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CHAPTER - X I

SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION AND CONTROL

Females are found to commit almost same kinds of crime as male

criminals do. Besides, traditionally some offences have been dominated by
females to a greater extent than other offences. These are some sex specific
crimes like prostitution, theft by prostitutes, illegal abortion, infanticide etc.
So, nature of prevention of crimes in case of female criminals should be
somewhat different to that of general crime prevention programme. Keeping
in view the specific nature of committing crimes by females, stress should
be laid in preventing criminal tendencies of females from crime by necessary
preventive measures and by the removal of conditions constituting die
breeding ground of crime. The idea of preventing female crimes and crimes
as a whole is a popular one, both among scholars and professionals in the
field and with the general public. It is hard to deny from theoretical point
o f view that it is preferable to intercept criminal behaviour before it takes
place rather than to act against it after it has occured. If we accept the
theory that crime is social in nature and social in origin then prevention of
it also should be social in nature.
The field of prevention is by far the least developed area of criminology.
In scientific and professional circles the subject of prevention has received
remarkably little serious attention. Even the basic concepts in the field of
prevention lack precision. There has been very little theory building and
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attempted programmes under such circumstances has failed to produce any

singificant results. So, the field of prevention requires recognition. In
present situation, it is relevant to shift the attention from a discussion of
what we should do with criminals to a suggestion of how we can prevent
individuals from becoming offenders.
THE CONCEPT OF PREVENTION AND CONTROL:- Prevention is a
measure taken before a criminal or delinquent act has actually occured for
the purpose of forecasting such an act; control is a measure taken after a
criminal act or delinquent act has been committed. Both prevention and
control should be viewed as subcategories of society's negative attitude and
action against crime and delinquency. Since, by definition, both crime and
delinquency are problems, this implies that society must do something
about them. In this regard the term "crime and delinquency handling"
should be used to compromise both concepts: control and prevention. There
are certain areas in which preventive and controlling actions seem to
overlap or at least the distinction between them is not obvious and needs
sharpening. This is true of both the theory and practice of prevention and
control.
Such an overlap and potential confusion in theory occurs because an
act of control is an attempt to stop criminality or delinquency and also an
attempt to forestall future offences. The concept of special prevention,
developed further by legal theory refers to this future effect. An adequate
clarification of this theoretical ambiguity lies in recognizing that any action
concerning an offender taken as a result of his having committed an offence
should be defined as control, even if it interrupts the continuation of criminal
behaviour and thereby forestall future criminal acts, practice, for instance, a
so-called area project in a high crime area attempts both to interrupt
criminal careers already in progress and to forestall the involvement of
new recruits in criminal activities. Both prevention and control are being
practised in this case.
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Thus, if societal action is motivated by an offence that has already

taken place, we we are dealing with control; if the offence is only
anticipated, we are dealing with prevention. This distinction is important
also from the standpoint of legal theory. In the area of control, public
abrogation of the rights of an individual is more feasible because by
committing an offence he has invited the curtailment of his rights, in the
area o f prevention a compulsory public action is less feasible.
Prevention entails expectation that something done now will forestall
an undesirable event in future. Prevention may be regarded as the ultimate
response to crime and delinquency because of its superiority to the laborious
rooting out and punishment o f criminals. In the long run, prevention
promises to be more effective in reducing the volume o f crime and in
minimizing the burden of crime control programme. Crime control measures
are attractive to those interest groups which place high priority on
safeguarding the community against dangerous criminals. The crime
control ideology is extended into crime prevention in the believe that the
arbitrary punishment of apprehended criminals will deter them and other
would be offenders from future crime. Crime control implies dedication to
maintaining public order and to countering the threat of active criminals.
Collectively, the police, courts and correctional departments are instruments
o f formal control unique in being agents of the state in administering its
monopoly of legitimate coercion.
The criminal justice system is among the conciously contrived and
deliberately implemented mechanism of formal control that have been
brought into increasing play in attempt to deal with problem of crime.
According to National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards
and Goals, 1973, USA, the Criminal Justice System is the traditional series
of agencies that have been given the formal responsibility to control crime:
police department, judges, prosecutors and their staffs, defence offices, jails
and prisons and probation and parol agencies. In a broader sense of the
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term, many public and private agencies and citizens outside of police,
courts and corrections ought to be involved in reducing and preventing
crime. It should be primary goal of criminal justice. These agencies and
persons, when dealing with issues related to to crime reduction and
prevention, in addition to police, court and corrections make up a larger
criminal justice system. A state legislature, the executive agencies o f the
educational administrative units, welfare departments, youth service bureaus,
recreation departments and other public officers become part of larger
Criminal Justice System in many of their decisions and actions which the
commission suggests. The crime control may be designated as the preventive
strategy for checking recurrence of crime before it has attained large scale
proportion. The central orientation of crime control is towards the past and
the present rather than future. But the future orientation is fundamental in
prevention.
THE MEANING OF CRIME CONTROL PREVENTION:- Crime
prevention seeks to divert would-be offenders from law violations by
making them aware o f the heavy prince they will pay in advantages lost and
disadvantages improved if they engage in crime. However, the primary
purpose of crime control prevention is to forestall recidivism (repetition
o f crime). Apprehended offenders will presumably learn that swift and
certain penenalization inevitably makes the ta n if on criminal behaviour so
high that any clear sighted person will turn to other behaviours. Tariff
implies a list of charges fined by laws. Normal individuals and individuals
who dem onstrate antisocial tendencies short of officially recognized
delinquency and crime are secondary targets of crime control prevention.
For the dabbler in crime- not yet an adherent of a criminal subculture and
occupation- the fate of law breakers would be an object lesson. The
ideological roots of crime control prevention lie in the classical schools
argument that fitting the punishment to the qualities of the criminal act
will produce equal justice and deterrence. The standardization of punitive
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responses to legal crime cetegories contributes to an im personal

