Criminology, Penology & Victimology Part-2

Q. 7. What do you understand by the classical school of criminology? State briefly the contribution of the leading thinkers of this school.

Ans. Classical School of Criminology. The classical school of criminology and criminal law developed in Italy and England after Beccaria published his famous essay on crimes and punishments. This school is called “classical school of criminology” as it propelled the first systematic approach of thinking in the area of criminology. Hebrew, Greek and Latin Languages are called the classical languages because these languages were the first to communicate adequately in the modern abstract thinking. Beccaria is called the father of the classical school of Criminology. This school later on spread to other European countries and America. It is based on hedonistic psychology which means a man governs his behaviour by consideration of pleasure and pains, the pleasure anticipated from the same act. A person is assumed to have a ‘free will’ and to make his choice with reference to the hedonistic calculatious.

        According to this school, the people with their free will entered into a contract with the State that they would preserve the peace in the society with the term of the consensus. The punishment to be awarded by the State must be proportionate to the interest suffered by the crime. The laws should be minimum, the implementation of which should be delineated by due process. The man is liable for this acts and all are equal before the law.

       Ceasare Beccaria (1738-1794) published his essay in 1764 when he was only 26 years old. He was influenced by the French philosophers Rousseau. Montesquieu and English philosopher Jone Locke. He propounded that the aim of punishment should be not to torment and afflict a sentient person but to prevent the criminal from doing more damage to his co-citizens and to deter others from doing likewise and pleaded for the abolition of death penalty. He contended that “the punishment should be proportionate to the crime so that it would be more effective and will have an enduring impression on human minds and be least formenting to the body of the criminal.”

       He advocated to make punishment less arbitrary and severe than it had been. For a punishment to achieve its effectiveness, it is enough that its painfulness just exceeds the benefits derived from the crime. Anything more is tyrannical. Punishment should be proportionate to the scale of crime. In order to prevent crime, the punishments should be more deterrent and not necessarily effective. He pleaded that death penalty had no deterrent force, as it failed to deter the potential criminals. Death penalty which is executed in the presence of the spectators, for most of them, the death penalty is a spectacle and for others an object of compassion mixed with abhorrence. Therefore, a punishment more deterrent than death penalty is needed to prevent crime.

      Based on the hedonistic doctrine, the criminals are simply punished in the prescribed ways by the State. The basic idea is that the crime will be minimal if the fear of the State agents is maximal.

     Beccaria’s view was that punishments should be known to the people in advance so that a potential offender could balance the pleasure and the pain of a particular crime according to his ‘free will’. The principles recommended by Beccaria are: –

1. The basis of all social action must be of utilitarian concept of greatest happiness for the greatest number.

2. Crime must be cosidered as an injury to the society.

3. Prevention of crime is more important than punishment.

4. The purpose of punishment is to deter persons from committing crime.

5. Imprisonment should be more widely employed.

        Voltaire, a great thinker extended whole hearted support to Beccaria and as a result, the rigours of criminal law were reduced in many European countries. In a few countries, capital punishment was abolished altogether.

Q. 8. Examine the contribution of Positive School of Criminology?

Ans. Contribution of Positive School of Criminology. The classical school laid emphasis on free will. However, the positive school did not accept the theory of ‘free will’ but laid emphasis on the positive law, ie. the legal findings and observations based on proof and evidence. The philosophers stressed on the ’cause of crime. The prominent philosophers of this school are:

1. Cessare Lombroso (1836-1909)

2. Reffacle Garofalo (1852-1934)

3. Enrico Ferri (1856-1928)

     These criminologists emphasized that crime is not committed by the offender on ‘free will but is committed by a person primarily in terms of factors within the criminal ie physical, biological and mental. They. therefore, either ignored the external factor altogether or gave them secondary importance.

        Lombroso is regarded as the father of the modern Criminology. He is famous for his biological positivism. He was the first criminologist to employ scientific method in explaining criminal behaviour and shifted the emphasis from crime to criminal. He published his work L’uomo delinquente (The Criminal Man) in 1876.

      As a doctor, he made a study of large number of troublesome soldiers who came to him for treatment and found that a criminal can be identified by certain physical characteristics such as slanting forehead, long earlobes or none at all, a large jaw, flattened nose, scanty beard, heavy supraorbital ridges, either an excessive hairiness or absence of hair, either extreme sensibility or lack of sensitivity to pain.

      He classified them in the following categories:

1. Born criminal.

2. Insane criminal.

3. Criminal by passion including the political “Crank”

4. Occasional criminal i.e. pseudo-criminal (who is not dangerous).

5. Habitual criminal (conditioned to crime by unfavorable environment or circumstances).

         His study of soldiers revealed that about a third of the prisoners were throw-backs or biological reversions, or the primitive savages, or mere “animals” and a third were border-line and a third were accidental or occasional offenders who probably would not repeat the crimes.

    Some of the Lombroso’s followers concluded that several classes of criminals, such as theives, murderers and sex offenders are differentiated from cach other by physical stigmata.

      Criticism. The theory propounded by Lombroso was disproved by Goring, an English physician who made a comparison of several thousand criminals as well as several thousand non-criminals and found no significant difference as far as the physical stigmata is concerned. He said that Lombroso and his followers never made a careful comparison of criminals and non-criminals. Consequently the Lombrosian thought fell into disrepute. However, its logic and methodology were retained and instead of physical characteristics “feeble mindedness” was substituted in its place which differentiated criminals from non-criminals.

         Some of the important criticisms of the Lombroso’s theories of criminal behaviour are:

(i) His approach assumed individual physique as something fixed and not prone to changes. He did not take into consideration the process of affecting the human physique.

(ii) For the actual measurements of his subject, he took a few criminals and not others and thus created a doubt regarding the reliability of the data employed by him.

(iii) His analysis was proved as ‘highly deficient by the subsequent sophisticated statistical techniques.

(iv) He was unable to compare the so called characteristics of criminals with those of non-criminals

(v) He did not take into account the racial and ethnical differences among the members of his samples and treated them as homogenous.

(vi) His method was mainly descriptive, not experimental. His generalization about stavism and degeneracy left a vulnerable gap between theory and fact.

(vii) Lombroso used ‘laymen’s hypothesis”.

         Contribution of Lombroso. According to Maurice Parmelee although Lombroso’s work may contain serious faults, he was the pioneer whose original genius led in the great movement towards the application of the positive, inductive methods of modern science to the problem of crime and stimulated the development of the new science of Criminology.

       According to Sellin, Lombroso’s ideas proved so challenging that they gave an unprecedented impetus to the study of the offender. Any scholar whose ideas after half a century possess vitality, merits an honourable place in the history of thought.

       Goring described Lombroso as a genius, an indefatigable worker and a man of strong personality, attracting to himself many disciples and co- workers from all countries of Europe. His importance lies in the face that he was the first to convince us that we should study the criminal, not the crime and we should punish the criminal, not the crime.

    The positivists’ main contribution is regarding the theories of treatment that the juveniles and adults must be treated in different manner.

Q. 9 (a). Discuss the theory of Lombroso in the Criminology.

Ans. Theory of Lombroso. Lombroso was the first criminologist who made an attempt to understand the personality of offenders in physical terms. He employed scientific methods in explaining criminal behaviour and shifted the emphasis from crime to criminal. His views gained favour in subsequent years and modern criminlogical measures are devised to attain the aim of individualization in the treatment of criminals. It has been rightly commented that the sociologists emphasize on the external factors. Psychologists on the internal factors, while Lombroso held that both had a common denominator-“the individual”

      While analyzing causes of crime, Lombroso laid greater emphasis on the biological nature of human behaviour and thus indirectly drew attention of criminologists to the impact of environment on crime-causation. It must, however, be noted that at a later stage Lombroso himself was convinced of the futility of his theory of atavisim and, therefore, extended his theory of determinism to social as well as economic situation of the criminals.

          By the time of Lombroso’s death in 1909, it became abundantly clear that his theories were over-simplification of facts and rather the notion of criminal as a physically atavistic type had lost significance. The modern positivism in Crimnology has developed his own system of ideas in which there is little place for Lombroso’s views. Critics such as Lind Smith Levin even believe that Lombroso shall always be remembered as far as development of Criminology is concerned.

