CONCEPT OF CRIME Crime is an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law,(statutory and case law) committed without defense

or justification and suctioned by the state as a felony or misdemeanor. So a crime comes as a result of the breach of a specific criminal law1 Short historical background of crime and punishment Normally there is no society without the problem of crime and criminals. The concept of crime is essentially concerned with the society order. It is well known that mans interests are best protected as a member of the community. Everyoneowes certain duties to his fellow men and at the same time has certain rights and privileges which he expects others to ensure for him. This sense of mutual respect and trust for the right of others regulates the conduct of the members of society inter se. Although most people believe in live and let live policy yetthere are few who for some reason or the other, deviate from this obviously imposes an obligation on the state to maintain normalcy in society. This arduors task of protecting the law binding citizens and punishing the law breakers this reason led Salmond to define law as the rule of action regulating the conduct of individual in the society. The conduct which are prohibited by the law are known as wrongful acts and the conduct which are permissible under the law are known as lawful acts2. THE EARLY CONCEPT OF CRIME Historically, the concept of crime seems to have always been changing with the variation in the social conditions during the evolutionary stages of human society. This can be explained to the fact that during the early English society in 12 and 13 centuries it include only those acts which were committed against the state or the religion. Treason, rape and blasphemy were treated as crime where murder was not3. The early society failed to diffentiate between the law of crime and the law of torts they only knew the law of wrongs. This is due to the fact that the bond of family was far stronger than that of the community, the injured party and his kindred could avenge the wrong by private
1 2

Reid S. T. 6Edn. (1976) Crime and Criminology pg 5 Paranjape V. C 15 Edn ( 1997) Criminology and Penology p g 3 Ibid

vengeance and self redress. During this time the recourse to legal remedied was considered merely an optional alternative to self redress. So the wrongdoer was supposed to offer compensation to the person wronged, the compensation depend on the extent of the wrong caused and the status of the sufferer. The compensation paid were known as bot it wash away the guilt of wrongdoer and put him to the position as if he had done no wrong4. EIGHTEENTH AND NINITEENTH CENTURY The concept of crime is closely related to the social policy of a given time. The earlier emphasis on crime, the idea that crime was the result of divine displeasure, the superstition and myth. But during the 18 and 19 century in European countries especially in Italy and France we witnessed a new era of miraculous reorientation in criminological thinking. The early ideas was abandoned and the study of crime and criminal was started basing on scientific bases. Due to that changes it once established that no one else than the offender himself could be attributed criminal responsibility for his crime. This seems that when it happen that were there are ideological changes in the society the concept of crime also change5. TWENTIETH CENTURY UP TO DAY. It happen that now days there has been considerable increase in crime rate in all over the world. But some of the countries the rate of crime is not higher this was due to the variation of social condition in those countries for example in India. The factors such as greater control of family over the ward and respect of morality and religion have acted as effective instrument to reduce the rate of crime in those countries.The development of science and technology which lewd to the discovery of computers increase the rate of crime like cyber crime TYPES OF CRIME Generally there are three types of crime this include a) Crime against the person b) Crime against the property c) Crime against the state
4 5

Ibid Ibid

Crime against person These kind of crime include all wrong person can commit against another person. Under violent personal criminal behavior, clinard and quinney listed homicide, assault and forcible rapes. These crimes have one thing in common, also it include crime like assault and battery6. Crime against property This group of crime include all types of theft or stealing such as shoplifting, palfrey, breaking and entering, theft or motor vehicles or spare parts and accessories, forgery, and other crime like this are violence against property. Crimes committed against property, much more than crimes of violence, have shown a remarkable increase and there are much prevented in urban area than in rural area7. ELEMENTS OF CRIME Crime constitute of two elements Actusreus and Mensrea. These refer to physical and mental elements. The actusreus and mensrea is a coincidence as they must co-exist. Hence there must be the overt act which is actusreus and the mental element (mensrea) to form an intention. This is supported by the common law maxim, actus non facitreumnismens sit rea. In Bratty v AG Northern Ireland it was pointed out that, no act is punishable if it is done involuntarily. However there are exceptions which in cases of strict liability and vicarious liability where only actusreus is required to prove the commission of crime and not mensrea.

CAUSES OF CRIME. Crime can be defined in many different ways. Different societies may also choose to define crimes differently. However, in general, crime can simply be defined as the breach of laws that are laid down by the ruling authority of the land. There can be many different causes of crime and many studies are conducted all around the world to understand and bring down criminal activities. It is a constant endeavor of governments and policing organizations all around the
6 7

Tibamanya M. M. Crime and Deviance p g 8 Ibid p g 11

world to bring down crime rates so that the world becomes a safer place to live in. The fight against crime is not a new one in humanity and it has, since the establishment of society, tried to bring crimes down. Let us now attempt to look at some of the causes of crimes. Crime is an intentional act or omission in violation of criminal law can be caused by different factors which we can categorize it into three. Economic, Social and political cause. Economicfactorlike Poverty: Economic deprivation or simply poverty is a major cause of crime all around the world. People are often driven to great lengths of desperation by poverty and this is a major cause of crime all around the world. The fact that such frustration is created is in itself a very dangerous thing for society on the whole as global inflation has risen significantly over the last few years. Although it does seem that in our world today, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer8. Social factor whereby under this situation there is overpopulation, racism, social classes, family condition, drugs. Religion. Religion has also been one of the causes of crime in the world. This does not mean that religion itself encouraged crimes but the encouragement has come from the different sects which originated in the differences of opinion between people on matters of religion and in the hatred for other religions. In a general way, of course, communal riot and crimes such as looting, murder and so on, perpetrated in order to increase the number of one's own religion and to injure another religion have always been happening in many different area9. Politics factor is often a cause of crime. It is seen that many political associations all around the world have their own mafias running which they use to manipulate and subjugate people. Political power is often misused to take advantage of weaker groups and people and the dissidence that rises out of such situations often force the victims to resort to crimes. Politics is more related to crime on a much larger and a much heinous level than anything else. CONCEPT OF CRIMINALOGY The word criminology is composite of two words criminal + ology. Literallyit means a systematic study of the criminals, that is, persons who break or offend the social or group law.

