and society are closely intermingled with the change in human thinking and evolution of modern society. Certain social reformers took up the cause of criminals and devoted their attention to analysis of crime causation. It is generally said that a systematic study of Criminology was first taken up by Beccaria (1938-94) who is known as the father of Criminology. Thus the ‘theories of criminology or the schools of Criminology are of later origin. The adherents of each school try to explain the causation of crime and of policies of control implied in the theory of causation.
(1) Pre-classical school of Criminology. This school was propounded during seventeenth and eighteenth century when dominance of religion was the chief characteristic. The dominance of religion in the State activities was the chief characteristic at that time. According to this school, all criminal activities are done due to the bad influence of evil spirits. The supporters of this theory were of the opinion that a criminal is under the control of some evil spirit prompting him to do the misdeeds, and therefore he (criminal) should be banished so that other members of the society would be saved. People believed that there was another world apart from this world, where supernatural beings reside and influence events of the world. They considered crime and criminals as an evidence of the fact that the individual was possessed of devil spirit. This pre-classical thinking which was founded on superstitions gradually withered away with the lapse of time.
(2) Classical School. Baccaria, Bentham and Romilly are the pioneers of the classical school. This school rejected the theory of offenders acting under the influence of some devilish spirit.
During the middle of eighteenth century Beccaria expounded his naturalistic theory of criminality. He laid emphasis on mental phenomena of the individual and located the cause of crime in the ‘free will The main tenets of the classical school are noted below-
(i) It is the act of an individual and not his intent which forms the basis for determining criminality in him.
(ii) The propounders of this school considered prevention of crime more important than the punishment for it,
(iii) According to the thinkers of this school the punishment should be awarded keeping in view the pleasure derived by the criminal from the crime and the pain caused to the victim therefrom,
(iv) This school believed that the criminal law primarily, rests on positive sanctions and was against the use of arbitrary powers of Judges.
(v) This school advocated the equality of punishment for the same offence.
(3) Neo-classical School. The classical school did not survive long. It was soon realized that classical school ignores the individual differences. It treats first offenders and habitual offenders on the same basis. The neo-classists differentiated criminals on the basis of their age and intelligence. Therefore, the neo-classical school asserted that certain categories of the offenders e.g. minors, idiots, insane or incompetent to be treated leniently irrespective of similarity of their criminal act.
The chief tenets of this school are as noted below:-
(i) This school gives proper importance to certain extenuating situations or mental disorders which deprive the criminal from his normal conduct,
(ii) The neo-classical school distinguishes between the first offender and the recidivists,
(iii) The advocates of this school stated that those lacking normal intelligence or having some mental depravity are irresponsible for his conduct,
(iv) The distinction between sanity and insahity of the offenders paved the way towards correctional institutions such as parole, probation, reformatories and open-air camps etc.
(v) The neo-classical school adopted a subjective approach to Criminology. It gives much importance to the conditions under which individuals commit criminal acts.
It may be noted that origin of jury system in criminal jurisprudence is essentially the result of the reaction of neo-classical approach towards the treatment of offenders. But as to the shortcomings of neo-classical school of Criminology, it must be stated that the exponents of this theory believed that the criminal whether responsible or irresponsible is a menace to society and, therefore, needs to be eliminated from it.
(4) The Geographical School. The thinkers of this school are Quetlet, Guerry, C.A. Mills and Montesque. These scholars have tried to show the relation between crime and geographical environment. This school lays down that rate of crime differs on the basis of geographical factors like climate, temperature, humidity etc.
The geographical theory was criticized by Sutherland and Cressey. First the association between crime rates and these physcial conditions at best is slight, in some crimes not even a slight association has been demonstrated… second these physical conditions provide the habitat for human life and consequently may facilitate or impede contacts among human beings and perhaps in that sense be related to opportunities for criminal behaviour. In fact, the greater frequency of crime during summer months is due to the greater contacts. Thus, apparently there is a close relationship between physical environment and crime but physical environment has nothing to do with crime.