     Criticising Lombroso’s views Prof. Sutherland observed that by shifting attention from crime as a social phenomenon to crime as an individual phenomenon, Lombroso delayed for fifty years the work which was in process at the time of its origin and in addition made no lasting contribution of his own.

Q. 9 (b). Lombroso was the founder of criminal anthropology, Ferri was founder of criminal sociology. Critically examine this statement.

Ans. Ceasare Lombroso was an Italian psychiatrist, who was a physician in the Army. He was the first to employ scientific methods in explaining criminal behaviour and shifted the emphasis from crime to criminal. He adopted an objective and empirical approach to the study of criminals, through his anthropological experiments. After an intensive study of physical characteristics of his patients and later on of criminals, he came to 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 suffering of others. He classified criminals into three main categories-

(i) The atavist or hereditary Criminals. He also termed them as “born criminals”. In his opinion born criminals were of a distinct type who could not refrain from indulging into criminality and environment, had no relevance whatsoever to the crimes committed by these atavists. He, therefore, considered these criminals as incorrigibles, i.e. beyond reformation.

(ii) Insane Criminals. The second category of criminals according to Lombroso, consisted of insane criminals who resorted to criminality on account of certain mental depravity or disorder.

(iii) Criminals. The third category of criminals, according to him are those criminals, who were of physically criminal type and had a tendency to commit crime to overcome their inferiority in order to meet the needs of survival.

       Enrico Ferri (1856-1928). Enrico Ferri was one of the exponents of the positive school of Criminology. He challenged Lombrosian views. Through the researches, Ferri proved that mere biological reasons were not enough to account for criminality. He firmly believed that other factors such as emotion reaction, social infirmity or geographical conditions also plays a vital role in determining criminal tendencies in men. In his own words, “As a given number of water at a definite temperature will dissolve a fixed quantity of chemical substance and not an atom more or less, so in a given social environment with definite individual and physical conditions, a fixed number of delicts, no more and no less, can be committed.”

       It is for this reason that he is sometimes called the founder of ‘criminal sociology.

      The major contributions of Ferri to the field of Criminology is his law of criminal saturation. This theory presupposes that the crime is the synthetic product of three main factors:-

(1) Physical or geographical,

(2) Anthropological, and

(3) Psychological or social.

         Ferri emphasized that a criminal should be treated as a product of the conditions which played his life. Therefore, the basic purpose of crime prevention programme should be to remove conditions making for crime.

      Ferri worked a five-fold classification of criminals, namely:

(1) born criminal,

(2) occasional criminals,

(3) passionate criminals,

(4) insane criminals, and

(5) habitual criminals.

          He suggested an intenstive programme of crime prevention and recommended a series of measures for treatment of offenders. He favoured indeterminate sentence keeping in view the possible chances of inmates readjustment in the community.

Q. 10. Discuss the Psychological theory of crime.

Ans. Phychological theory of crime-Psychologists treat crime as a behaviour learnt by the criminal in course of his contact with different persons.

        Mental deviation can be divided into psychosis, neurosis, psychopathic states and abnormal personality types. Psychosis may be organic Functional Mental disease and abnormal personality may be causative factors of crime. When the individual is deprived of status-conferring social relationships, he may attempt to compensate it through getting attention For it he does criminal behaviour for his unsatisfied craving for social recognition. Schizophrenia is the most frequent psychosis which represents the extreme of the shut-in type of personality. Its delusions, sudden impulses, hallucinations etc. at time may lead to criminal behaviour.

        With regard to the neurotic, the conditions can be classified as neurasthenia, psychasthenia and hysteria. According to the well-known Freudian hypothesis neurosis, is associated with frustrations of basic desires This makes the individual to stumble into crime.

     There have been in-depth studies conducted on the psychopaths. It has been observed that psychopaths are unbalanced, unsocial, egocentrics whose abnormality manifests itself through conduct rather than through other mental symptoms. It has been contended by Alex J. Arieff and David B Rotman that it is difficult to define a psychopath and it is very difficult to explain some types of crime; the term psychopath regarded as a “Determinist” who placed more significance on the interrelation of social, economic and criminals by passion. In order to prevent the crimes, he suggested certain measures e.g. free trade, abolition of monopolies, building inexpensive workmen’s dwellings, better street lighting, birth control, freedom of marriage and divorce, State control of manufacture of weapons. establishments of founding homes and provision for public recreation so on and so forth.

         Gabrial Trade, a French jurist, in his book “Laws of limitation and Penal Philosophy” explained that criminal behaviour is learnt by association. He thought that the function of the Court should be to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused person and that a committee of the doctors should determine the degree of his responsibility. He considered equal sentencing for equal crimes as unfair.

         Law of insertion and imitation are causes of incidence of crime. “Crime like other social phenomena starts as a fashion and becomes a custom. He further classified crimes as urban crimes and rural crimes.

Q. 11. Describe the Psychiatric School of Criminology?

Ans. Psychiatric School of Criminology. The Psychiatric School is a continuation of Lombrosian school. The main theory of this school was that a certain organization of personality developed entirely apart from the criminal culture will result in criminal behaviour regardless of social situations. This school emphasized that the delinquent personality is formed in the first few years of a child’s life. If a body is not socialized in a manner befitting to the social needs, he will come into conflict with society because he would not be able to adjust to the problems of leaving the pleasures of childhood for the reality of adult life.

      Raffaele Garofalo was a student of Lombroso. He rejected the doctrine of free will. He attempted to formulate a sociological definition of crime. He designated those acts which no civilized society can refuse to recognize as criminal acts and designated them as “natural crimes” i.e. offences violating the altruistic sentiments e.g. honesty (probity) and piety. He said that crime is an immoral act and is injurious to society.

His classification of criminals are:

(i) Murderer-endemic criminal.

(ii) Violent criminal-prejudice of honour, politics and religion.

(iii) Criminal lacking sentiments and probity.

(iv) Lascivious or lustful criminal who commits crime against chastity.

      Enrico Ferri was also a student of Lombroso. He published his thesis “The theory of Imputability and the Denial of ‘free will’ which was an attack on the idea of free will theory. He, therefore, has become a sort of waste basket category of chronically unadjusted individuals, and an easy ‘explanation’ of crime through attaching a label which explain nothing.”

     The epileptic is subject to sudden convulsions during which there is a complete loss of conciousness which is known as grand mal. Before and after these attacks, there is liable to be much impulsive behaviour, and violent crime, though rare, may result. The characteristic of epileptics are lack of social adaptability, conceit and assurance, out of proportion of accomplishments, moodiness and egocentricity, moral atrophy and general blurring of thought and judgment and optimism as to their condition, leading them to meet situations with which they cannot cope.

           A new tool which promises to add much to our understanding of epilepsis, organic brain diseases and psychopathic states as related to criminal behaviour is electroencephalography. The electric energy of clusters of cells in the cortex of the brain may be magnified and irregularities in their frequency, duration, amplitude, to diagnose some of the types of epilepsy, locate brain tumors, and detect brain injuries or diseases. In psychomoter epilepsy, the patient may show impaired judgment, lack of inhibition and unsocial behaviour.

Q. 12. Discuss the theory of Frued regarding crime?

Ans. Frued’s theory of crime.- Sigmund Frued (1856-1939) attempted to explain that offenders tend into criminality on account of functional deviations and mental conflicts. According to Frued humans suffer metal conflict because of the desire and energies that are repressed into the unconscious mind. These urges, ideas, desires and instincts are basic to man that they are repressed because of the morality of society. Man, however, is constantly trying to express these “natural” drives in some way often indirectly, to avoid the reactions of others. Dreams are one of the examples of indirect expression.

         Frued explained that personality consists of three elements Le. Id, Ego and Superego The Id is the reservoir of urges, desires, drives and instincts; Ego refers to the conscious personality of which the individual is aware. Superego according to Frued is the force of self criticism and control inherent in every individual. The Id and superego are basically unconscious, while the ego is the conscious part of the personality. Thus, there is a constant conflict between ‘Id (basic urges of men, ego and superegoue. Frued, therefore contends that crime is the substitute of symbolic behaviour of individual. Thus, the desire of committing suicide (self murder) is out of the feeling of inferiority, frustration, aggression or anxiety.