adm inistration o f ju stic e according to w hat individual did not who
the individuals are in degrees of wealth, prestige and influence. Such
standardization also implies a faith that, in and itself, penalization to persons
classified according to offence category such as rape, murder, automobile
theft and so on will have desired affect. The outcome of arbitrary punishment
is expected to be that offenders will not commit the crime again, that is,
prevention of recidivision or that would-be offenders will be deterred
from adding them selves to those placed in the offence category. The
police are the predom inant representative of crime control prevention
because they are the first line of defense in employing suppessive measures
against criminals and because they are the control agents in most persistent
contact with ordinary citizens. Police patrol and rapid police reaction to
crime incidents are the most visible and direct evidence o f crime control
prevention in the daily life of the community. Nevertheless, the courts
and correctional agencies are heavily charged with the faith that arbitrary
punishment of the caught forestall even a greater number of potential
crimes that would otherwise be committed by persons who are taught to
be deterred by the categorical punishment of the caught.
TYPES OF CRIME PREVENTION The ambiguity of the concept of
prevention is one of the main obstacles to describing existing preventive
programmes. The term prevention refers to several different types of
societal action, so different, in fact, that in most cases a clarification of
the particular types of prevention in question is indispensable to make
communication meaningful. Three types of prevention or three distinct
meanings of the concept can be differentiated. Punitive prevention, corrective
prevention and mechanical prevention. There may be other types of prevention,
but theoretically and practically these three are the most important.
Punitive prevention In punitive prevention the threat of punishment
presumably forestalls the criminal act. The conventional punitive crime
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control system, based on criminal law, used to rely and still basically relies
on this kind of prevention. The legal theory of crime prevention further
differentiated for some time between special and general punitive prevention.
Special prevention means forestalling further criminal acts of an offender by
punishing him so that he learns his lesson. It fits the interpretational
model o f negative conditioning, where pain, represented by punishment,
causes him to avoid repetition o f the act that became associated with the
pain. Although criminal law theory uses the term prevention in this case,
the so called prevention of the legal theorist is not true prevention but
rather a control measure.
The concept of general punitive prevention is usually connected with
the name of Anselm Feuerback (1799) who saw awamess of the threat of
punishment or actual punishment as a motive for not committing an
offence.
This is prevention in the true sense of the word, at the same time it
is, specially, punitive prevention because it is the prospect of punishment
that keeps many potential criminals from committing crimes. The underlying
theory is usually relatively simple and consists of the assumption that if the
potential offender is aware of the prospective pain of punishment, the
knowledge will influence his behaviour.
The effectiveness of punitive prevention presumably depends on the
certainty and severity of punishment. Under the influence of humanitarianism
the severity of punishment was greatly reduced and by the end of the
eighteen century, under the impact of the views of Cesare Beccaria (1764),
the limitation to the indispensable minimum of the suffering imposed as
punishment became a basic principle of the classical school of criminal law.
However, the certainty of punishment has been gaining favour.
Corrective prevention The concept o f corrective prevention is entirely
different. Here prevention is based on the assumption that criminal behaviour,
just as any other human behaviour, has its causes, is influenced by certain
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factor and is the result of a certain motivation, whatever the terminology may
be. Preventive action means the elimination of those causes, factors or
motivation before the criminal behaviour has actually taken place. Such
corrective preventive action may be undertaken as a matter of general precau­
tion within the society as a whole, or it may be directed towards specific
situation and cases on the basic symptoms that indicate a threat of criminal b
ehaviour. Although prevention in this case, to a certain extent, seems always
to have been used, even in antiquity, it is primarily a product of modem times
and is clearly anchored in modem social science. As a matter of fact, when
a person with a social science
orientation speaks about the prevention of crime today, he is unreally thinking
in terms of corrective prevention. If punitive prevention is associated primarily
with punitive crime control and the criminal-law approach to criminality,
corrective prevention is natural concomitant of the modem criminological
approach, applying the principles and methods of modem social science to the
problem of crime.
Mechanical prevention The mechanical prevention again refers to something
entirely different from the first two. Here obstacles are placed in the way of
the potential offender that make it difficult or impossible for him to commit an
offence. Such preventive action does not involve the personality of the
individual. No attempt is made to influence his intentions by threatening
punishment or by changing his motivation. An increase in police protection in
a neighbourhood known for the frequency of certain criminal acts is a typical
example. The increased difficulty of committing the offence -for instance,
rolling a drunk- because of intensified police supervision may well prevent
impressionable youths from following the example of their more advanced gang
companions. Various security measures, such as dependable locking system,
bars in tellers windows in banks, signalling systems to be used in case of
attack, may serve as further examples of mechanical prevention intended
forestall criminal acts by making their execution more difficult. It should be
kept in mind that mechanical prevention, just as punitive and corrective
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prevention, also has its counterpart in the crime contr ol area. There it
appears as incapacitation of an offender whose criminal career it seeks to
interrupt, for instance, by keeping him confined in some kind of
preventive detention system.

CURRENT CONFUSION IN THE FIELD OF PREVENTION

The three kinds of prevention defined above are so different in essence

that any theory building and research must clearly diffemtiate among them in
order to have any meaning. Likewise action programmes shall include these
differences in order to plan rationally and to evaluate what is actually
happening. However, we do not find this differentiation and precise defmation
either in theory and practice. It is true that some research projects have
stated accurately their operational definitions of prevention within the project
itself, but no general theory has been abstracted from these studies primarily
because of a lack of effort in conceptalization.
Today the criminal lawyer, the legislator in the area of criminal law,
and the citizen who favours punitive crime control often think in terms of
passing a punitive statue to prevent a certain kind of undesirable behaviour
and in terms of increasing the penalty for an offecce in order to prevent its
too frequent occurance. The severe punitive laws recently passed by some
jurisdictions in the areas o f drug traffic and so called sexual psychopathy are
another example of the eruption of purely punitive control and preventive
plans. All these measures involve punitive prevention and their authors
sincerely believe that they are dealing with crime prevention. At the same
time they are frequently hostile and derogatory toward the advocacts of
corrective prevention, either because they do not understand the rationale for
this type o f prevention or because they consider it ineffective.
On the other hand, theorist and practioners o f corrective prevention
frequently do not even recognize punitive prevention as prevention and
reject it as they reject its base : punishment. The field o f criminology
abounds in statements of behavioural scientists that reject punishment as
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either control or prevention. To them, prevention is only corrective prevention:

the removal of the causes, factors, motivations, etc. of offensive acts.
Finally, the law enforcement administrator will often think about
prevention of crime enclusively in terms of mechanical prevention. Doubling
the police patrol, improving alarm techniques- to him these are the
crimepreventive measures he is usually willing to accept the idea of punitive
prevention, but his attitude toward corrective prevention is basically hostile.
One may except that classification of the prevention theory and
identification of different types o f prevention will have not only theoretical
merit but also great practical significance. It may help to end the confusion,
defensiveness and hostility of personnel systems that differ in their methods
o f prevention (William & Wellford, 1966: PP 3 ff). Criminologists consider
prevention in two senses: Individual oriented prevention and Environment
oriented prevention.
Individual oriented prevention The individual oriented prevention concerns
with the ability of criminal law enforcement to make the citizen law abiding
through deterring potential offenders and preventing further law breaking by
apprehended criminals. For example, antisocial behaviour would be forestalled
by promoting healthy personality development in person. Preventive efforts
are directed towards the eradication of mental and personality traits in the
individual that are associated with criminal and delinquent behaviour.
Individual oriented programmes are most characteristic of the field of
prevention. Residents of a community may be differentiated into four groups
along a continuum.
The majority are usually so-called normals who do not become
sufficiently maladjusted emotionally or behaviourally to need special attention.
A second group does need special attention because the individual in it do
have maladjustments but these have not progressed to the point where they
would elicit official reaction to the individuals as criminals or delinquents.
Individuals in the third group have been recognized officially as delinquents
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or criminals but they are not committed to crime as a way of life. Finally,
there are the confirmed criminals. Crime prevention is intended to forestall
the movement of an individual along the continuum in the direction of
criminality.
Preventive agencies usually choose one or more of these groups as their
primary target. Some of these agencies are concerned primarily with the first
two groups, striving to prevent anti-social behaviour at its source. Others deal
indireclty with anti-social behaviour at its source by promoting healthy
personality development of all children or by taking action to solve other
broad social problems. The normals are the primary target and prevention
an incidental purpose, of recreational, slum clearance, industrial development,
educational, religious, and similar programmes. Still other agencies concentrate
directly on the anti-social behaviour of maladjusted group on the premise that
prevention requires the reaching o f potential criminals before they get into
trouble with the law. Other programmes are oriented towards the prevention
o f recidivism. Prevention is envisaged as lessening the likelihood of more
serious offences by individuals already in conflict with the law. The third
group is to be kept from being recruited into fourth group. Law enforcement,
judicial and correctional agencies become instruments for prevention.
Environment Oriented Prevention:- Environment oriented prevention refers
to efforts to correct fundamental social conditions and personal maladjustments
which are assumed to be the "seedbed" of crime. For example, anti-social
behaviour would be forestalled by preventive efforts which are directed towards
strengthening the family, the school and other social institution. Various
approaches, including vocational education, social work, recreation work are
used in this efforts. In individual oriented prevention the socio-cultural
environment is usually taken for granted as a set of constant factors. The
environmental factors behind delinquency and crime are explained as deficiencies
in the enthusiasm with which tried and true principles of child rearing education
and economics are applied. Educational campaigns are devoted to making
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parents and citizen more aware of their responsibilities. Law enforcement,