(5) Positive school of Criminology. The main exponents of this school were three eminent scholars’ namely, called Lombroso, Garofalo and Ferri, all of them were Italians. It is for this reason that this school is also called ‘Italian school of Criminology.
(i) Lombrosian theory. Lombroso adopted an objective and empirical approach to the study of criminals through his anthropological experiments. He came to a definite conclusion that criminals were physically inferior in the standard of growth and, therefore, developed a tendency for inferior acts. He further generalized that criminals are less sensitive to pain and, therefore, they have little regard for the sufferings of others. He classified criminals into three categories, namely, (i) Atavists, or born criminals, (ii) Insane, who resort to criminality on account of certain mental disorder, (iii) The third category of criminals, according to him, are those who are physically deformed. They have a tendency to commit crime to overcome their inferiority to meet the needs of survival.
While analyzing causes of crime, Lombroso emphasized on the biological nature of human behaviour and thus indirectly drew attention of criminologists to the impact of environment on crime-causation.
(ii) Enrico Ferri’s theory. Ferri was another exponent of the positive school of Criminology. He challenged Lombrosian view of criminality. According to him physical, anthropological and social factors were three main causes of crime. He worked out a five fold classification of criminals, namely, (1) born criminals, (2) occasional criminals, (3) passionate criminals, (4) insane criminals and (5) habitual criminals. He suggested an intensive programme of crime prevention and recommended a series of measures for treatment of offenders. He asserted the punishment as one of the possible methods of reforming the criminals.
(iii) Garofalos theory. Born in Naples in 1852, Garofalo started his carrier as a Magistrate. He was one of the three exponents of positive school of Criminology. According to him, a criminal is a creature of his own environment. Garofalo defined crime as an act which offends the sentiments of piety and probity possessed by an average individual and which is injurious to the society. He rejected Ferri’s classification and put them into four main classes, namely (i) murderers whom he called endemic criminals, (ii) violent criminals, who are affected by environmental influences such as prejudices of honour, politics and religion, (iii) Deficient criminals. They lack lacking in sentiment of probity and commit crime against property, and (iv) Lascivious or lustful criminals who commit crimes against chastity.
As already stated that advocates of this theory completely discarded the theory of omnipotence of spirit and free-will. The greatest contribution of positive school to the development of criminal science lies in the fact that the attention of criminologists was drawn for the first time towards the individual that is the personality of the criminal rather than his act (crime) or punishment. The main features of this school may be defined as follows:-
(i) it rejected legal definition of crime and accepted sociological definition,
(ii) it explained crime in terms of biological terms,
(iii) it advocated treatment methods for criminal instead of punishment and held that criminals be punished not according to gravity of crime but according to the circumstances associated with it,
(iv) it stressed on personality of the offender rather than his criminal act
(6) Clinical School of Criminology. With the development of human psychology, there is greater emphasis on the study of emotional aspect of human nature. This branch of knowledge understands the criminal behaviour of offenders in its proper perspective. The clinical school takes into account variety of factors. It further suggesis that the criminals who do not respond favourably to correctional methods must be punished with imprisonment or transportation for life while those who are merely victims to social conditions, should be subjected to correctional terms such as probation, parole, reformatories, open air camps etc. The main theme of clinical school is the personality of man which is a combination of internal and external factors and they are of the view that punishment should depend on personality of the accused.
(7) Sociological School of Criminology. The sociological school of Criminology locates causes of crime into social environment. Tarde was the first to reject the anthropological approach of positivists and held that crimes were the consequences of human tendency to imitate. The followers successfully established that other factors such as mobility, culture, religion, economy, political ideologies, density of population, employment situation etc. have a direct bearing on the incidence of crime. In his theory of Differential Association, Sutherland suggests that human personality and culture are directly related and a man becomes criminal mostly by the chain of circumstances in which he associates and moves.
Thus, crimes are caused due to the combination of a number of factors or circumstances. The causation of crime can only be explained by the various causes of crime.