       Frued used hypnosis on some of his patients, encouraging them to talk freely. He discovered that patients would talk rather freely, which was a therapeutic release for them (a process he called catherisis) and also that they would reveal underlying situations that might be seen by the therapist as causes of the problem. He later discovered that he could achieve the same results without hypnosis by encouraging the patient to talk freely, a process he called free association; the method he called psycho-analysis.

Q. 13. Explain the Sutherland’s theory of differential association?

Ans. Sutherland’s theory of defferential association. The theory of ‘differential association’ was propounded by Edwin H. Sutherland, in 1939. His theory is considered as the first ‘pure sociological theory’. The differential association refers to the patterns of behaviour to which the individual is exposed, i.e. good company or bad company. It says that “the crime is learned behaviour that is imparted by other persons with whom one associates.”

        Sutherland modified this theory in 1947 to include the laws of learning. The modified theory is as follows:

1. Criminal behaviour is learned.

2. Criminal behaviour is learned in interaction with other persons in the process of communication.

3. The principal part of learning of criminal behaviour occurs within intimate personal groups.

4. When criminal behaviour is learned, the learning includes techniques of committing crime, which are sometimes very complicated, sometimes very simple, in the specific direction of motives, drives, rationalization and attitudes.

5. The specfic direction of motives and drives is learned from definitions of the legal codes as favourable and unfavourable

6. A person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favourable to violation of law over definitions unfavourable to violation of law.

7. Differential association may vary in frequency, duration, priority and intensity.

8. The process of learning criminal behaviour by association with criminal and anti-criminal patterns involves all mechanism that are involved in any other learning

9. While criminal behaviour is an expression of general needs and values, non-criminal behaviour also is an expression of the same needs and values.

       The theory of differential association has been criticized by many scholars. The best criticism has come from Reed Adams in following words :

I. It is difficult to reduce differential association to empirical research for validation purposes.

2. There are some mis-interpretations on the part of some writers with respect to differential association. For example, it is important to mention that Sutherland was referring to an over abundance of criminal association rather than simple criminal association.

3. The theory does not explain why the association exists.

4. The theory fails to account for all types of crimes.

5. The theory fails to consider personality and difference between people in receptivity

6. The theory does not specify the ratio of behavioural patterns that determine criminality with sufficient accuracy precision

        In conclusion, differential association is not a precise statement of the process by which one becomes criminal. The idea is that criminality is a consequence of an excess of intimate association with criminals. The theory indicates that some emotionally insecure persons and persons from broken homes commit crimes. Sutherland could not explain satisfactorily the distribution of crime and criminal tendencies as his notion of social structure was not well developed. He said that the crime rates would be higher in the sub-group having strong criminal tendencies.

Q. 14. What is the importance of economic factors on crime causation?

Or

What are the effects of economic conditions on crime?

Ans. Importance of economic factors on crime causation.- Economic life has a determining influence upon all social and cultural adjustments of mankind Some sociologists have tried to explain crime in terms of economic structure of society. Aristotle, Plato, Voltair, Rousseau, Beccaria and Bentham expressed similar views and agreed that economic structure is one of the important causes of criminality. Poverty gives rise to hunger, misfortune, disease and anger, which destroy the personality of the individual and compels him to do undesirable things. Under the circumstances, he is forced to lend himself into criminality.

     The relationship between economic conditions and crime is founded broadly on two main conflicting views :

1. That the relationship between economic structure and crime is direct or positive, that is to say, criminality being an extension of normal economic activity increases or decreases with the rise or fall in the economy. This view has been most explicitly developed by Fillip Polett in supplement to the original research of Enrico Ferri and his famous work “Law of Criminal Situation”

2. That the relationship between economy and crime is inverse that is when economic conditions are favourable the incidence of crime is comparatively low but in times of economic depression criminality records an upward trend. This assumption finds support in all Marxist doctrines and Leftist Policies. W.A. Bonger, the noted Dutch social scientist strongly supported this contention.

     Analysing the impact of economic condition on criminality, Prof Hermann Mannheim observed that if we leave aside traffic offences, three fourth of the time and energy of the criminal law administrators of the world shall have to be devoted to economic crimes. Focusing the importance of economic factors in the causation of crime, he pointed out that poverty contributes both directly and indirectly to the commission of crime. However, poverty alone may not be a direct cause of crime because other factors such as frustration, emotional insecurity and non- fulfilment of wants often play a dominant role in giving rise to the criminal tendency.

          The Marxist theory has emphasized that all human behaviour is determined by economic factors. Supporting this view, Fredrick Engels attributed increase in the incidence of crime in England in mid-eighteenth century to the deplorable economic conditions of the workers due to class exploitation. W. A. Bonger also adopted the same approach in explaining crime-causation and asserted that criminal was a product of capitalistic system which created selfish tendencies. In such a system, each person tries to extract maximum from others in return of the minimum from himself. Thus, Bonger identifies many evils in the capitalistic system which are responsible for the spread of criminal behaviour. In fact, the theory of Radical Criminology is based on this concept which further explains that crime occurs due to the exploitation of the poor by the rich.

Q. 15. Critically examine the Bonger’s Economic theory of Crime.

Ans. Comment on the Bonger’s Economic Theory of Crime- William A. Bonger’s contribution to Criminology explains the interrelation of crime and economic conditions that deserves a particular mention. He derives his conclusion after an intensive research study of economic conditions prevailing in different socialistic countries in the first half of twentieth century. He stated that the modern age is a period of capitalistic economy. While establishing a co-relationship between economic conditions and crime, Bonger enunciated the following principles:

1. Bonger prepared a statistical data and demonstrated that alomost 79 percent of the criminals belong to non-profitable class. Thus, he tried to establish a co-relationship between poverty and delinquency.

2. He further observed that the influence of economic conditions on delinquency is essentially due to the system of capitalism which breeds disparity. Under capitalistic economy, there is unequal distribution of wealth. The capitalists resort to hoarding and monopolistic traits, creating artificial rise in prices. This, in turn stops production which ultimately results into unemployment of labour and consequently the offences such as alcoholism, vagrancy, begging and violence, etc., show an upward trend.

3. In an economic system based on capitalism economic cycles of inflation and deflation are frequent.

4. Capitalistic economy is the competitive tendency among enterpreneures. Efficiency, low-production, cost and better quality of products are some of the admirable results of competitive economy. But when these efforts fail to meet the competition, unlawful devices like those of infringement of trade marks copyrights and patents etc. are resorted to by the manufactures. This increases crime rate.

5. Capitalistic economy contributes to an enormous increase in crimes. The employment of children and women furnishes breeding ground for criminality despite effective legislative restrictions banning their utilization in industrial establishments. Child labour is in itself a potential cause of crime because a child who earns his wages does not know how to spend it properly.

      Many criminologists have opposed Bonger’s view on different grounds. Cohen has criticized Bonger’s economic theory of criminality. He suggests that relative economic prosperity is no ground to explain decline in crime rate. In his view, offences such as arson, wilful damage to property and sex crimes are frequent among labour class, agriculturists, seamen and soldiers, while persons with commercial occupations commit less of these crimes but more of the acquisitive offences. According to Cohen honesty is not the monopoly of only the rich persons, many people manage to lead an honest and upright life despite their poor financial condition. Bonger’s assertion that poverty is an essential condition of crime because a man is always prepared to do anything to get relief from his miserable economic condition seems untenable in the light of the fact that even the wealthiest person who are usually big industrialists, businessmen, financeries etc often resort to dishonest means such as falsification of accounts, black-marketing, tax evasion and copyright etc. despite their huge earnings. This obviously does not support Bonger’s theory of criminality founded on poverty delinquency relationship Bonger’s view that capitalistic trend of society is responsible for criminality is also not true. The socialistic policies launched with a view to eliminating excessive profits and other evils of capitalistic economy have equally failed to yield favourable results Nationalization of industries and State control over production have hardly been successful so far prevention of crime is concerned. Nationalization, essentially involves taking over control of private management by the State. Thus, in State controlled undertakings, the management and control is entrusted to some public officials who are again the individuals. Therefore, how can one be sure that these public officials shall not be tempted to personal gains so long as acquisitive tendency which is a part of human nature, persists in them. Consequently there shall be no incentive for production herice there would be scarcity and crisis which in turn will give rise to crimes relating to property such as theft, stealing, extortion, boarding and black-marketing. Thus, there is no denying that there are certain crimes which result out of capitalistic society but there are certain other crimes which necessarily generate in a socialistic pattem of society

Criminal Behaviour

Q. 16. What is Criminal behaviour? Discuss the theories of learning of criminal behaviour?

Ans. In order to understand the criminal behaviour in its true perspective, we should first of all try to analyze the concept of crime with reference to criminal law. Crime refers to an act, which is in violation of the criminal law. On the other hand, criminal law refers to a body of rules, which has been enforced by the political authority.