welfare, educational and other agencies are given greater financial support on
the assumption that it is the lack of resources which blocks more effective
prevention of crime, rather than any deficiencies in the fundamental principles
and modes of organization upon which contemporary efforts are based.
In environment oriented prevention, emphasis is directed towards changing
the patterned ways o f the community that are conductive to crime or are
inefficient in achieving their claimed purposes. First, there may be an attempt
to restructure the relationships among agencies and groups.Efforts are made
to co-ordinate the organization of the community in order to reduce the
inefficiency of duplicated services and of conflict between the individual
programmes. Second, new kinds of relationships are devoloped within the
community to extent die base o f public participation and to bring criminals
within the scope of preventive programmes which they have resisted.
(E.H.Jhonson, 1978: PP-497ff).
The most sweeping attack on the environmental bases of deviance calls
for institutional reorganization. This ambitious apporach would redesign the
ideological basis of society and would require reconstruction of society as a
whole. In this view, the rests of crime are too deeply intertwined in the values
and traditions of society to be eradicated without significant change in society
itself.
The means evolved so far to reform criminal and to prevent them from
subsequent criminal activity can not prevent all those factors which must be
eliminated from the social economic and political life o f the community in
which crime originates. Till then criminals are punished for their offences.
In this connection it shall be relevent to discuss various theories of
punishment. O f the various theories o f punishment the following three are
the most important and typical Retributive, Preventive and Reformative.
Retributive Theory:-According to the retributive theory the purpose of
punishment is to seek revenge. Punishment is the reward of the violation
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of moral law. The retribution theory has two forms rigorist and liberal.
According to the rigorist retributive theory the criminals should be punished
serverely for a serious crime. The liberal retributive theory also includes the
consideration of the circumstances of the crime. But-even the liberal form
of the retributive theory is not satisfactory. It is not essential that the criminal
will, after having been punished, realize his mistake in violating the moral
law and feel remorse for his misdeeds. In practice it has been seen that a
criminal becomes even worse after punishment. Actually the retributive theory
is not practical, it does not remove the cause of crime. Prevention o f crimes
or transformation of the criminal can be achieved only by punishment. It
is more important to remove those economic, social, mental and physical
causes which spur on the ordinary and the more numerous type of offender
though it is not here in implied that punishment is unnecessary in every
circumstance because it sometimes does become unavoidably necessary to met
out punishment.
Preventive Theory:-According to the preventive theory the aim behind
punishment is to set an example to other and to prevent them from developing
criminal tendencies. In this way, the object of punishment is prevention. The
theory is expressed by judges formula, some one is not punished for stealing
sheep, but in order that the sheep may not be stolen. This theory does not
invalidate even capital punishment because though there is no question of
improvement in the criminal, other people learn a lesson not to indulge in
homicide.
The major defect of this theory is that it uses the offender as means
and not as end. This does not affect any improvement in the culprit. He is
made die means o f improvements of others. This theory is incorrect from
the practical veiw point. Actually, every one can not become a criminal. People
who know how to respect laws are in no need of any such exemplary
exhibitions. On the other hand, those who have criminal tendencies can be
prevented from crime by necessary prevention and the removal of conditions
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constituting the breeding ground of crime.To punish a man in order to teach

a lesson to others is improper and inhmnan.This theory is more defective
than even the Retributive theory.
Reformative Theoy:-According to the reformative theory, the aim of punishment
is the improvement of the offender himselfZherself. Modem age seems generally
to favour and apply this theory. In this theory, the behaviour directed at the
criminal shows him the consideration due to an individual and not conduct
analogous to treatment of objects and means. An offender is punished for
his own benefit. This theory concurs with the modem humanitarian trend
in criminology. It has been supported from many viewpoints. Some of the
major ones are the following -
(1) CRIM INAL ANTHROPOLOGYi-Modem criminology anthropology pro­
pounds that crime is a disease, pathological state or the state o f inherited
or acquired degeneration. Thus, it is necessary to treat a criminal instead
o f punishing him. Hospitals, lunatic asylums and welfare home are better
adapted to the execution o f projects to decrease crime than prisons. Crime
is not the result of a wilful violation of normal law. The most cause of crime
are mental defects. For example, Kleptomania, a kind of mental disease forces
the patient to steal.
The major shortcoming of this theory of criminal anthropology is that
it assumes the causes o f a limited number of crimes to be the causes of
all crimes. If a person steals due to Kleptomania he should undoubtedly be
interned in a hospital rather than jail but the number of Kleptomaniacs is
negligible among the number of thieves. All crimes can not be attributed to
diseased conditions. Criminals who resort to illegal means due to mental or
physical deformities from only a very small minority in the realm of criminals.
Thus people who commit crimes due to reasons other than these should be
curbed by other methods.
(2) CRIM INAL SOCIOLOGY Criminal sociology em phazises the
responsibility o f social circum stances in crime. Thus it is more
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efficacious to induce improvement in social and economic condition, to