Definition of Crime
Q. 4. What is crime? What are its main characteristics? Describe also the importance of Criminology especially with reference to an offence?
Ans. Definitions of Crime. The concept of crime is closely related to social policy of the time. Crime and social policy is inter-related and the concept of crime and punishment depends much upon the social values, accepted norms and behavioural patterns of a particular society at a given time. To define ‘crime’ is by no means an easy task. Scholars have always differed in their views on an exact definition of crime.
Tappan defined crime as, “an intentional act or omission in violation of Criminal Law.”
Cross and Jones defines crime “as a legal wrong”, the remedy for which is punishment of the offender at the instance of the State.
According to Kenny “Crimes are wrongs whose sanction is punitive and is in no way remissible by any private person, but is remissible by the Crown alone……”
According to Donald Taft-“Crime is a social injury and an expression of subjective opinion varying in time and place.”
According to Stephen-“A crime is a violation of a right, considered in reference to the evil tendency of such violation as regards to community at large.”
Italian Criminologist Raffeale Garofalo gave a sociological definition of Crime. According to him. Crime is an act which offends the basic sentiments of ‘pity’ and ‘probity’. Sutherland characterises crime as a “symptom of social disorganisation”.
The concept of crime may be concluded in following terms:-
1. Crime and social policy are inter-related.
2. Crimes are of varying content changing with the changes in social structure.
3. Crime is a relative term. This relativity of crime obviously reflects upon the varying social reactions to human conduct at different places.
4. Criminal law is index of social progress of the country.
Characteristics of Crime. An act to be crime should have some characteristics. According to Jerome Hall, there are the following characteristics of crime:
(1) The act must be harmful to the social interests.
(2) The act causing harmful consequences must be intentional.
(3) The act causing harm must be of deliberate motivation. A harm caused by an insane person is not crime because there is no necessary intention.
(4) There must be fusion of criminal intent and conduct. Thus, a maid servant regularly entering a house to clean utensils cannot be prosecuted as a trespasser along with theft when she commits a theft, in that house.
(5) There must be a ‘casual’ relation between the legally forbidden harm and act/conduct
(6) There must be punishment prescribed by the law for the conduct.
Criminology-its importance. Criminology is one of the branches of criminal science which is concerned with social study of crimes and criminal behaviour. It aims at discovering the causes of criminality. The need for study of criminal science essentially emanates out of the psychological apprehension about the insecurity of life, liberty and property of the people. The Science of Criminology aims at taking up case to case study of different crimes and suggests measures so as to infuse the feelings of mutual confidence, respect and co-operation among the offenders Some of the significant attributes of Criminology are however noted below:
(i) The Science of Criminology presupposes the study of criminal with basic assumption that no one is born criminal. It treats reformation as the ultimate object of punishment while individualisation the method of it.
(ii) The study of Criminology also offers a backgroud for profession and an opportunity for social workers, police, lawyers, attorneys, Judges, jurors, probation officers, detectives and other specialists like sociologists. psychologists etc. who need a perfect knowledge of Criminology
(iii) Criminology tries to convince the offenders through punitive sanction that bad conduct on their part is bound to entail them punishment. misery, worry and dispute in society. The reformative treatment offered to first offenders, juvenile delinquents and insane criminals makes it sufficiently clear that criminologists seek to rehabilitate criminals as useful members of the society.
(iv) The advancement of scientific knowledge to an enormous increase in the crime-rate and many new crimes having sprung up has led criminal law administration to devise new methods and techniques to tackle these problems through scientific researches. Thus, the modern criminologists are more realistic in their approach and to tackle these intricate problems in the interest of social justice.
Dr. P. K. Sen rightly opines about the importance of Criminology that our epics which depict the glory of past civilisation and culture amply justify that our ancestors were thoroughly conversant with the science of Criminology. They treated delinquents in a medico legal perspective and considered them as patients suffering from some mental disorder. The criminologists must strive to inculcate feelings of brotherhood and sense of equality among the members of the society so that they may learn to respect law of the land. Criminology seeks to create conditions conclusive to social solidarity. It also seeks to rehabilitate the criminals as useful members of the society. Various correctional measures are adopted to seek this purpose.