          Characteristics of Criminal law. Criminal laws consists of the following characteristics.-

(1) We cannot call a behaviour system in crime to be merely an aggregation of individual criminal acts. It is an integrated unit which also includes in addition to the individual acts the codes, traditions, social relationship among the direct participants and indirect participation of many other persons. This behaviour system in crime may be Illustrated by professional theft, drug addiction raketeering, fraudulent advertising and manipulation of the corporate securities.

(2) The behaviour which occurs in a behaviour system is not unique to any particular behaviour but it is the common behaviour.

(3) Common and joim participation in the system is the essential characteristic of belaviour system. So it can be defined by the feeling of identification of these who participate in it.

        Mere possession of criminal intent is not sufficient to make a man guilty of a crime. Persons may possess criminal intent but it is only in cas of grave provocation that the evil intent comes into play, otherwise, of course, on account of the advancement of society in respect of culture, eduaition and morals, the said evil, interit remains in a potential and latent state. The voluntry act comes within the scope of criminal liability only when the evil intent is provoked into action.

       The formulation of a theory of criminal behaviour is an attempt to understand the criminality Such a theory is useful for the control of crimes For this purpose, we often use two complementary procedures namely logical abstraction and differentiation of the level of analysis.

(1) Logical Abstraction. Generally, criminal behaviour is associated with the social and personal pathologies. Among these main pathologies are-poverty, bad housing, slum residence, demoralized families, feeblemindedness, emotional unstability. These conditions are thought to produce criminality But there are people, who in spite of these traits do not commit crime. On the other hand, prosperous and wealthy persons who do not live in poverty, do not lack recreational facilities, and are not feeble- minded or emotionally unstable, frequently violate the law and commit crime.

          According to Sutherland and Cressey, it is not the conditions or traits themselves which cause crime for the conditions are sometimes present when criminality does not occur, and they are also sometimes absent when criminality does occur. A casual explanation of criminal behaviour can he reached by abstracting, logically, the mechanism and processes which are common to the rich and the poor. Therefore, in order to formulate a theory of criminal behaviour, it is essential to distinguish criminal behaviour from non-criminal.

(2) Differentiation of the Levels of Analysis. According to Sutherland and Cressey, the second procedure for putting order into criminological knowledge is differentiation of levels of analysis. This means that the problem is limited to a particular part to the whole situation, largely in terms of chronology. The causal analysis must be held at a particular level.

Explanation of Criminal Behaviour. At present, there are two types of explanations of criminal behaviour. Criminal behaviour is either explained in terms of the processes which operate at the occurence of crime or in terms of the processes which operate in the previous history of criminal. The first explanation is called mechanistic or situational. The second explanation is called genetic or historical.

1. Mechanistic or Situational Explanation. The mechanistic explanation has been supported by physical and biological scientists. The main points of this explanation are as follows :-

(1). This explanation distinguishes between personal and social pathologies.

(2) According to this explanation, the main cause of criminal behaviour lies in the person situation complex

(3) Situation provides an opportunity for criminal act. For instance, a thief cannot steal a thing so long as there is proper supervision.

2. Genetic or Historical Explanation. According to genetic explanation criminal behaviour occurs only when there is appropriate situation for it. It involves the following processes by which a particular person moves towards a criminal behaviour.  : –

(1) Criminal behaviour is learned. It is not inherited.

(2) It is learned with other persons,

(3) The learning of criminal behaviour becomes possible inside the intimate personal group.

(4) Direction of motives is determined by the favourable or unfavourable legal codes.

(5) Learning of criminal behaviour involves all the processes which involve in other types of learnings.

(6) Like non-criminal behaviour, criminal behaviour is the expression of certain needs and values.

     Inter-Relation between Criminology, Penology and Criminal law. Criminology is one of the branches of criminal science, which deals with crime and criminal behaviour. It aims to discover the cause of crime and measures to reduce crimes. Penology is a subject which studies principles and methods of punishment, the effects of punishment and the ways of reduction of crime by the punishment. It deals with prevention and control of crime. The entire subject-matter may be divided as follows :-

Criminal Science

Criminology (Investigation into the causes of crime)

Criminal Sociology (Enquiries into the effect of environment on crime)

Criminal law (Implementation of policies)

       Sociological Analysis of Criminal Behaviour. According to the sociological analysis. “Crime is rooted in the social organisation and is an expression of that social organisation. A group may be organised for criminal behaviour or organised against criminal behaviour. Most communities are organised both for criminal and non-criminal behaviour and in that sense the crime rate is an expression for the differential group organization. Differential group organization as an explanation of variations in crime rates is consistent with the differential association theory of the processes by which persons become criminals.”

        In order to understand criminal behaviour, we should first understand the relationship between crime and criminal law. Crime refers to the violation of criminal law. On the other hand, criminal law refers to a body of rules which has been enforced by political authority. Thus, crime is the result of legal prohibition. From social point of view, crime is dynamic. Its content is different in different communities. Criminal behaviour, therefore, refers to that behaviour pattern which is prohibited by law.

Crime Statistics

Q. 17. What do you understand by Crime-Statistics. Describe the main source of crime statistics.

Ans. Crime Statistics. Crime statistics involve compiling crime- record in order to relate them time to time, place and circumstances. It tells about the magnitude of crime and the extent to which they change in terms of time, place and location. It also depicts the picture of distribution of crimes in different areas, regions and locations. It reflects upon the ascending or descending trends in crime and also gives information as to how new forms of crime are emerging and the old ones are disappearing or assuming new dimensions. Thus crime statistics are the indices of intensity of crimes recorded annually in a particular country, region or place. Therefore, the role of crime statistic in analyzing causation of crime and devising measures to combat criminality need not be over emphasized. It helps the law enforcement agencies to spot out the preponderance of crime at a particular time, place and region. Describing the need for statistics in the field of Criminology Donald Taft, observed that quantification which includes counting, measuring and collecting the phenomenon under study is the basic process in modern scientific approach of criminal science.

        Sources of Criminal Statistics. The Police, Court and Prison are the three main sources of crime statistics. These agencies collect statistics of crime and criminals and forward them to the State departments and the Central Bureau of Crime Statistics compiles them and publishes the report on behalf of the government. According to Thorston Sellin police records are more reliable index than arrest statistics, arrest statistics are more reliable than Court statistics and Court statistics are more reliable than prison statistics.

       The statistics pertaining to drug trafficking and narcotics at the national and international level are compiled by the Narcotics Control Bureau constituted under the Ministry of Finance in 1985 which enables the enforcement agencies to intensity their efforts to smash major national and international gang of drugs traffickers and provide adequate investigations and intelligence support at vulnerable points such as borders, areas, sea-shores and airports etc.

        The statistics on juvenile delinquency and probation published by are the Social Welfare Department of the States and the Department of Social Defence functioning under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Government of India, New Delhi, while, some States, notably Gujarat, have an independent department of correctional services for rehabilitation and after care of offenders.

       Reasons for unreliability of crime statistics. The statistics of crime and criminal are the most difficult of all statistics and hardly present factual crime position. Although dishonest figures are by no means unknown in crime statistics, it is probably that the largest number of statistical studies is compiled by those desiring to inform rather than misinform.

White Collar Crime

Q. 18. Define ‘White Collar Crime’. What are the various causes of ‘White Collar Crimes’ in India?

Or

“White Collar Crimes are least detected and its offenders are least punished.” Discuss and suggest measures to eradicate such criminals from the society.

