CONCEPT OF CRIME

Introduction: It is a myth to think of crime less society. In fact, there can be no

society without the problem of crime and criminals. The concept of crime is
essentially concerned with the social order. It is well known that man's interests are
best protected as a member of the community. Everyone owes 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 concept of mutual respect develops a sense of law
abiding citizen in the society and where there is law, there is crime.

Crime has been a serious problem since time immemorial.

What is Crime ?

The word Crime has been derived from latin word "Crimen" meaning accusation or
fault. Thus, a Crime is an act in violation of a Criminal law for which a punishment is
prescribed.

A precise definition of ‘crime’ is by no means an easy task. Generally speaking,

almost all societies have certain norms, beliefs, customs, and traditions, which are
implicitly accepted by its members as conductive to their well being and healthy
development. Infringement of these cherished norms and customs is condemned as
anti-social behaviour.

Definitions of Crime :

Thus, many scholars have defined ‘crime’ as an anti-social, immoral or sinful

behaviour. Therefore, there are some scholars who have expressed their opinions
with reference to the definition of the ‘Crime’, it is as followed:-

Paul W. Tapper has defined crime as " an intentional act or omission in violation of
criminal law, committed without defence or justification and sanctioned by law as
felony or misdemeanor"

Cross & Jones define crime as a legal wrong the remedy for which is punishment of
the offender at the instance of the State.

John Gillin defines Crime as an act that has been shown to be actually harmful to
the society or that is believed to be socially harmful by a group of people that has
power to enforce its beliefs and that places such act upon the ban of positive
penalties. Thus he considers crime as an offence against the law of the land.
In the words of Donald Taft, " Crime is a social injury and an expression of
subjective opinion varying in time and place. "

Halsbury defines Crime as an unlawful act which is an offence against the public
and the perpetrator of that act is liable to legal punishment.

Every criminal behavior must respond to the followings tests in order to be

recognized as crime :
● There should be an external act ( actus)
● It should be done with some criminal intent (mens rea )
● It should be a prohibited conduct under the existing law
● It should carry with it some kind of punishment.
The problem of Crime control essentially involves the need

Early Concept of crime: Historically, the concept of crime seemed to have always
been changing with the variations in social conditions during the evolutionary stages
of human society.

Primitive societies did not recognize any distinction between the law of crime and
torts but only it recognizes the law of wrongs. The wrongdoer was supposed to offer
compensation to the person wronged and the quantum of which depended on the
extent of the wrong causes and the status of the sufferer. The payment of
compensation was known as BOT.

According to Dharamshastra, " Ordeals was a living institution In India. Ordeals

were treated as s divine means of proving about the guilt or innocence of the
accused.

Therefore, ordeals were a divine institutes a deep rooted custom practised by the
people in Ancient India. There were five kinds of Ordeals namely:

● Balance
● Fire
● Water
● Poison
● Kosa

Balance : In the Balance ordeal, the accused was weighed against a stone and if
the latter was lighter, the charge was considered to be false, but if it was otherwise,
the charge stood proved.

Fire: The fire ordeal consisted of four main forms namely

 ● Going through nine circles with red hot iron ball in hand
● Walking over burning fire
● Lifting up a piece of iron from boiling oil
● Licking the red hot iron bar with tongue

Water: In water ordeal, the accused was brought to a deep and rapidly flowing river
or a deep well full of water. Then he was to speak to the water. Then five men took
the accused and three him into the water. If he was not guilty, he would not drown or
die.

Poison: The poison ordeal was also used as s method of investigation. The accused
was made to eat the poison or take out a living black serpent from a pot. If he
survived harmless, he was supposed to be innocent otherwise he would be deemed
guilty .

Kosa: The kosa form of ordeal was the mildest ordeal meant for universal
application. The accused was taken to a temple. Then the priest poured water over
the idol and this holy water was given to the accused for drinking. If he was guilty or
false, he would at once vomit blood.

With the change of time, the changed in Civilization, culture and advancement of
scientific knowledge brought a change in the concept of crime

18th and 19th Century: The earlier concept of Crime which was entirely based on
superstitions and myths was abandoned and the study of crime and criminals was
started on scientific basis.

With the changes in the concept of crime, some existing crimes become obsolete i.e
outdated and therefore, they are deleted through adequate changes in the criminal
law. A few illustrations from the Indian society will support this contention. The
legislative measures to legalize abortion in certain cases sufficiently reflect the
changing concept if morality in Indian society. More recently the stringent Anti Dowry
Laws enacted to prevent the incidence of Dowry Deaths and bride burning and
deterrent legislations against the evil practice of " Sati " providing for death sentence
and fine to those who abet this evil practice in any form clearly indicate that the
society is no longer going to tolerate atrocities against women.

20th Century : There has been a considerable increase in crime rate in recent
decades. It has been seen that the incidence of Crime in western countries is far
greater than that of India. The reason is change of variance of social conditions in
these countries. The factors such as greater control of family over the wards and
respect for morality and religion have acted as effective restraint to reduce the
incidents of crime in India.

Other factors that enhance crime rate can be attributed to Modernization,

Urbanization, Industrialization , Advancement of science and technology etc.

21st century has given rise to cyber crimes. Cyber Crimes are harmful Acts
committed for or against a Computer or against information on Computer Network. It
covers a wide range of illegal activities which includes Frauds, Hackers, Virus,
Pornography, Harassment etc.