Q. 5. How family conditions are helpful to the crimes? Explain.
Ans. Home is the primary institution of human development. A baby, when born, cannot be said that he would be a law abiding child or law breaking one. His family is the first agency to lead him on any of the above directions. From a warm, loving, stable and disciplined family, the child learns positive attitude and is adjusted in the society. From a cold, despairing, rejecting or neglectful environment, a child develops hostility, distrust or downright hatred towards the society.
The homes that produce delinquent children are frequently characterised by one or more of the following conditions:
(1) Other members of the family criminalistics, immoral or alcoholic, absence of one of the parents due to death; or divorce, or desertion.
(2) Lack of parental control through ignorance, blindness, illness etc.
(3) Home uncongeniality, as evidenced by domination by one member, favouritism, solicitude, overseverity, neglect, jealousy and crowded housing conditions.
(4) Racial or religious differences, foster homes, and institution homes.
(5) Economic problems such as unemployment, insufficient income etc.
After a careful study of the family background of a number of delinquents, Donald Taft described the following generalizations which are significant from the stand-point of crime causation:-
(1) Mobility among criminals is far greater than those of non-criminals. In other words, the delinquents change their place more frequently than the law abiding citizens.
(2) The delinquents often prefer to stay away from their parents and homes.
(3) The homes of the delinquents are often ill-maintained, insanitary and display poor standard of living.
(4) The family life of the most delinquents is usually disrupted and their parents are either dead, separated or divorced.
(5) Experience has shown that most of the delinquents are subjected to physical punishment by the parents in their childhood. Consequently, they hardly show any respect for their members in the family.
(6) A large percentage of criminals are usually hostile and indifferent towards their brothers and sisters.
(7) Delinquents are encouraged to follow criminality in their homes in either of the following ways:-
(i) the parents may not be themselves associated with criminal act but they might deliberately avoid to prevent their children from indulging into criminal traits,
(ii) children may learn criminal patterns through the process of imitation. They begin to learn similar behaviour from their parents.
(iii) the parents who have embarassed criminality as a way of life like those of professional thieves, unchaste women etc often train their children for the vocation.
Causes of Crime in India
Q. 6. What are the various causes of crime in India? Discuss.
Ans. Crime refers to an act which is violation of the criminal law. A crime is not committed unless the particular act is prohibited by the criminal law. On the other hand, criminal law refers to a body of rules which has been enforced by the political authority. The factors involved in causation of crime are as diverse as are the crimes. The following factors are regarded responsible for crime causation:
Environment Factors
Family and Home. Family is the basic institution which has close and exclusive contacts with the child. It is the family where a child spends his protected period of dependency. It therefore plays an important role in determining the behaviour pattern. Whenever there is any kind of disorganisation amongst the family members, the children are liable to become delinquent. In this connection, Sutherland and Cressey have observed:
The homes from which delinquent children come are frequently characterized by one or more of the following conditions:
(a) Other members of the family criminalistic, immoral or alcoholic, (b) absence of one or both parents by reasons of death, divorce or desertion, (c) lack of parental control through ignorance, blindness or other sensory defects or illness (d) home uncongeniality as evidenced by domination by one member, favouritism, oversolitude, overseverity, neglect, jealousy, crowded housing conditions, interfering relatives (e) racial or religious differences in conventions and standards, foster home or institutional home, (f) economic pressure such as, unemployment, insufficient income, mother working out.
Relationship between home conditions and delinquency.- Sutherland and Cressey have mentioned five principal processes regarding the relationship of home conditions and delinquency. These processes are as follows:
(1) “A child may assimilate within the home by observation of parents of other relatives, the attitudes, codes and behaviour patterns of delinquency. He then becomes delinquent because he has learned delinquency at home.”