Or

What are White Collar Crimes ? What are the remedies you can better suggest for combating such offences?

Or

What is White Collar Crime? What are its characteristics?

Ans. White Collar Crime. The concept of white collar crimes was introduced for the first time in the field of Criminology by Prof. Edwin Sutherland. The term was coined by Sutherland in 1939 in his Presidential address to the American Sociological Society. It was first suggested in 1907 by E.A. Ross and reaffirmed by Albert Morris who, in 1935 text-book, referred to “criminals of the upper-world.”

        A white collar criminal is apparently a respectable man, he commands social prestige and is financially and mentally stable By White Collar Crime Sutherland meant “a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation. Embezzlement by a banker, illegal sales of alcohol and narcotics or price fixing by physicians. or fraud of a client’s securities by a lawyer would be examples. From this definition many crimes committed by “upper class people” such as cases of murder, adultery and intoxication would be excluded, since these are not customarily a part of their occupational procedures. Also, it excludes the confidence games of wealthy members of the upper world. Since they are not the persons of respectability and high social status.” Sutherland observed that upper class people also commit crimes but that these crimes. particularly those connected with their occupations, were often not handed by criminal courts, rather they were processed through administrative agencies, the result being that the offenders were not considered criminals and were not considered in theories of criminal behaviour, he looked at criminal behaviour that emphasised the pathology of criminals and concluded that such theories do not apply to white collar crime.

        Sir Walter Reckless, an eminent American Criminologist suggests that White Collar Crime represents the offences of businessmen who are in a position to determine the policies and activities of a business.

         White collar crimes by their very nature are such that the injury or damage caused as a result of them is so widely diffused in the large body of society that their gravity in regard to individual victim is almost negligible.

      Common elements of White Collar Crimes. Edelhertz in his attempt to find elements of all types of white collar criminals, suggested the following:

(a) Intent to commit a wrongful act or to achieve a purpose inconsistent with law or public policy.

(b) Disguise of purpose or intent

(c) Reliance by perpetrator or ignorance or carelessness of victim.

(d) Acquiescence by victim in what he believes to be the true nature and content of the transaction.

(c) Concealment of crime by.

(1) Preventing the victim from realising that he has been victimised, or

(2) Relying on the fact that only a small percentage of victims will react to what has happened, and making provisions for restitution to or other handling of the disgruntled victim, or

(3) Creation of a deceptive paper, organizational, or transactional facade to disguise the true nature of what has occurred.

        Classification of White Collar Crimes.-Edelhertz classified White Collar Crime in four categories-

(1) Crimes by persons operating on an individual, adhoc basis, for personal gain in a non-business context (as “personal crimes”).

(2) Crimes in the course of their occupations by those operating inside business, government, or other establishments, or in a professional capacity. in violation of their duty of loyality and fidelity to employer or client (as “abuse of trust”)

(3) Crimes incidental to and in furtherance of business operations, but not be the central purpose of such business operations (as “business crimes).

(4) White Collar Crime as a business, or as the central activity of the business.

       Factors contributing to White Collar Criminality. Commenting on the growing incidence of white collar crime in India, the Law Commission in its Twenty-ninth Report observed that modern scientific and technological developments and monopolistic trends in business world have led to enormous increase in white collar crimes. The changing socio- economic structure of society coupled with increase in wealth and prosperity has furnished opportunities for such crimes. Such criminals belong to an influential group which is powerful enough to handle their occupation tactfully and persons effected thereby hardly know that they are victimized Moreover, the public in general is also somewhat apathetic to such crimes, which causes obstruction for prosecution and punishment of White Collar Criminals.

      Corruption of administrative officers, evasion of tax (particularly income-tax) by persons who fall in the higher income group, smuggling of goods which are scare in this country (such as gold, watches and transistor- radio sets) and deliberate breach of foreign exchange regulations, may be cited as instances of white-collar crime in our country.

         Causation of White Collar Crimes. The problem of white collar criminality has its root in the competitive attitude of the business community to oust their rival competitors in order to earn huge profits. It may, however, be suggested that such crimes are sometimes committed merely for the sake of necessity. Thus most of the private educational institutions in India which receive public-aid furnish false accounts only for the sake of retaining their existence. In spite of the prescribed code of ethics set for the practising lawyers, the very nature of their profession involves the spirit of combat and necessitates them to resort to concealment or misrepresentation of facts, which, if detected may entail severe punishment.

       The members of privileged class or high social status have a tendency to furnish false and fabricated accounts of their income or property to avoid payment of heavy taxes or to claim tax-exemptions.

       White collar criminality is also rampant in insurance business where both the insured as well as the insurer make considerable profit by making false and fabricated claims. Instances are not wanting where intentional house burning, automobile destructions and even murders are planned by the persons of respectable community for the sake of making good fortunes for themselves. To take another example, although bribery is a crime punishable under Section 165 of the Indian Penal Code and both the bribe taker as well as the bribe giver are equally punishable, yet several commercial agents and public officials do commit this offence for theil personal gain and legal restraints provided for the purpose are hardly adequatt to curb the menance.

       Other areas of white collar crime are malpractices or engineering profession, adulteration of food and drugs, hoarding, black-marketing, monopoly and breach of trust etc.

      By way of generalization, it may be observed that like other criminal behaviour white collar criminality can best be explained through the process of differential association. It is a generic exaplanation for both white collar as also the blue collar criminality. Those who become white collar criminals generally start their carrier in good neighbourhoods and good homes, well educated with some idealism and get into peculiar business situations in which criminality is practically a folkway and are inducted into that system of behaviour just as any other folkway. In a country like India where large scale starvation, mass illiteracy affect the life of the people, white collar crimes are bound to multiply in large proportion. Control of these crimes is a crucial problem for the criminal justice administration in this country.

Organized Crimes

Q. 19. What are organised crimes ? Describe the various kinds of organised crimes.

Or

What are organised crimes? What are the causes of organised crime in India?

Or

What is organised crime? Discuss the methods to prevent them.

Ans. An organised crime is an act, which is committed by two or more criminals as a joint venture in an organised manner. It is an illegal act, which the members of an unlawful association commit with their mutual co-operation and adventure.

      Organised crime has been defined by Lindesmith as the “crime that involves cooperation of several persons or groups for its successful execution.”

      According to Dr. Walter Reckless-“Organised crime as an unlawful misadventure which is carried on by a boss, his leiutenants and operators who form a hierarchical structure for a specific period”.

        Selling is of the view, “Organised crime resembles those economic adventures or enterprises which are organised to carry on illegal activities” Organised crime is “synonymous with economic enterprises organised for the purpose of conducting illegal activities and which, when they operate legitimate ventures, do so by illegal means.”

       Donald Taft observed, “the organisation of criminals introduced in the field of crime those factors of leadership, group-discipline, obedience, loyalty, division of labour, fellowmenship, sacrifice, co-operation and group planning which spell efficiency in the normal economic, political and social life” Most criminals organise themselves into criminal groups with a view to specialising in their traits and accept a particular crime as their occupation. Thus organised gambling. liquor trade and immoral activities may go on hand-in-hand because of the peculiar nature of these crimes. The professional criminals who organise themselves into criminal gangs are often the habitual and hardened offenders who have embraced criminality as a regular profession in their life.

         Sutherland observed that there is atleast one thing common among these criminal organization. That is, they are bound together by a common hostility towards law enforcing authorities Since protection against arrest and detection is a necessary part of organised crimes, gangsters too often adopt the technique of “fixing crime” which is far more important than executing them. For this purpose, they try to win over police officials by underhand tactics or use of threat, under influence or coercion against the victim in order to refrain him from making a complaint to the police. That apart, organised criminals have also to seek co-operation and support from some parallel legitimate business organisations for disposing of their illegally carned money, property or commodity. Thus, organised crimes involve a number of accessory activities for the smooth conduct of their underworld profession.

