Tackling Increasing Rate of Crime: Let Us Cure the Cause

INTRODUCTION:

India, a country with a population of more than 133.92 crores people, a country of traditions, customs, love and known for the love for the motherland. India, also a country with a rank of 141 on the Global Peace Index, 102 on Global Hunger Index, 133 on the safety of women.

Many philosophers have said that there is only one thing constant in this world and that is change and its time to change to make our country better and make it again a golden bird.

A place where women are not trapped in their respective houses because of the fear of being the next victim of any crime but a place where women would reach to the sky and fly freely, without any fear.

The crime rate in our country is increasing from an alarming rate, some of the statistics are as follows:

• More than 32500 rape cases were registered with police in 2017, about 90 a day,
• More than 42,678 murders in 2016
• More than 746,219 cases of domestic abuse in 2019

CRIMES GETTING BRUTAL WITH TIME:

The crimes committed are getting savagely violent, heinous and unacceptable with time. This can be proved by looking into the following cases.

1. November 1973: ARUNA SHANBAUG:

A 26-year-old nurse raped in the hospital, strangled with a dog chain. This incident left her in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, with no hope of ever getting better. This was done to her only because she caught the accused stealing from the hospital premises. The accused, ward boy, took his revenge by making her life miserable and taking everything from her. She died in 2015.

2. 1990: HETAL PAREKH:

This 14-year-old girl kind of brought revolution in the country. She was raped and murdered. Her accused became the first person to be hanged to death for committing such a crime.

3. 1995: BHANWARI DEVI:

Crime committed in a government office of Women’s Development Project. She was gang-raped. This lead to the formation of the Vishaka Guidelines for the protection of women at the workplace.

4. 1996: PRIYADARSHINI MATTOO:

In 1995 the government made rules for protection of women at the workplace so the predator entered the house itself. This law student was raped and strangled to death by her own fellow classmate. A law student killed another.

5. 2012: NIRBHAYA:

This was one of the most brutal, heinous and most heart-pounding incidents in the history of India. A 23 old student beaten, gang-raped, with the insertion of rods in her vagina, thrown out of the moving bus, tried to be murdered by crushing her with the same bus. She succumbed to the injuries after a battle of 15 days. This incident brought outrage, united the nation, the people wanted justice and answers. Not only females but also males joined hands and were adamant to bring about change. There were fast track courts set up. Rape laws became stricter and a ray of hope was seen.

6. JAN 2018: KATHUA:

The devil showed its other face and once again the people were shattered and the whole nation mourned for the demise of this 8-year-old. She was drugged, held captive in a temple and raped for weeks before being strangled and battered to death with a stone. The accused included the Hindu temple priest and the police officers.

7. November 2019: PRIYANKA REDDY:

A veterinarian raped on her way back to home and then brutally set ablaze and murdered.

The motive of stating all these cases is not only to show that how the devil is coming near us with each time getting stronger and more brutal but also to make the government, the people of our nation, the judiciary realize that its time for a change, there is definitely something which is not correct and needs change to not only stop but also prevent such crimes.

Also, Read – All About White Collar Crimes

THEORIES OF PUNISHMENT

There are four main types of theories of punishment that a country can embrace for establishing law and order and prevention of crime.

• RETRIBUTION THEORY: This is one of the oldest theories of punishment. This states that one should suffer the same pain and suffering as much as the victim. It follows the philosophy of an eye for an eye. This is used to re-establish social harmony in the nation. It is believed that the guilt of the offender would only go away through suffering.
• DETERENT THEORY: This theory talks about making the accused incapable of committing the crime and uses terror to achieve this goal. It makes accuse realize the gravity of the crime. In economic terms, it can be said as “pay the price of the crime”. this states that as the crime increases, the punishment should also increase so that people are careful about their actions. In the 18th century, in England, there was the death penalty for 200 offenses. Example : a person was hanged to death for the theft of a sheep, not because of the theft he committed but to create terror in the minds of people.
• REFORMATIVE THEORY: This theory talks about rehabilitation and not to torture or harass. It focuses more on transformation. Transforming them into good citizens. The prisoners are trained and counseling sessions are conducted so that they live a good life. According to this theory by isolating prisoners, crime would not stop, it can only be stopped by changing the mentality of the people.
• DISABLEMENT THEORY: In this theory, the accused is disabled from committing the crime by the death penalty, life imprisonment, transportation for life. It is a preventive measure.
• PREVENTIVE THEORY: this is a more realistic and human approach to punishment. All the other theories are rejected. law philosophers Bentham and Austin have also approved this theory. It states that prison is the best mode of punishment. Currently, India follows this theory of punishment.