remove inequalities annd immoralities, than to punish the criminal. Crimes
can be stopped not by punishment but by the reorgnization of human
society on the basis of justice and equality.
The opinion of criminal sociology is as partial as the opinion of
criminal anthropology. Social equality is, of course, the cause of some
crimes and can be credited as such. But causes of crime can not be
analysed in this way. Many people commit crimes while fully conscious
of the fact. And, especially the crimes of white collar criminals can not
be included in the explanation offered by criminal sociology.
(3) PSYCHO-ANALYSIS:-Psycho-analysis joins hands with criminal
anthropology and sociology in supporting the reformative theory. According
to Freud and his followers, crimes are caused by repressed complexes and
tendencies of sex and jealousy caused by desires frustrated sexual passions.
Thus, education and psycho-analytic treatment is needed for preventing
crimes instead of punishment. Crime is a mental or neural disease which
can be eliminated by searching out repressed unconscious complexes and
transporting them to the conscious level, finding their causes and effecting
their sublimation through means acceptable to society.
The psycho-analytic suggestions, too hold true only in relation to
particular criminals. Actually, this opinion is not universally true as was
the case with criminal anthropology and criminal sociology.
The reformation thoery is effective in all such conditions in which
the criminal commits the crime in ignorance and compelled by circumstances
or where this criminal tendency is attributed to a mental or physical defects.
But the reform of a criminal who wilfully violates moral laws is not so
easy proposition. Thus, for some criminals it becomes unavoidable to
arrange for punishment. It can be said that the reformative theory is the
most superior among the theories of punishment because it is compatible
with the modern humanitarian ideals and seeks to eliminate the causes
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o f crime but cannot be applied to all crimes. Some crimes are more conducive
to preventive theory (R.N.Sarma, 1981 : PP-385 ff).
The contributions on the theoretical aspects of prevention measures are
very limited uptil now. The literature dealing with prevention is less abundant
than dealing with causation. However, it is agreed by most that the preventive
programmes of crime should be designed after a careful and adequate
understanding of the problem and should be related to the causes of crime.
So, some steps should be taken while fomulating preventive programme. These
steps are understanding the nature of the problem, drawing implications for
action, creating a framework for preventive action. That is to say, one has
to understand the problem first then formulate the relevant action and
implement it.
It has been observed that female crime in Assam as well as in India
has become a living social problem. The incidence of female crime is
increasing. It is beyond doubt that formulation of preventive programmes or
policies is not at all an easy task.
In Assam situation both formulation and implementation of preventive
device of female crime has become very difficult. For example, identification
o f potential criminals is not an easy job. Moreover, a constructive method
on prevention programme can not be formulated easily. Inter-institutional
conflicts are prevalent in Aassam. In spite of these inherent problems, the
importance of implementation of preventive devise can not be and should
not be ignored. The general activities of existing agencies- family, school,
religious institute, law enforcement agencies and the like of a community
can effectively prevent female criminal behaviour. Criminal tendencies of
females can be eradicated if these agencies operate smoothly and effectively.
In medical science, it has become a fundamental principle that prevention
is better than cure. Medical scientists are of the view that treatment of disease
becomes irrelevent, if disease can be eliminated. Thus, prevention of disease
should be the main aim. Hence, medical scientists devote their skill and energy
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in preventing disease rather than curing it. Similar view is held by the experts
in criminology. According to them, criminal behaviour is also a kind of disease
and the idea "prevention is better than cure" is equally applicable here. For
example, if there is no criminals, the question of rehabilitation or reformation
does not arise. The attitudes, beliefs and practices of a criminal can not always
be reformed or changed by treatment. Moreover, people are well aware of
the fact that a considerable portion of criminals are unobserved by society
and they are known as "hidden criminals"in almost all societies. As a
consequence, they do not come under the purview of treatment procedures
and thus criminal behaviour already been exposed can not be controlled totally,
only by implementing treatment method. More and more emphasis should
be given on prevention of criminal tendencies rather than treatment of
criminals after commission of crimes. Preventive measures are more desirable
as compared to curative measures.
Any prevention programme of crime consists of two basic elements- positive
and negative as evolved both from theories of crime causation as well as
from experiences of experts in the field. It is generally believed that certain
conditions are conducive to crime and if they can be eliminated or modified
crime will be prevented. For example, economic insecurity, poor housing
facilities, broken home, familial indiscipline,due to lack of familial control,
marital maladjustment and the like are to be eliminated as they are
contributory factors of criminality. Thus, it is a negative approach as far as
preventive policies are concerned.
As far as the positive approach is concerned it is believed that there
are certain conditions which play a crucial role in the preventing criminal
activities in the society. According to this approach crime can be prevented
if some conditions are introduced in devising preventive measures. Thus, the
positive approach supports in laying down some programmes - employment,
recreational, educational and so on - that are conductive in removing criminal
tendency of individuals.
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Criminologists have suggested two methods of preventing crimes.

One method aims at reducing the amount of repeated crime, the other
at forestalling commission of first crimes. The term "crime prevention"
has been given to both methods, but it is becoming common practice
to consider the effort to prevent repeated crime as the method of
reformation and the effort to forestall first crimes as the method of
prevention. The overall prevention and control of crime in the society
depends in both the methods of reformation and the method of prevention.
A particular society, by creating congenial atmosphere, can try to eradicate
criminal tendencies from the minds of individuals. But some individuals
commit crimes in the society, even after healthy social atmosphere is
provided to them. In this regard to prevent repeated crimes, the method
of reformation is very relevent in attacking the problem of crime. In
this regard the relevance of two theoretical approach, that is, individu­
alistic approach and sociogenic approach can be discussed.
Individualistic theories in prevention follow the rehabilitation ide­
ology by attributing crime largely to emotional inbalance, and personality
faults. The influence of the sociocultural environment is recognized in
the attribution of such responses to faulty socialization and inferior
educational background, but focus of attention is an individual. The
prevention of criminal behaviour at its source is to be accomplished
through counseling, psychotherapy and educational invention. Among the
preventive services, the psychiatric clinic is a valuable resource in the
network of detection and therapeutic services. Psychiatric care comes
in the form of treatment by psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and
psychiatric social workers in clinics. Both males and females of all ages
have emotional problems requiring such care. The alleviation of frustration
may prevent crimes in the society. It is expected that both the individuals
and the community would be benefited by the altering of self-defeating
attitudes and perceptions, the reduction of energy toward more promising
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goals and the strengthening o f individual capacities. Individuals are

tangible targets for change as compared to the abstract forces postulated
by environmental explanations for crime.
According to Jeffery (1971), "crime cannot be controlled through
measures designed for the individual offender, but can be controlled only
through the manipulation of the environment where crime occurs." Broadly
speaking, environments is the aggregrate of circumstances that affect the
existence and development o f an individual or a group. The fact that the
influences emanate from sources external to the individual means that every
aspect of human activity is open for consideration as means o f preventing
crime. Fundamental to human life, the socio-cultural environment combines
the social environment o f persons who interact with one another as members
o f groups ahd the cultural environment which provides the normative
guidelines for those interactions. In considering the relationships between
environment and prevention, the community concept is a valuable summarising
term because it emphasizes the interdepences of geographic locale, cultural
heritage and socially patterned relationships in linking residents through
common interestsand shared experiences. Crime prevention has become one
of the activities devoted to increasing the relevance of the community as
a socio-cultural organization to contemporary human needs generally.
Sociogenic theories are particularly applicable to community-oriented
prevention because of their concern with the relative efficiency o f human
made organizations as socio-cultural screens between their members and
the natural environment from which the community draws its resources.
Self-role theories, for example, place the search for causes of crime in
the learning processes whereby personality and the socio-cultural organization
of the community are related. The concepts of socially structured strain and
differentiated sets of cultural norms suggest the importance o f studying
characteristics o f the community in undertaking prevention programme.
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o f the community complicates the prevention programmes. For example,