8 9

Sharma R. K. (1998) Criminology and Penology Part II p g 2 Ibid

However, since the offences committed by criminals are crimes, and as crimes occur in society, the term criminology fully means a study of crimes as well as criminals in relation to society. It also tries to determine the causes of these and also thereby recommend preventive measures. The science of criminology is a scientific and systematic study of a social phenomenon. Various scientific techniques and methods are employed for the study of this phenomenon. As criminology views man as a social animal, it tries to study social interactions and phenomena to place its subject matter in a proper perspective. The science of criminology also investigates the structure and function of social laws, rules and regulations. In order to understand the nature of criminology, it is essential to examine closely the definitions given by learned sociologists and eminent criminologists. According to Elliott M.A. and Merrill, F. E. "Criminology may be defined as the scientific study of crime and its treatment.10" The definition, emphasizing the scientific investigation into the nature and etiology of crime, stresses the practical or utilitarian nature of this body of knowledge, namely, devising ways and means to prevent or reduce the incidence of crime and to rehabilitate criminals as normal members of the society. According to D.R. Taft. "Criminology is the study which includes all the subject matter necessary to the understanding and prevention of crimes together with the punishment and treatment of delinquents and criminals11." The definition is comprehensive and it describes theoretical as well as practical aspects of the study. It brings out clearly the fact, which may get overlooked usually, that criminology is concerned not with the offences committed by adults only but also with juvenile offences. According toWebster Dictionary. Criminology may be described to be the scientific study of crime as a social phenomenon, or of criminals and their mental traits, habits and discipline etc.12.'' This definition has the merit of emphasizing equally the sociological as well as psychological aspects of the crime and the criminal.

10 11

Elliott, M.A and Merrill, F.E., (1941) Social Disorganization. Taft, D.R. (1956) Criminology. 12 Webster Dictionary

NATURE OF CRIMINOLOGY Fundamentally speaking, the task of criminology is a scientific, systematic, statistical, structural and functional in depth study of crime, and the behavior covertly deviant, liable to become overtly offensive of social norms and laws, both from sociological and psychological standpoints. Besides having a theoretical understanding of crime, criminal and his behavior, tile object of criminology is also to devise effective tools to minimize the incidence of crime, reform and rehabilitate the criminal13. SCOPE OF CRIMINOLOGY Like other social sciences, the scope of criminology is .also quite extensive. It is related to each and every social class and structure. Though the scope of criminology is very vast and coextensive with many sciences, the criminologists have tried to limit its scope in order to be able to study the subject scientifically, systematically and exhaustively14. The viewpoints of certain notable criminologists are given below According to E.H. Sutherland and D.R. Cressey the science of criminology, "includes within its scope the processes of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting towards the breaking of laws15."'In the opinion of Sutherland criminology has three distinct aspects or departments. 'Though distinct, these are nonetheless not independent, but inter-linked. A thorough study of these aspects exhausts the scope of criminology, to study all of them is the same asstudying the whole science of criminology. In accordance with Sutherland's description of the scope of criminology, we can divide into The Sociology of Law. In this we study the nature of crime fromlegalistic point of view. Also we investigate into the effects of present lawsupon crime and study the possible reforms in the laws in order to prevent andcontrol the occurrence of crime16. The major concern of the sociology of law isto critically examine the impact of various legal systems upon crime. This studycan go a long way to evolve suitable changes in the laws to curb crime.

13 14

Sharma R. K. (1998) Criminology and Penology Part I p g 3 Sharma R. K. (1998) Criminology and Penology Part I p g 4 15 Sutherland, E.H. and Cressey, D.R., Principles of Criminology, p. 3 16 Sharma R. K. (1998) Criminology and Penology Part I p g 4

Criminal Etiology. In this department a systematic investigation intothe various causes of crime is made. Here we study the social and personalfactors responsible for the occurrence of crime and growth of criminals17. Penology. Besides knowledge and determination of the causes andfactors which generate or encourage crime, it is equally, if not more, essentialto know the ways and means of controlling and preventing the crime18. This aspect is studied systematically and in a scientific manner to achieve controlover crime. The facts and theories in this regard form the scope of Penology,an important department of criminology departments.

CONCLUSION. The development of crime depends from time to time, this is due to the fact thatCrime causation is a developmental process that starts before birth and continues throughout the life course. Individual factors interact with social factors to determine the onset, length, and end of criminal careers. They key theoretical issues involve continuity and change in crime. Some theories predict continuity across the life course; others predict continuity for some offenders and change for other offenders; and some predict continuity and change for the same offenders.

17 18

Ibid Ibid

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Introduction to Criminology, Third Edition Barlaw, D H, (nod:) George B, V, Theoretical Criminology, Oxford University Press New York 1958 Criminology and Penology, (1998), Dr. Rajendra K.S Social Disorganization,Elliott, M.A and Merrill, F.E., (1941) Criminology, Taft, D.R. (1956) Crime and Deviance,Tibamanya M. M. Crime and Criminology, Reid S. T. 6Edn. (1976) Criminology and Penology,Paranjape V. C 15 Edn ( 1997) Webster Dictionary