THE CONNECTION:

The purpose of having a concept of punishing a guilty person is not only to provide justice to the aggrieved but also to ensure that the safety and security of people are taken care of. It is the responsibility of the nation to ensure that its citizens feel safe and secured within the territory.

The connection of punishment and crime is analogous to that of medicine and disease. Till the time the right dosage and right medicines are not prescribed and administered to the patient, the disease will not be cured. It is to be seen that the medicines are effective on the patient and if not then it is the time to change the medicine. The same is the case of crimes, if the right form of punishment is not imposed on the criminals, the crime rate will not decrease and there would be a need to change the punishment theory used by the nation.

THE COMBINATION:

What one can not do alone, can be done with the help of plurality. Anyone of the punishment is proving ineffective to control the rate of crime, so the combination of punishments should be tried. The criminals or accused should not only be imprisoned but also given effective counseling sessions to avoid and control the repetition of crimes.

The government should also try to figure out the root causes, because of which the crime was committed. This would help the government build an understanding of how and about what should the counseling sessions be about.

Advantage of this combination would be :

• What one does not understand by strict laws can understand when told with little bit sensitivity. This can be achieved by the reformative theory. If more acts like the Reformatory Schools Act, 1890, which aimed at preventing the depraved and delinquent children from becoming confirmed criminals in the coming years, are made and implemented in their best versions. The crime rate is supposed to decrease.
• Preventive punishment would ensure that there is isolation. This would make them realize the importance of freedom and liberty.
• Disablement punishment would develop a sense of fear, where people will understand that the commission of crimes can completely change their lives as well as the lives of their loved ones.

SUGGESTIONS:[1]

Stating the statistics, According to the NCRB,

14.1 percent of rape victims (4,779) were aged above 16 years and below 18 years,

10.6 percent (3,616) were between 12 and 16 years,

2.2 percent (757) were between 6 years and 12 years

and 0.8 percent (281) were below 6 years.

• The writer suggests that it is not only the time to punish the culprits but also to find the reasons for the increase in the rate of crime. Once the valid possible reasons are established the preventive measures can be taken accordingly to reduce the same.
• The writer also wants to suggest that the main motive of our country should not only be to punish but also to prevent. Clearly punishment theory of disablement and the preventive theory of punishment is not working in favor of our country in the case of rape. People of the nation are demanding the judiciary to adopt retribution theory, which is one of the oldest theories of punishment, in which the culprit suffers the same as the victim. People of our nation believe that it is important so that a balance is created and social harmony is established.

The writer does not agree with the same and would suggest that a new theory is adopted which is a mixture of reformative, disablement and preventive theories of punishment. Which would definitely prevent the recommission of crime. It is a known fact that the reformative theory has been proved useful in the case of juveniles and sex psychopaths.

• Science has been developed a lot and the writer personally believes that the adoption of science in the development of laws or preventive measures would be fruitful.
• If the psychology of the people is molded into a good state which is beneficially for our country, crimes can be prevented to a great extent. The writer wants to focus on the concept of criminal psychology. People in our country confuse mental disorders with madness, which is incorrect. Many criminal offenders are psychologically ill. The U.S survey says that there are more psychologically ill people in jails than in mental hospitals.

Explaining my point through an example, a person commits a rape of a 5-year-old girl. What might be the reason for him to commit it? The 5-year-old can definitely not give him sexual pleasures. It was his mind which had a disorder, which made him sexually attracted to children, such people are called pedophiles, and the disorder is called pedophilia.