schools are expected to maintain the stability o f the social order by
transmitting a preferred culture, relatively unchanged but also to prepare
the rising generation for conditions not experienced by their parents.
Usually, education is controlled by the more conservative elements of
the community and therefore can be used as much to prevent change.
Necessarily, forces external to the school must support innovations
intended to make education a means for remedying poverty, defective
fam ily functioning, barriers to economic opportunity and other issues
related to crime. As a part o f acadeic education, social education focuses
on the problem s of living in organized groups, enhancing the capacity
to sustain constructive relationships w ith other persons and strenthening
awam ess o f the need to balance self-interest and responsibilities to others
family, work, neighbourhood and other groups. Formal courses may
be offered on personality development, social issues, economic affairs
and the etiquette o f interpersonal relations. Social education avoids the
indoctrination in preselected moral values to which such programmes
have been vulnerable. It may take in all institutional activities as
opportunities for learning new ways of relating to other persons and for testing
out what has been learned. Social education is a vital means for developing
the community participation that can be used in the prevention of crimes.

SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION THROUGH GENERAL PROGRAMMES

Policies for the prevention of crime are based, implicitly or explicity, cm theories
of causes of crime. Those who believe that crime is due acquired personal
defects advocate agencies for education or psychiatric clinics. Those who
believe that it is due to the immediate personal groups advocate reorganization
of the family and of the neighbourhood. Those who believe that is due to
the more general culture advocate a more general social reorganization.
Almost everything in the life is found to be associated in some direct or indirect
 350

manner with criminality. These multiple factors have not been reduced to a
clearcut system. No universals have been discovered; until they are dicovered,
programmes of punishment and programmes of treatment must operate on the
trial and error principle. No one can show in advance that crime will be
significantly reduced if a particular programmes of prevention is adopted. If
reliable information on which to base programmes of preventing were avilable,
the public could probably be educated and induced to carry out programmes
based on such information.
The closest approximation to a general formula for the prevention of crime
that can be made at present is that crime must defined as undesirable by the
personal groups. In this sense, control of crime lies within the local community.
This means that the local community must be the active agency in preventive
the criminal activities. Personal groups can be modified through the efforts of
local organizations such as school, the religious institution, the police, welfare
agencies and civic groups.
Local community programmes or neighbourhood councils:- Local community
programmes or neighbourhood councils, as most of these groups have been called
are becoming increasingly widespread and appear to have a sound theoretical
basis, both in accomplishing group redefinitions and situations and in giving the
individual a feeling of belonging in the larger social structure. This approach
stresses the neighbourhood as an important area of first-line action in combating
criminal behaviour, This is an attempt to deal with conditions in environment
which contribute to criminal activities. An impressive amount of evidence in
certain areas of social deviation indicates that often the neighbourhood rather
than the individual or family in the locus of the problem. It has been observed
that there are great variations in the rates for ordinary crime. Likewise, the amount
of sexual promiscuty and family maladjustment may vary with neighbourhood.
Local community programmes or neighbourhood council can check the increase
of criminal activities in the society, especially the female criminal activities.
 351

These are some areas of great diversity in social norms and values,
considerable spatial mobility and little stability of the population. People
migrate there from rural and urban areas and from other countries and cities.
In such a situation criminals may grow. Shared activities of the entire
neighbourhood can prevent the criminal activities. It is observed that the effort
to prevent crime should not be eoneetrated on specific programmes but on
broaden attack on a society's excessive mobility, impersonal relations,
individualism, materialism and norms conflict. However, the general attack
can be effective only if it is implemted by specific programmes.
Organized Public Education:- Public education may be considered as basic
to any programme dealing with certain types of criminal behaviour. In order
to findout ways o f preventing crime, a necessary first step is to provide the
public with more information about present problems of the society. Here
the term public education means education pertaining to the welfare of the
people and easily accessible to all. Since in a democratic society operation
of correctional and preventive measures rests ultimately on public support,
it is imperative that the public be adequately informed. This information may
be communicated not only through radio, television, the press, films, pamphlet
and books but also through discussion.
The public can be educated about the crime through those national, state
and local conferences and various legislative commission or committees which
have wide publicity. Generally people appear to need to be educated to realize
that human society rests fundamentally on the premise that laws are to be obeyed.
An active interest on public affairs is necessary. Crime may continue to spread
as people remain disinterested, lax and apafhetic.The citizens responsibility for
society's laws can be strengthened through their wider participation in
neighbourhood, community and welfare activities which will help the people to
understand social objectives and to refrain themselves from criminal activities.
Marrige and family education Extensive work can be done to dispense
scientific information about marital and family relations as a preventive
 352

measure of crime. The individual's conception of his/her role in marrige is

important in determing its relative success or failure. Husband and wife came
into marrige with a system of seif-other patterns which they have developed
in their earlier experience, notably in their parental families. They attempt
to carry over these roles into their married life and in the process may generate
family tensions. In many cases wife may perceive her husband as cold,
suspicious, and distant in short, as a role frustrating, rather than a role
fulfilling partner. If the husband fails to perceive in his wife the qualities
he has concepted, he, too, feels frustrated and marital tensions increase. Such
failure in turn generate aggression toward the marriage partner and
disorgassization in the family sets in. Disorganized family atmosphere is one
of the contributory factors in the causation of crime. Criminality is developed
in such a disorganized family atmoshere. To prevent development of
criminality in individuals in such a situation, national and local organizations
interested in family relationahips can render great service. The National
Council of Family Relation organized in 1938 in U.S.A. is best known
national private organization which has been working on that line. In our
country also such type of National Council of Family Relation or National
Institute of Family Relations and Improvement can be onganized to create
healthy atmosphere in the family with the ultimate objective o f preventing
development of criminal tendency in the individual member o f the family.
Association of marriage counseling can also be organized to help people to
reduce their marital maladjustment and thus to prevent criminal tendency from
growing in their mind. Initiative can also be taken to introduce courses in
family relationship in the institutions dealing with higher education to impart
knowledge regarding better family life without tensions. This will help in
the prevention of crime in society.
Social therapeutic clubs:- Clubs whose membership is composed of deviants
in the form of "social thrapeutic clubs" can be established to prevent
commission of crime in socety. Such organizations provide deviants with an
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opportunity to gain confidence in social situations throngh participating in