       Kinds of organized Crimes. There are following kinds of organized crimes-Criminal organisations may be categorised under four heads:

1. Organised predatory crime

2. Crime syndicate

3. Criminal racket.

4. Political graft.

        Organised Predatory Crimes. Crimes which do not involve any kind of service to the affected persons are called predatory crimes Predatory f crimes which commonly occur are theft, dacoity, extortion, kidnapping. pick-pocketing. The peculiar characteristic of a predatory crime is that the victim of this crime is a total loser without any material gain or advantage or service from the offender. Thus, in a predatory crime the exploitation of the victim is so conspicuous that entire society reacts to it. A few criminals join together to organise into a gang’ and carry on criminal activities as a joint venture. The gangs of dacoits, kidnappers, smugglers and pickpockets operate almost everywhere carrying out their organised criminal activities as professionalised ventures. Of late, the emergence of terrorism as an organised form of predatory crime has endangered peace and security. It is to be found in different forms such as political terrorism, religious terrorism etc. 11 basically involves violence and killing thus posing a serious law and order problem for the State administration.

         Parliament has enacted an Act called the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 to ban any association or group of persons which la carries on unlawful activities threatening national integrity and security of India. The Union Government has declared JKLF (Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front) as an unlawful association because of violent secessionist militant activities which has resulted into the killing of a large number of civilians and security force personnel, sabotage, abduction and destruction of property.

        Crime Syndicate- Syndicate crimes are the crimes of providing illegal goods or services by an organized criminal gang which are termed as ‘mafia’.

      Thus, gambling, bootlegging, commercialised trafficking in women, supply of narcotic drugs and other intoxicants, etc are mostly carried on by the syndicates of criminals. Obviously, these crimes syndicates exist because of the illegitimate public demands which cannot otherwise be legally met due to legal prohibition. Crime, syndicates are masterminded by highly skilled and professionalised gang-leaders. Crime syndicates are engaged in the illegal business like supply of illegal drugs, liquors, etc.

      Criminal Racket.– Racketeering is the practice of systematic extortion under some kind of threat usually of personal injury or property. Donald Taft defines reeketeering as an organised crime in which the criminal elements perform a service to such members of society who are normally engaged in some legitimate business activity.

       “Opportunities for racketeering increase when business within the legal limits or is marginally within limits and legitimate recourse to police help for its protection is not possible. Persons who are exploited by the racketeers are sometimes convinced of the value of services taken by them even at the cost of their own exploitation. Thus, organised racketeering is nothing but an illegal exploitation for some legitimate or illegitimate demand.

      Presently the individual business organisers as well as the labour unions frequently depend on criminal rackets for improving their bargaining capacity. At times, this involve use of force and compulsion which ultimately leads to threat of violence and coercion. The employers resort to illegitimate means by utilising unorganised workers and racketeers to jeopardise the bargaining capacity of the labour thus grabbing huge profits for themselves. There are cases when organisers of even most reputed industrial establishments muster many non-existent and fictitious names on their pay-rolls as labourers and thus draw huge sums in their name for months through an organised racket. There is yet another type of racket operating as gambling racket in shape of organised crime.

      Rackets are found in abundance in the commercial world and business organisations. In many cases, racketeering is carried on as a regular occupation. Industrial racketeering exists between the businessmen and Inbour leaders. Sometimes an underground racketeering between the industrialists and the labour leaders may jeopardise the interests of innocent labourers as labour leaders may set due consideration in return of underhand dealings.

       The racket carrying on illegal sale of alcohol and narcotics, abortion, illegal service to the under-world criminals, fraudulent reports and testimony in accident cases and similar such activities work in close liason with persons engaged in medical profession with the motive of earning huge profits. Likewise rackets selling fake degrees and mark-sheets to needy persons are operating in several parts of India.

         Criminal rackets involved in flesh-trade and sale of women and girls for the purposes of immoral activities are common news-items in news papers to be read almost every day. Smuggling is very important racketeering operating through international gangs.

        Political Graft. There is a general belief that persons of high status carrying on some legitimate business and professional criminals are interconnected through political grafts. In order to assume political power and party’s victory at polls, the politicians generally seek the support of notorious offenders and utilise them for illegal practices to accomplish their political ends. The utilisation of notorious criminals by the politicians for political gains is commonly known as ‘political graft’. These grafts resort to all kinds of degitimate or illegitimate methods to bring success to their employers at polls. At times, these hired professional offenders do not even hesitate to resort to violence and threats to make voters cast their votes in favour of the candidate for whom they are working. Instances are not wanting when some professional voters have been found to vote at more than one place for different electorates. Thus, “vote buying” is a common example of politician graft.

Recidivism

Q. 20. What is meant by Recidivism? What are causes of Recidivism? What are your suggestions to prevent recidivism?

Ans. Recidivism.– Recidivism is beyond doubt a crucial problem for penologists in the control of crime and rehabilitation of criminals. Recidivism connotes persistent indulgence in crime. The jails of most civilized countries are full of prisoners and the Court rooms are jammed with undertrials. The offenders are locked up, released, re-arrested and re-sentenced Many of them go undetected and are never convicted or sentenced. Considerable public money is wasted on prisons and other correctional institutions for combating crime but the problem still persists. American records shows that more than fifty percent of prisoners, admitted to State and Federal prisons and reformatories have been found to be recidivists.

       Causes of recidivism. Sutherland attributes two major causes for recidivism, namely:

(i) Social psychology of the offender, and

(ii) Inadequacy of reformative techniques.

         Commenting upon the social psychology of criminal as a cause of recidivism, Prof. Sutherland pointed out that urbanized areas are more conducive to recidivism than rural places. The congested dwellings, slums, high cost of living and highly mechanized life in cities and urban places offer sufficient opportunities to offenders to carry on their criminal activities quite unnoticed for years Criminality thus becomes a habit with them and finally makes them recidivists.

        Some penologists suggest that continued isolation of inmate from normal society due to long stay in prison renders him unfit for a normal life after release. The stigma of personalization makes him shun and avoid the normal society. Another psychological reason for non-adjustibility of released inmate to normal life is that he has a feeling that the law-abiding members of society look at him with suspicion, distrust and doubt.

          Another potential cause of recidivism is to be found in fact that criminal by reason of his criminal traits forms association and devotes to loyalities and attitudes which tend to persist in criminal world.

      The pathological traits of personality such as mental defectiveness, emotional instability, egocentrism and mental conflicts also lead to persistence in criminality among recidivists. Suggestions to prevent recidivism. The following measures which may be adopted for preventing recidivism are as follows :-

1. The modern correctional methods of treatment of offenders essentially involve classification of criminals into different categories so that they can be adequately punished or sent to an appropriate institution. From this point of view, the offenders may be classified into following categories: –

(i) innocent convicts; (ii) insane criminals, (iii) criminals by accident; (iv) occasional criminals; (v) habitual offenders; (vi) white collar criminals; (vii) political offenders.

     This classification rests on the responsibility of the criminal to his act. Thus, innocent convicts are those who are convicted and imprisoned due to erroneous or misguided judgement of the law court. They are, therefore, innocent persons who have been wrongly implicated, sentenced and brought to prison or a similar institution. Obviously, such persons should be dealt with leniently because by nature they prefer to avoid the company of recidivists and hardened criminals.

        The insane criminals, on the other hand, commit crime due to certain mental disorder and are considered irresponsible to their crime. They are, therefore, suited to clinical methods to treatment rather than penal servitude. Normally, such criminals are not recidivists.

        The criminals by accident are also called “situational criminals”. They are not habitual or professional offenders but lend into criminality per chance. Their crime is never premeditated but is the result of momentary impulsiveness. This is often true with many of the sex-offenders. There are no recidivistic trends among such criminals.

      The crime committed by occasional criminals are often well planned and pre-meditated but these criminals do not accept criminality as a profession.

     The treatment of such occasional offenders should depend on their psychological and psychiatric condition. These offenders are most likely to turn recidivist if not properly handled. They should, therefore, be treated cautiously.

        A habitual offender or a person habitually addicted to crime is one who is a criminal by habit or by disposition formed by repetition of crimes. These are the persons who have embraced criminality as a mode of life and commit crime with boldness and courage. Reformative measures of treatment completely fail in case of such offenders. Perhaps, imprisonment is the only alternative to prevent habitual offenders from repeating crime.