(2) Secondly, “parents determine both the geographic and social class locus of the home in the community and the locus of the home, in turn. largely determines the kind of behaviour patterns the child will encounter”
(3) Thirdly, the child learns to apprise persons by by their bearing. clothing, language or occupation as important or unimportant and the appraisal later on attracts his acceptance or rejection of the behaviour patterns which are presented.
(4) Fourthly, a child may be driven from the home by unpleasant experiences and situations, or withdraw from it because of the absence of pleasant experiences and thus he may cease to be a functioning member of an integrated group.
(5) Fifthly, the home may fail to train the child to deal with community situations in a law abiding manner. That is, delinquency patterns may not be present in the home, but the home may be neutral with respect to delinquency to the child. This failure to present anti-delinquency patterns may be due to neglect in training because of the absence of the parents, or because of the unconcern of parents, or it may be due to over protection in the form of failure to acquaint the child with the kinds of delinquencies he will be expected to resist or with the taboos of the outside world. Inhibitions against delinquency, are supposed to be developed in the family life.
In the context of the above statement, it is also desirable to discuss the following factors which are often responsible for making a child delinquent:
(1) Criminal Parents. In the development of personality, imitation is of great importance. Culture is transmitted by imitation. The child mostly learns by imitation. Therefore, if the parents are criminal, the child will imitate them. The child often forms the habit of their parents.
(2) Immorality in the Home. Immorality in the homes is another important factor in the causation of crime. If any immoral work is done in the homes, it is subject to create tension in the mind of the child. The child imitates these things at home. Thus, due to the existence of immorality at home, the child become delinquent in his life.
(3) Broken Home. A broken home is one of the important reasons for delinquency of the children. Home is broken in which there is absence of one or both parents by divorce or desertion. Research reports indicate that delinquents mostly come from broken homes. In such homes, the basic personality of a child is not properly developed.
Alcoholism at Home. Alcoholism is another important factor which creates criminals and delinquents. The use of alcohol in many cases is responsible for evils. In family, its use leads to quarrel between parents. It creates ill treatment amongst family members. Consequently, a proper care of child is not taken.
Economic Factors
1. Poverty. Poverty is also a potent cause of criminal behaviour. According to Marshall. “The destruction of the poor is their poverty and the study of the causes of poverty is the study of the causes of the degradation of a large part of mankind” This statement refers to the role of economic factors. The mode of production and distribution of goods among a group determines the legal code, political ideology and religion etc. According to him, social existence determines the consciousness of society. In other words, crimes, vice and moral evils are primarily due to the poverty of the masses.
According to Mowrer, economic conditions which play an important role in the causation of crime, is an assumption which has been made time and again in past. This conclusion grows out of the fact that a portion of crime represents the appropriation or attempt to apropriate the economic goods of another. This leads to the conclusion that the motive for the crime is economic……….ordinarily, homicide is considered a crime against the person, yet it may grow out of quarrel about property rights. Again living immoral life would ordinarily be considered a crime against public morals, yet from the stand-point of the female it results in some economic gain.
The impact of economic conditions on crime is also evident in practice Generally, crimes against property in large measure are committed due to bad economic conditions. Material well being generally exults the vital instincts, against alcohol consumption and therefore increases crimes against morals. Further, it has also been noticed that crime rates are higher in the lower than the upper economic class. In other words crime is associated with poverty. When there is poverty, there are other social accompaniments. It generally means bad housing, poor health, low social status. Therefore, poverty to a large extent is responsible for the causation of crime.
2. Bad Housing.- Poverty in the modern city customarily means segregation in low rent areas, where people are isolated to a considerable degree from anti-criminal patterns and forced into contact with many criminal behaviour patterns. It generally means a social status, with little to loose, little to respect and little to sustain efforts a self-advancement. It generally means bad housing conditions, poor health and invidious comparisons in other physical and psychological conditions. This statement of Sutherland indicates the role of bad housing in connection of crime. As a result of poverty, people are compelled to live in bad housing conditions. Parents often work in factories and offices. Due to poverty children are withdrawn from schools and entered to an unskilled occupation.