group activities with others who have similar problems. In this way such
group functions as stepping stones to permanent community reintegration. In
some cases this group can provide special group therapy session for devaints
and close relatives of devaints. These group sessions can be arranged for
about an hour or two, once or twice, in a week, consisting of minimum ten
people. The devaints often have a feeling of isolation, disgrace, hopelessness,
and guilt and the purpose of group therapy is to discuss such feelings and
to provide a more positive approach to the problem. Therapist take a passive
role, encouraging the relatives and the deviants to talk about their feelings
and at the same time allowing the other relatives and deviants to discover
the resemblances to their own feelings. As a group, relatives of deviants often
tiy to help one another and some times develop strong feeling of group
identification. Other therapists, however, can take a more active role,
explaining to principles of therapy to relatives and talking about the cure
to be given to the deviants.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PREVENTION THROUGH THE USE
OF IN STIT UTIONS:- With the slow but steady increase of the number
o f women prisoners in India as well as in Assam, it has become an immediate
concern of the social scientists to takeup the issue and give suggestions for
their proper reformation and rehabilitation. Analysing the different theories
o f punishment we find that the philosophy behind punishment has undergone
a tremendous change, that is, Retributive to Deterrent and Reformative. Today
the term prision no longer holds the concept of a dingy and depressing
confinement where an offender is left to gradually wither away and is totally
forgotten by the authorities. With the evaluation of various theories regarding
the causation o f crime, a change has come about in the attitude o f the society
towards the offender. The criminal is considered as a product of the society
who has become the victim of circumstances. Great emphasis is therefore
being laid on efforts to reform the offender's aberrant habits and behaviours
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and rehabilitate him/her back in the society. The first and most important
step in this regard was to introduce various activities and programmes inside
the prison, so that it would no longer remain the accursed dingyconfiment
but would be an institution where the inmates may undergo various types
of vocational and educational training to mould them for a better living.
A modem correctional institution offers a variety of programmes which
include individual or group therapy session, education, vocational training,
maintenance works, inmates service, recreational activities etc. Many reasons
are assigned to justify prison labour. It is held that such engagement not only
helps in maintaining discipline in prison but it also relieves the monotony
of a prison-term, reduces the operating costs, assists the inmates in earning
and helping their families and above all it teaches some trades to the inmates
which would be helpful in their ultimate rehabilitation. Information gathered
from certain research materials on women prisoners in India reveal that crafts
like tailoring, basket and mat weaving, embroidery, papad and pickle making,
masala grinding, carpet making, rope making, dying and printing, cane work,
spinning yam, candle and insane making, etc. are taught to the women
prisoners. These training will help the offenders in social and vocational
rehabilitataion. But such type of training for women prisoners are nowhere
near the desired level. It has been observed that vocational training
programmes for women prisoners are inadequate and may not help in their
rehabilitation. With the limited information available on women prisoners and
ther vocational training in India as well as Assam, it would be desirable to
prescribe the following meaningful humble suggestions for effectivey dealing
with prevention and control of female crimes:
(1) The introduction of vocational training for prisoners in jails has been
a tremendous help in developing a sense of responsibility which is a must
for rehebilitation in the truest sense o f the term. The importance of dignity
of labour has to be installed in minds of the prisoners by making use of
some effective scientific programming.
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What ever work programmes are available today in our country are
inadequate, outdated and unsuitable to the needs of the convicts because
of which they don't show much interest in their work. Keeping in view
our countries bad economic conditions we must effectively plan to
modernize the existing prison industries and also introduce some new
vocational programmes which would suit the interest of the woman
prisoners and demands of the contemporary society.
In the process of treatment in the prison the basis for assigning
a particular type of work to an inmate should take into account the skills,
intelligence, educational standard, socio economic background, the special
aptitude of the inmate and above all the period of custody on detention.
But this is not strictly adhered to while selecting the inmates for different
work programmes. It is necessary that all available facts that are relevant
and significant for the purpose of outlining an adequate work programme
for the inmate should be carefully gathered by a team of social scientists
attached to jail. This will help in the classifiction system which aims
at systematically studying the individual inmate and formulating an
individualised programme. Covering custodial care, medical care, vocational
training etc. that are best suited to her special needs and abilties.
(2) After an inmate is assigned with a specific work programme, steps should
be taken to harness her human factors; like awamess and proper perception
of the programme. The prison officials should provide approximate incentives
to motivate the inmates and thereby develop in them a sense of interest
and involvement.
(3) Since, the vocational training aims at proper reformation and
rehabilitation of the offenders adequate wages, better working conditions
and safety measures should be provided. Such provisions will create
interest and develop required confidence in the offenders. In fact, a
thorough restructuring is essential with functioning of prison industries.
 356

To start with at least women prison should be constructed in each state

or with alternative separate annexes outside the main wall of the central
prisons should be constructed.
(4) The women prisoners in India as well as in Asam as a whole, are
extremely worried about the problem of rehabilitation in their post release
period. The foremost thought which haunts their minds at all times is what
the future has in stock for them; how they are to settle down in society after
their release. To overcome this sort of psychological tension, steps should
be taken by the jail authorities much in advance o f the date of release of
a woman prisoner to establish contact with the ralatives/friends o f her
preference and plan out programme for their post-release settlement. In this
connection the assistance of the village panchyat/munieipality and voluntary
organizations of the area where an offenders is to be rehabiliated can be taken.
(5) Both work and education are essential for prisoners, not only during
incarceration but also in the prisoners rehabilitation after release. Women
prisoners, when brought to jails are found mostly illiterate and shy and belong
to lower castes or groups in society, when they are provided with food and
clothing etc., without working hard they become more and more idle and
ponder on the incidents related to their crime, children at home, worry over
the family affairs behind them. All these raise stress and strain on their mind,
their health gets badly affected and their lives get rotten day after day. In
order to avoid this, women should be kept busy in work, recreational and
artistic creative activities, in petty jobs, in learning reading and writing. Low
socio-economic status of women prisoners need socialization and emotional
mainstreaming to realize the circumstances in which they committed murders
or other heinous offences. Sound treatment and encouragement to enhance
their self-respect may help them equally effectively alongwith education and
skill training. Moral education lessons, transcedental meditation practices
under the guidance of trained teachers, yoga exercises and continous actvities
help them recondition their personality background. Their inner containment will
 357

be stronger which may help them to face the environmental containment better
than earlier. Although prison manuals make a reference to introducing three levels
of education in prison, that is, beginners, intermediate and advanced, very little
is being done seriously. Women need education to unlearn superstitious and
traditional beliefs and practices; they need information about health and personal
hygiene, social vices and danger areas to be avoided; training for self-employment
and alongwith effective intensive literacy training are also imperative. At present
in many prisons of Assam literacy classes are run occasionally and routinely which
hardly serve any purpose.
(6) Another aspect of education and literacy programme will be legal literacy
or legal education. Women offenders should be made aware of the existing laws
bearing on women's dignity and status and on their criminality; knowledge of social,
moral and economic malpractices, women prisoner's rights and duties, legal
mechanisms with judiciary, prison and outside, how to obtain legal aid in order
to save herself or their children or other women from the trap in which they will
likely to be involved in.
(7) As far as possible and feasible, women offenders need training which will
make them economically self-sufficient and capable of functioning independently
in society. Choice of skill taught will be related marketability and independent
earning potential. Some of the trades which have still relevance in Indian situation
are : Home science, Craft, nursing, handloom weaving (small handlooms are in
use almost in every rural family of Assam) which can be a source of livelihood
if well planned, hosiery articles, gardening, fruit preservation, assembling and
packing. In addition, socially useful knowledge such as use of bank, post office,
health centre, employment exchange, saving schemes and other services need to
be imparted to the women prisoners. If women are exposed to these aspects of
life outside the floor walls, they will be able develop self respect and confidence
to face life. Prison should assure both dignity and justice to the custodialized women.
Stress should be given in general and specific needs of inmates in the prison.
(8) In Indian prisons, classification of prisoners consisting of medical check-up,
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psychological and social investigation, vocational aptitude tests is not