Concept of understanding criminal psychology can not only help in reducing rapes in our country but also other crimes as well.

• the writer suggests that every school, college, university hires a psychologist which makes the students understand what is right and also understand them, counsel them if they need help. This way the possible offenders can be helped and crime can be reduced. If a child is being taught from the very beginning that is important to respect a woman, and it is wrong to touch her without her consent or it is wrong to pass derogatory remarks for her. The crimes of rape, molestation, eve-teasing, etc will reduce. There is a fact that children in their early school life believe and trust their teachers even more than their parents, if they are taught the same, The rate of crime will reduce.
• The writer wants to suggest that the judiciary makes it compulsory in every school, college, university to have a class of counselling every week for their students.
• The writer would also like to suggest that the punishments are implemented more rapidly so that the trust in our judicial system is re-established.

therapists of Nirbhaya are using the loopholes in our legal system and mocking the seriousness of crime. It is very important the punishment is implemented as fast as possible to let the people know that they have to pay for their sins and our judiciary is very strict in these terms.

ADVANTAGES

• The mentality of people can be easily molded when they are young. Changing the rigid thinking of people which they have from many years gradually developed is very difficult to change.

A child of the nursery if taught to wash his hands before eating would obey and do it if a child of class 12th is pointed out for the same, might not obey so easily. It is evident in our education system. A child in primary classes comes dressed better than a child in senior secondary. It is easier to make young students follow rules than with elder students.

• This would ensure that the coming generation is better than the current because they have been taught from the very basics.
• The inside stories of houses can be revealed and a probable crime can be prevented. Example: a child sees his or her mother being a victim of domestic violence daily and one day speaks to the counselor about it. This can be informed to the respective authorities and the crimes can be prevented.
• This will reveal to the government what actually is causing this increased rate in crime.
• The false allegations against a man can also be proved wrong. A counselor would know the person inside out and if there is any false allegation made against him, the counsellor’s testimony would help the court come to a conclusion whether the person can do such a crime or not.
• A person’s thought process is affected by many reasons one being his or her surroundings but majorly it is what the person is internally and individually what he grasps from the surrounding. Example

A child has grown up seeing his father disrespecting his mother and sister and even assaulting them. In this scenario there can be two cases: either the child when grows up can become like his father and do the same to his wife or can understand his mother’s and sister’s pain and become protective towards women in general. What will he become is his individuality, but this can be ensured that he goes on the right path through counselling. If he is taught from the very being that one has to respect women and never hurt anyone, then he will know that his father is wrong and might even question him for his actions, which will also reveal the true cause of his behavior with his mother. This will ensure that the child respects women when he grows up.

• Whenever there is an outbreak of a disease, both the cure and prevention is important to stop the disease. The same is to applied in case of crimes.

CONCLUSION:

When a child commits a mistake, it is a mother who tries to explain her with love and care, but when things go out of the hand of a mother, the entry of the father is crucial. The father explains the same concepts of life but with different techniques and vice versa. Thus it is said that both the love of a mother and the scolding of a father is essential for the development of a child. In the same way, it is only necessary to have laws to punish the criminals but also to guide them and bring them back to the right path. This can only be possible by changing their outlook towards things.

Thus, it is rightly said that change is the only constant and it is time to change and bring back our culture of respecting women like a goddess. Some changes are necessary for the growth and development of not only an individual but also of the nation as a whole. The writer believes that bringing a change in our punishment system by incorporating the concept of science would definitely show positive results. Let us all unite again and show the devil residing inside us than he can not win.

Let’s join hands and try finding and curing cause of the issue. Lets not just demand the rapists to be hanged but also stop people from becoming potential rapists. Let us join hands to not only stop crime but also prevent crime.

[1] https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/rapes-in-india-offenders-victim-minor-data-ncrb-1635691-2020-01-10.

This article is authored by MEDHA SHUKLA, 2nd Student of BBA LLB at GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY. 

Also, Read: Rape – The Heinous Crime Amongst All Crimes