        There is yet another category of criminals known as white collar criminals. They are persons of high social status who commit crime in course of their legitimate business. These criminals are seldom detected or if detected, hardly punished. Moreover, there is no social condemnation for such white collar criminals. It is for this reason that there has been an enormous increase in white collar criminality. It is, therefore, necessary and desirable to award severe punishment to white collar criminals through stringent laws.

       Thus, the aforesaid classification of criminals holds good to both, male as well as the female offenders. It is, however, a different matter that women generally commit offences which by their very nature, are hard to detect and even if detected, are rarely reported or prosecuted. That apart, despite equality of men and women before law, the fact remains that Court treat women more leniently than men in matters of sentencing.

2. Experience has shown that individualised methods of treatment serve no useful purpose in case of recidivists. At the same time, deterrent punitive measures have also proved equally ineffective in their case. It is, therefore, desired that an integrated programme of legal sentence and treatment be improvised in the penal system for the rehabilitation of recidivists. It is for this reason that the power of the Judge to keep a recidivist under detention for an extra-period than the term of his sentences prescribed for that particular offence, has been withdrawn in Britain.

3. Recidivists should be kept in prisons equipped with maximum security arrangements. They should be under constant surveillance so that society is fully protected against these miscreants.

4. Adequate after-care treatment at the time of inmate’s release from prison or a correctional institution may prepare him for an upright living in society, shading aside his inferiority complex. This would inculcate hope. self-confidence and self-respect in the offender which would enable him to adjust himself to the conditions of normal life in society.

5. Unduly lengthy procedure of criminal trial should be suitably amended to secure summary conviction of recidivists and hardened offenders. Avoiding delays in criminal trials is all the more necessary to ensure that the gravity of the offence is not-washed off by long delays. Speedy trials and punishment can further be effective in putting a check on the offender reaping undue benefit of his criminal act. His immediate conviction after the incidence of crime shall act as a sufficient deterrent to dissuade him from repeating crime.

6. To control recidivism, the provision of externment, preventive detention, enrolment and maintaining of history sheet of offenders besides their surveillance and declaration of habitual offenders so to report on the dates fixed by the police authorities are various measures under the Indian Police Act and State laws.

7. The criminals should be made to think and repent for what they have done. Justice Krishna lyer has strongly recommended. Transcedental Meditation propagated by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for the reforms of criminals. [Md. Giasuddin v. State of A.P.. AIR 1977 SC 1926].

Sex Offences

Q. 21. What do you understand about sexual offences? State fully the main reasons of increasing sexual offence.

Ans. Sexual Offences.- Beccaria was perhaps the first Criminologist who comprehended crime as a symptom of social disease. This concept of crime led penologists to believe that the struggle against crimes was above all a struggle against poverty, sickness, alcoholism and illegal sex life. This in other words means that if these social evils were eliminated, the problem of crime prevention could be considerably solved. There are, however, certain peculiar categories of crimes which do not respond to this hypothesis favourably because of pervasive tendency of human nature. Sex crime is obviously one among such crimes which prevails in almost every society from ages.

       With the advance of science, civilization and culture the complexities of life have enormously increased. Modern mechanization and urbanization has brought about complete disintegration of the institution of ‘family’ which has created serious problems in human life. The control of parents over their wards has weakened considerably. In fact the parental negligence is responsible for growing indiscipline, rowdyism and recklessness among youngsters. Uncontrollable hooliganism among youths has become a serious problem for law enforcement agencies throughout the world. It has rather become a social disease. As a result of this unhappy development, the incidence of sex delinquency in the form of unmarried motherhood, abortion, rape, kidnapping, enticement, abduction, adultery and indecent assault have become too common.

       Reasons of sex offences. Sex involvement though basically evil, is necessary for procreation, physical fitness and mental satisfaction of mankind. Society expects that sexual activities must be confined to marital relations and sex indulgence outside marriage is an offence punishable under the Penal law. Another notable feature regarding sexuality is that the chastity is stressed more on women than men.

        Expressing his views about sex behaviour, Donalt Taft observes that sexuality being a biological phenomenon needs no training whatsoever. The bio-physical changes with the growth of human body automatically prepare men and women for sex behaviour. Commenting upon the futility of external medical appliances for controlling procreation, he observes that the knowledge of contraceptives is unnecessary because that would remove a deterrent on immoral behaviour and people would feel free to indulge in sex delinquencies with impunity without any fear of possible conception or birth. It must, however be noted, that the present moral confusion and withering effect of religious sanctions has led to an abnormal increase in sex delinquency. Sex crimes have now a days become so common that people have lost all seriousness about them and they are looked upon as an ordinary mode of human behaviour. The factors responsible for increase in sex delinquency in India are enumerated below:-

1. Industrial development in the country has brought about a radical change in the pattern of Indian society. The institution of family has completely disintegrated. The modern Indian woman no longer confines herself within the precincts of four walls of her house but participates in outdoor activities shoulder to shoulder with men. As a result of this change in the attitude of women, the housewife, no longer is content with a passive role in her domestic life. She is no longer weak and meek to submit herself. to the commands of her husband but prefers to remain only a companion to him asserting her independent existence in every walk of life. Thus like Japan, Germany and Anglo. American countries, the integrity of marital life is gradually disappearing in India. Closer contacts of women with men particularly during working hours have enhanced the opportunities for intimacy which provide a background to sex delinquency.

2. The institution of religion which was once regarded as potential source of social control has lost its force in modern times. So is the case with traditional values of life. Decline in accepted traditional norms and customs has resulted into disintegration of Indian society. People’s craze of comforts and luxurious life has undermined the glory of past traditional culture which has seriously jeopardised the compactness of Indian life. Legislative measures such as Special Marriage Act, 1954: The Hindu Succession Act, 1956; The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 Hindu Women’s Right to Property Act, 1937, etc. have disrupted the unity of joint Hindu family completely. Slackness in domestic discipline offers frequent opportunities for judicial separation, divorce and marital disputes. This tendency is more conspicuous among the educated Indian people. It is significant to note that uneducated and illiterate masses still have an unshaken faith in the institution of family and integrity of family life. This accounts for the growing incidence of sex crimes in urban areas as compared with those of rural regions.

3. Urbanization due to industrial progress of the country has given rise to several new problems in human life. Parents have to stay away from home for a considerable long time during the hours of works. This results into neglect of children and lack of parental control over them. The youngsters, therefore, tend to become more indisciplined, reckless, repulsive and irresponsible. The tendency of hooliganism rowdyism and attitude of indifference among the youngsters is essentially because of the impact of urbanization and industrialization which has become a social problem of the day.

4. Referring to sex deviants. Donalt Taft rightly observed that the changes in the habits of dress and undress, prevalence of sex theme in literature, dramas, obscenity in advertisements, blue movies and shows, habits and conservation may stimulate sexual impulse in varying degrees. So far as India is concerned, the impact of western culture and civilization on Indian life has been so great that people have become more sexy than their ancestors. The skin tight dress of modern Indian women, the sleeveless garments and the diminishing length of skirts and the like, are sufficient to stimulate sex impulse in men and lascivious looks of sexy persons. The thinness of clothings further makes the matter worse. The cosmetic used by modern women and the fragrance of scent, essence, perfumes and other toilets also stimulates sex sensation. To add to the misery, the impact of movies and cinemas on men and women is so great that they learn new ways of flirting, life, romance and courtship from these films and try to practise them in their own life.

5. The satisfaction of sex impulse is an important requisite of human personality. It is in fact a psycho-biological urge which needs to be satisfied through legitimate means. It is for this reason that early marriages were regarded as safety valve to put a check on sex crimes because they offered legitimate opportunities to men and women to satisfy sex desire and refrain from forbidden sex indulgences. Commenting on the desirability of marriage as an appropriate institution to suppress sex delinquency, Mrs. Ruth Shonle Cavan observed that marriage shapes the personal life of man and fulfils his physio-biological needs which, if otherwise left unfulfilled, would drag him into sex delinquency.