extensively used. Classification o f prisoners is necessary not only to segregrate
different categories but also to chalk out the educational and training
programme for short termer and life termers. Classification may not perhaps
help for segregating women convicts due to shortage of spoace, but it would
certainly help alloting work or other programmes. Hence, classification system
should be introduced compulsorily in all prisons and custodial institutions.
(9) Vocational training is an important component of correctional treatment.
The ultimate aim of all institutional training programmes is the rehabilitation
o f an inmate back into society. It enables a prisoner to acquire sufficient
knowledge o f any systematized trade so that she can stand in her own feet
after release. It is often found that prison industries are so oriented that their
main emphasis is not on training but production. As a result, the training
aspect is neglected and this works as a handicap to the vocational resetlement
o f the inmate. As a matter of principle, there should be proper scientific
classification o f inmates in prison. It is necessary to draw up a suitable
vocational training programme of each prisoner in accordance with her
aptitude and interest. The classification system introduces in prisons and
custodial institutions should be used as a continuous programming and
monitoring device rather than as one time activity. Training in some crafts
as imparted at present in a number of institutions, has no relevance to the
outside demands and as such she has little chance of getting a job, leading
to frustration. Therefore, correctional institutions should establish liaison with
the Department of Technical Training and Vocational Guidance Institutes and
After Care Agencies. Such liaison would bring in improved efficiency in
institutional training projects and practical utility from the point of view o f
the the ultimate rehabilitation o f inmates.
(10) Side by side, it is also essential to provide cultural and recreational
activities in prison for the benefit of the mental and physical health o f female
prisoners. The effects of good recreational and cultural programmes may be
 3 5 9

a s c o n s t r u c t i v e a s t h e p r o d u c t s o f e d u c a t i o n a n d v o c a t i o n a l t r a i n i n g . A h e a l t h y

p r o g r a m m e h a s s o m e v a l u e i n c u r b i n g p r o b l e m o f c r i m e . I t r e f e r s t o p l a n n e d

l e i s u r e t i m e a c t iv i t y . T h e r e c r e a t i o n a l p r o g r a m m e m a y b e e f f e c t i v e d e v i c e i n

c u r b i n g o r r e d u c i n g t h e c r i m e r a t h e r i n p r e v e n t i n g o r e l i m i n a t i n g c r i m e .

C r i m e p r e v e n t i o n i s a v e r y d i f f i c u l t e n t e r p r i s e . T o m a k e t h e c r i m e c o n t r o l

a n d r e h a b i l i t a t i o n p r o g r a m m e s m o r e e f f e c t i v e , i t s h o u l d b e o r g a n i s e d a r o u n d

t h e c e n t r a l i d e a t h a t t h e e l e m e n t s o f c o m m u n i t y m u s t b e i n t h e f o r e f r o n t ,

i f c r i m e p r e v e n t i o n i s t o b e t h e u l t i m a t e r e s p o n s e t o c r i m e a n d d e l i n q u e n c y .

T h e s o c i o - p s y c h o l o g i c a l a n d n o r m a t i v e e l e m e n t s o f c o m m u n i t y a r e t h e c o r e

o f p r e v e n t i o n ; t h e s e r v i c e d e l i v e r y a n d s o c i o - e c o n o m i c o p p o r t u n i t y s t r u c t u r e

e l e m e n t s a r e t h e c r u x o f t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o n . P r e v e n t i o n i n v o l v e s t h e

s t r e n g t h e n i n g o f t h e c o m m u n i t y a s a n i n t e g r a t i n g f o r c e a n d t h e i n t e g r a t i o n

o f p r e v e n t i o n a c t i v i t i e s w i t h i n t h e n e t w o r k o f c o m m u n i t y i n s t i t u t i o n s .

C r i m e c a n b e c o n s i d e r e d a s a n i n e v i t a b l e s o c i a l f e a t u r e . T o p r e v e n t i t

o r c o n t r o l i t w e h a v e t o l o o k t o s o c i e t y i t s e l f . T h e c o n t r i b u t i n g f a c t o r s o f

c r i m e s a r e m o r e o r l e s s s a m e i n d i f f e r e n t s t a t e s o f I n d i a , a s h a s b e e n o b s e r v e d

b y m a n y c r i m i n o l o g i s t s . Y e t, s o m e s p e c i f i c f a c t o r s d o m i n a t e i n a p a r t i c u l a r

r e g i o n o r s t a t e i n t h e c a u s a t i o n o f c r i m e . S o , i n f o r m u l a t i n g t h e p r e v e n t i v e

p r o g r a m m e t h e l o c a l v a r i a t i o n s o f t h e d o m i n a n c e o f c e r t a i n f a c t o r s o f c r i m e

c a u s a t i o n s h o u l d b e t a k e n i n t o a c c o u n t .

T h e r e a r e o b v i o u s l y d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e t y p e o f s o c i o l o g i c a l o r

e n v i r o n m e n t a l f a c t o r f o r c r i m e i n d i f f e r e n t s t a t e s o f I n d i a . I t i s i m p o r t a n t

t o t a k e c o g n i z a n c e o f t h e s o c i o lo g y o f c r im e a n d t o v i e w a n d c o m p r e h e n d

c r i m in a l it y a g a i n s t i ts b r o a d e r s o c io lo g ic a l a n d s o c i e t a l c o n te x t. I n p r e s e n t s tu d y

i t h a s b e e n o b s e r v e d t h a t i n A s s a m t h e t y p i c a l f a c t o r s o f c r im e a r e e c o n o m ic

a n d s o c ia l a n d r e f e r m a i n l y t o a c u t e p o v e r ty , illite r a c y , u n e m p l o y m e n t , m a r i ta l

m a l a d j u s t m e n t , l o o s e n in g o f f a m ilia l a n d s o c ia l c o n tr o l o n in d iv id u a ls . T h e

r e d u c e d c u l t u r a l b i n d i n g s i s a l s o o n e o f t h e p r o m i n e n t f a c t o r s o f f e m a l e

c r i m e i n A s s a m . I n I n d i a , t h e r e a r e w i d e i n t e r - s t a t e d i s p a r i t i e s i n t h e o v e r a l l

s o c i o - e c o n o m i c p e r f o r m a n c e . T h i s s o c i o - e c o n o m i c p e r f o r m a n c e b e a r o n
 360