The recent investigation conducted in connection of bad housing conditions and crime indicates that improper housing is a very important factor for converting an individual towards anti-social behaviour. They maintain that inadequate housing is a major factor of juvenile delinquency. the mental and physical influence which is created amongst juveniles is responsible for their resorting to anti-social behaviour pattern.
Cultural Factors
1. Decline of religious control. Religion is one of the most interacting factors which directs human conduct and behaviour. It has been instrumental in maintaining a social morality among mankind It is therefore, concluded that there is a close relationship between crime and religion. It is because crime involves the violation of sacred morality. If religion fails to train members of a society to behave morally, we can say that lack of religious training is also an important cause of crime.
2. Defective Education. The real aim of education is to train individual for social life. According to some thinkers, poor education or failures of the schools is a contributory factor of crime. According to Sutherland and Cressey, schools do not have the specific function of preventing delinquency, but they like the family, are now expected to provide interesting activities for the child, probably delinquency and crime are related to the schools in much the same way as they are related to family conditions, namely, through the effects which school activities have on the student’s associations with delinquent and anti-delinquent behaviour patterns. Thus, excluding white collar crimes, crime decreases with the increase of education.
Dr. M. J. Sethna sated, “Lack of education is a potent cause of moral depravity. It is essential then to turn to question of shaping character…ال is through the moulding of propensities and potentialies, the formation of good habits, that a good character can be shaped,” it can be done by parents at home and teachers at school. They can enhance the inclinations of a child towards a right thinking and right living.
3. Social Customs. Social customs to a large extent are also involved in the causation of crime. M.J. Sethna observed, “Undesirable marriage customs lead to crime. Thus, marriage of too old a person with a young lady may led to maladjustment, dissatisfaction and even to ill treatment and the dowry system had also at times led to suicide of girls. More effective even than legislaton prohibiting dowry is social propaganda and social re- education. The system of spending considerable sums of money on marriage celebrations and festivals, in spite of poverty, is another important factor that aggravates poverty.
4. Newspapers. The rates of crime are also affected by newspapers. Sometimes the newspapers advertise crime and occasionally glorify specific criminals. The accounts which newspapers publish contribute to the self- esteem of professional criminals. The publicity has a very bad effect on those persons whose attitudes have not been previously determined. It creates an impression amongst people that crime is determined. It creates an impression amongst people that crime is determined. It creates an impression amongst the people that crime is frequent and usual. According to Cressey, a population for whom crime has become usual cannot present a consistent front against crime. On the other hand, it has been demonstrated that exposure through newspapers to the constant dramatization of crime is effective in changing individuals from non- criminals to criminals.
Industrialization
Industrialization is also a potent factor in the causation of crime. It has resulted in the growth of cities. In other words, the growth of industrialization is also associated with the growth of urbanization in rural society. In urban society there is a large concentration of people. Their mode of life is not regulated by religion, custom and tradition. The aim of life in the cities is mostly material well being. Consequently, there is a breakdown of traditional control. Further in urban society, money is considered by a large number of persons as superior to God. The existence of permanent norms has been replaced by new inventions and developments Social mobility is going on at a rapid speed and community feelings have been crushed by individualistic ideas. Thus, due to the fast tempo of life in cities, there is an accelerated rate of mental disorder. Due to competition, there is enormous mental conflict which tends to take the individual towards criminal career. Thus, in the urban matrix as a result of certain social conditions, the rate of crime is fairly high.
Conclusion
Thus, there are various factors which are involved in causation of crime. Certain scholars have established much causal relationship between crime and physical evnironment. According to Lombroso, there is close relationship between physical structure and criminal behaviour. According to Dugdale the criminal behaviour is inherited. According to sociologists criminal behaviour can be explained with reference to environmental factors. Crime is always a personal situation complex. Criminals are neither born nor they inherit criminality. In fact, crime is the product of social environment.