        It must be reiterated that the intensity of sex-desire among persons is never uniform. It varies from person to person depending upon his cultural group and social environment. There are certain persons who on account of their emotional instability and impulsiveness are not able to appreciate the dangers of their sex involvements and, therefore, repeat them without bothering about the evil effects. Those living in broken homes, slums, crowded localities or vicious inhabitations, are more prone to sex delinquency and generally become sexual psychopaths. These persons are positive danger to women and children in society who are usually the victims of sex-crime

Q. 21-A. Write a short note on ‘Domestic Violence’?

Ans. According to Section 3 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, “For the purposes of this Act, any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence incase it-

(a) harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well. being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse, or

(b) harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security, or

(c) has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any other person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or

(d) otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental to the aggrieved person.”

Prostitution

Q. 22. What is Prostitution? What are the reasons and characteristics of prostitution.

Or

What do you understand by Prostitution? Discuss the consequences of it.

Or

What are the different measures you can suggest for the prevention and control of flesh trade in India? Explain.

Ans. Prostitution as a menace is essentially an outcome of sex delinquency. As rightly observed by Donald Taft, “our attitude towards prostitution varies from approval through acceptance and tolerance to violent opposition……..Prostitution in a way is an index to morality. Indian history reveals that prostitution has been in practice since ancient time Nearly sixty percent of the prostitutes embrace this profession due to poverty while forty percent accept it due to hereditary influences or the force of circumstances. Besides, sex gratification these circumstantial causes include disturbed domestic life, mutual quarrels, cruelty and running away from home due to the fear of punishment and displeasure of the family member.

      The causes of the prostitution as a profession in women may differ from woman to woman. For this generally, the child-girls are kidnapped and then sold to the brothel-keepers and then these girls are brought up in such an atmosphere so that they may have no choice but to adopt this profession. In this way, these girls are forced to yield. Once a girl finds herself entrapped in such an atmosphere, it is difficult for her to come out from that profession She becomes bound to live immoral life, because she may not be acceptable by the society.

       It certain families, prostitution is a routine of business for earning money. The parents provide the opportunity to their girls to mix-up with others for fetching the money. Such families are only rare. This kind of prostitution apparently may not look like a vice-den but it is more deprave as it is continued tradionally in an inherited manner.

     Some women opt prostitution due to poverty. A woman by doing physical labour may not earn as much money as she can earn by indulging in illicit relations so that she may support not only herself but other members of her family also. It is a psychological impact of the things that may drive a woman to opt prostitution as a profession

       Though effective provisions exist under the Indian Penal Code for suppressing prostitution, it has not been possible to wipe it out completely because of its peculiar nature. There are specific provisions of criminal law to discourage and punish prostitution.

        Besides these provisions of the Indian Penal Code, several enactments such as Civil Marriage Act, Suppression of Immoral Traffic (in Women and Girls) Act, 1956, etc. have also been enacted to suppress the menace of prostitution. There are several social services institutions such as the Rescue-Homes, Vigilance Homes, Vigilance Rescue Shelters, Stri Sadans, Nari Niketans etc. operating in different parts of the country for rehabilitation of destitute girls and women who have fallen a prey to prostitution willingly or per chance.

         In Gaurav Jain v. Union of India. AIR 1997 SC 3021, Justice K. Ramaswamy of the Supreme Court issued necessary directions regarding the prevention of induction of woman into prostitution, their rescue from flesh trade and their children’s rehabilitation.

Alcoholism

Q. 23 (a). What is alcoholism. Discuss the measures to control alcoholism.

Ans. Alcoholism.- Alcoholism is a world-wide problem. Its medicinal use is beneficial to mankind but its other uses are injurious to the health and wealth of the society. The alcohol was used by the people in ancient civilization also. Some medicines also have alcoholic contents. Its use in mankind has been popular since long ago. At present, it is being openly used in parties as a culture of modern time. Not only the downtrodden societies but the rich and middle classes all are prey to it. No strata of society is free from it; some people use it as a thing of pleasure and some people use it as a medicine.

        Alcoholism results into disillusionment, unhappiness and troubles in family life. Alcoholics find it difficult to adjust with other people and so are the others uncomfortable with them due to their drinking-habits. When a man is under the influence of alcohol, his mental faculty does not function in a normal way as a result of which he loses self-control and often behaves improperly at times picking up quarrels, accusing, abusing or insulting others or committing acts of aggression and violence. Thus, an alcoholic while drunk is an irresponsible person faultering and pampering in many ways and prone to criminality at any moment. The acts of indecency of assault are usually committed by the persons who are under the influence of liquor.

          Measures to control Alcoholism. Control of alcoholism and drug addiction is possible if the production of raw materials, the manufacture, transporation and sale of finished product and its possession or use for other than medical and scientific purposes is made unlawful and punishment is provided therefor. Use of alcohol and narcotic drugs for cure or treatment purposes should, however, be permitted to cater to the legitimate needs through a proper licensing system and regulatory measures. International Control of Narcotic Drugs is attained through International agreements and Conventions reached between nations under the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

       Apart from penal legislation to control alcoholism and drug addiction, the system of licensing physicians to give drug to addicts at a reasonable price would prevent their exploitation from underworld peddlers and thus help in preventing the crime.

       In India, various legislative measures have been tried to control alcoholism and sale of alcoholic beverages. Several States in India introduced prohibition laws during the preceding three decades. The Prohibition Enquiry Committee appointed by the Planning Commission in its report of June, 1955, recommended that the scheme of prohibition and anti-drug laws should be integrated with the country’s development plans with a view to control alcoholism and improve the standard of living of the people. The Committee also suggested that a Central Prohibition Committee be established to review the progress of prohibition and co-ordinate the related activities in different States. Accepting the recommendations of the Committee, the Lok Sabha by a resolution passed on March 19, 1956, made prohibition an integral part of the Second Five-year Plan. Several States introduced regulatory measures to curb the tendency of alcoholism. Some States resorted to complete prohibition while others preferred to follow a phased programme.

          Despite these regulatory measures to control alcoholism the consumption of liquor and other intoxicating drugs has hardly been reduced. The theory of creating scarcity of liquor by prohibitory laws with a view to discouraging drinking habit has completely failed. On the contrary, demand for liquor has all the more increased and opened new opportunities for blackmailing, smuggling and illicit distilling. The Government have realized that strict laws prohibiting sale and consumption of alcohol has not delivered the good and the policy needs to be reviewed once again. In fact. the consumption of wine and liquor has virtually become a fashion of the day in ultra modern societies. Therefore, it cannot be curbed by prohibitory laws unless people who drink, voluntarily give it up. It is for this reason that most of the States have recently withdrawn their prohibition-laws and are content with a balanced regulatory policy under which liquor is made available for sale only in licensed shops at a fair price. The heavy loss of revenue due to dry-laws is perhaps the real cause of concern for the States which has prompted them to withdraw prohibition. Perhaps the State Governments prefer to risk the dangers of alcoholism rather than losing crores of rupees by way of revenue. Resultantly, the liquor industry has grown in huge proportions and has gained importance among the public in spite of continued opposition.

         It is significant to note that a mandate relating to policy of prohibition is contained in Article 47 of the Constitution of India as one of the directive principles. It casts a duty on the Union and the States to initiate adequate measures to implement this directive principle for improvement of public health. This subject is at present in the State-list. But in view of the laxity on the part of State Governments to implement the policy of prohibition, it is desirable that a national policy on the subject be framed. This would, obviously, require the transference of this subject from State list to the Union list as a central subject. The consumption of liquor at public places. functions, farewells and receptions etc. must be totally banned and violations of liquor laws should be severely dealt with.

         The illicit sale and purchase of liquor and narcotic drugs is a major crime-problem which perturbs the law-enforcement officials concerned with prevention of crime. Systematic rackets operate throughout the country to supply liquor and other narcotic drugs to alcoholics and addicts. Those involved in these illegal activities earn huge profits. Commenting on this aspect of the problem, Donald Taft observed that many crime-problems in relation to alcoholism and drug addiction are not so much drug-created problems as law created crime problems. After all the harm caused to the addicts and their families on account of these ill-habits is far more than the injury resulting therefrom to the society. Perhaps, some sort of moral education and constructive use of regulatory licensing may help in curbing the problem of alcoholism and drug addiction to a considerable extent. In fact, there is need to re-define the twin problem of alcoholism and drug. addition in a socio-medical perspective rather than considering it as a moral law-enforcement problem.