women's status, functioning and their sense of fulfilment or otherwise

would affect criminality among women. While the preceding factors tend
to complicate the preventive measures to be undertaken, there are
additional embiguities and uncertainties that clouds the programmes
dealing with prevention of female crime because women's status in and
their propensity for crime are relatively new areas of scholastic concern.
In Assam women's participation in crime has to be reviewed and
assessed against a host of imponderable bearing on their intrinsic status
in society and the extent of their socio-economic exclusion or integration.
So much of social behaviour is in any case deeply interwoven with socio­
cultural and ethnic socialization and the opportunity/incentive to commit
crime offered by an environment.
Keeping the preceding considerations in mind and taking into
account aggregrate socio-economic and cultural setting in Assam, the
following suggestions can be put forth for the prevention of crime:
(1) It has been found in the present study that in Assam emotionally
broken family is one of the dominant factors of causation of female
crime. Family disorganization has affected the behaviour pattern of many
individuals very badly. The control exercised by the family over the
individuals previously, is now reducing. In urban areas, the members of
a family may be seen pursuing their individual paths. With the loosening
of control of family on individual members no more restrictions remain
on the criminality of women. Now, that in many cases the natural
relations between husband and wife, parents and children are devoid of
love, many members are prone to criminal activities. Even in the villages
women do not respect their elders and they want to lead a carefree,
unrestricted, individual life. Due to these, sex crimes are increasing. One
major cause of adultery, abortion, miscarriage, prostitution is the
undesirable domestic conditions.
To prevent the females from becoming a criminal the undesirable
 361

domestic conditions can be rectified by strengthening the economic base

of the family. Arrangement can be made to revive the strong control of
family over its members by imparting education and other civic training
and by stmgthening the community health, education and welfare facilities,
which are to interact with local family unit. In either case, the change
must be made in the environment in which the individual family exists,
because criminal behaviour is the product of the environment in which
it occurs.
(2) In Assam, one of the prominent causes of female crime is the loosening
of socio-cultural bindings. It may not be possible to established this fact
with authentic data, but it can easily be observed that in Assam social
control over female has been reduced to a large extent. Today, many
females are less submissive to their elders, husbands etc. They are striving
for equal footing in every sphere of social life. Previously, the village
panchayats in the villages kept control over the behaviour and conduct
of the members. People had a strong negative feeling against the criminals.
It was very difficult to conceal crime in the village and when any crime
was committed the village panchayats adopted punitive measures. There
was a system of exterminating the guilty persons from the community.
This tended to prevent and check crime effectively. Today such organizations
no longer exist. They have been deprived of all their authority. Further, better
facilities of transport being available, the criminal can commit the crime
and abscond from villages to the town or to the village from the town.
In urban areas no one care about institutionalised social control. An
individual may commit crime and conceal his/her identity in the city
mobe.In this way disappearanceof social control on individuals especially
on females has contributed in the development of criminality amongst
females in Assam.
To revitalise the social control on individuals the agents of social
control should be revived and it should be empowered to exercise control
 362

over the behaviour of the individuals in social life. People should be

encouraged to develop strong negative attitude towards female crime and
crime as a whole. People should be taught to be law abiding citizens.
Social reproach and social sanctions can be exercised as punitive
measures, if some one commits crime. This will improve situation of the
society where criminal tendency breeds and grow. Some community
organizations should be empowered by the state authority to exercise first
hand control(where no legal penalisation is involved) over the behaviour
of the individuals as the preventive measure of crime.
(3) It has been found that poor economic condition is one of the
contributory factors of female crime in Assam. In many cases females belong
to proverty striken family adopt illigitimate ways of earning money and
engage themselves in different types of criminal activities. As a preventive
measure self employment scheme should be introduced for females in a large
scale. The women welfare organizations should come forward to help the
distressed females, so that they can live a normal social life. It should keep
strict vigil on the welfare schemes initiated by the Govemoment, so that
extremly needy person can be benefitted by such schemes. There should
be a network of women welfare organization so that it can include females
from lower to higher strata. The sense of belongingness and practice of
sharing of grievances exercised by these women welfare organizations will
prevent criminality to grow in the minds of females to great extent.
(4) Illiteracy amongst female is also one of the prominent factors of female
crime in Assam, as has been observed in the present study. To improve
the condition and quality of life of female, adult education programme
should be implemented in a fruitful manner. Continuing education pro­
gramme should be initiated to make females able to acquaint with the new
trends of development and change in the society. This will help them to
develop civic qualities and to adjust with the new socio-economic and
cultural settings. Arrangement can be made to impart ethical and value
 363

education to make them able to realise their motherhood role in the society
and thus to check their inclination towards criminal activities.
(5) In the present study it has been found that marital maladjustment and
the consequent disruption o f family manifest a crisis of deviation from
expectations. Many women were subjected to the heaviest strain in the
family and experienced the most intense emotional conflicts which
ultimately led them to the committing of crimes. The age old traditional
role to be played by females has been altered. Today, many wifes have
no proper respect for their hasbands. Many couples are lacking emotional
tie as husband and wife. Though this cannot be established with sufficient
reliable data it can be observed as usual future in Assam in present day
situation. Declining respect for husbands, widespread illicit sexual life
both before and after marriage, the high incidence o f forced marriage,
the customary practice of pick up marriage have increased the frequency
o f unhappy conjugal relations which contribute in the development o f the
criminality in the individuals.
To improve this situation marital and family guidance clinic will have
to call into play and correlate the expert and social case workers,
clergymen, teachers, community health and recreation workers to participate,
under professional guidance. These clinics ought not only to deal with marriage
and family difficulties as they arise, but more important to anticipate and try
to prevent such problem from arising by conscious educational campaign in
schools, churches, factories and clubs.
(6) Unemployment, much like proverty is a major contributory factor of
female crime in Assam. Many women commit crime, like prostitution when
they are frustrated by extreme proverty and continued unemployment.
Many girls from rural areas are deceived with promises of employment
and brought to town where they are forced to adopt prostitution and involve
them in immoral sex trafficking. Though this can not be established with
sufficient reliable data, yet from general observation it has been found that
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in Assam most prospering centres of prostitution are cities which at the same
time, foster crimes, such as murder, robbery, theft, cheating etc.
In this regard as a preventive measure, community development projects
initiated by government should be utilised fruitfully. Self-help programme
should be introduced in an extensive manner as the poverty alleviation
programme. Self employment scheme should be introduced by organising
vocational training programme for the women folk. The community welfare
organisations can play a leading role in the social rehabilitation of the
criminals as well as would-be criminals.
Apart from preventive measures experts have laid emphasis in the
reformative measures. But the preventive measures has got advantages over
reformative approach. Prevention is prior to reform and reformation of
anything is somewhat uncertain.
To conclude, it can be said that preventive devices as well as reformative
devices are closely related to the theories of crime causation. In present study
it has been found that the family plays a crucial role in the development
of criminal tendency. Lack of smooth and healthy familial relationship begets
stress and strain on individual member and thus generate criminal propensities.
Naturally family should be the focal point in devising preventive as well as
reformative measures o f criminality. One more point is to be considered that
the incidences of criminal activities are increasing, so one should not lay
for weight either on preventive measures or on reformative measures. Hence,
preventive measures should go hand in hand with reformative measures.

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