Concepts of Crime, Law, and Criminology

WHAT IS CRIMINOLOGY?
Criminology is the scientific approach to studying criminal behavior. In their classic definition,
preeminent criminologists Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey state:

Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It

includes within its scope the processes of making laws, of breaking laws, and of reacting
toward the breaking of laws. The objective of criminology is the development of a body
of general and verified principles and of other types of knowledge regarding this process
of law, crime, and treatment.
Sutherland and Cressey’s definition include some of the most important areas of interest to
criminologists:
• ■ Crime as a social phenomenon
• ■ The processes of making laws.
• ■ Breaking laws and reacting toward the breaking of laws.
• ■ Development of a body of general and verified principles.

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Although the terms criminology and criminal justice may seem similar, and people often confuse
the two or lump them together, there are major differences between these fields of study.
Criminology explains the etiology (origin), extent, and nature of crime in society, whereas
criminal justice refers to the study of the agencies of social control—police, courts, and
corrections. While criminologists are mainly concerned with identifying the suspected cause of
crime, criminal justice scholars spend their time identifying effective methods of crime control.

Criminology and Deviance: A significant distinctions can be made between these

two areas of study because many crimes are not unusual or deviant, and many deviant acts are
neither illegal nor criminal. Many deviant acts are not criminal even though they may be both
disturbing and shocking to the conscience.

CONCEPT SUMMARY

Criminology: Criminal Justice and Deviance

Criminology
Criminology explores the etiology (origin), extent, and nature of crime in society. Criminologists
are concerned with identifying the nature, extent, and cause of crime.
Criminal Justice
Criminal justice refers to the agencies of social control that handle criminal offenders. Criminal
justice scholars engage in describing, analyzing, and explaining operations of the agencies of
justice, specifically the police departments, courts, and correctional facilities. They seek more
effective methods of crime control and offender rehabilitation.
Overlapping Areas of Concern
Criminal justice experts cannot begin to design effective programs of crime prevention or
rehabilitation without understanding the nature and cause of crime. They require accurate
criminal statistics and data to test the effectiveness of crime control and prevention programs.
Deviance
Deviance refers to the study of behavior that departs from social norms. Included within the
broad spectrum of deviant acts are behaviors ranging from violent crimes to joining a
nudist colony. Not all crimes are deviant or unusual acts, and not all deviant acts are illegal.

Concept Of Deviances
Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms, and is usually of sufficient severity to
warrant disapproval from the majority of society. Deviance can be criminal or non‐criminal. The
sociological discipline that deals with crime (behavior that violates laws) is criminology (also
known as criminal justice).

Theories Of Deviances:
1. Differential-Association theory
2. Anomie theory
3. Control theory
4. Labeling theory
(these theories are discussed in the later part of the
notes….)
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRIME AND DEVIANCE

Criminal Behavior Systems and Crime Typologies

Criminologists who study criminal behavior systems and crime typologies focus their research
on specific criminal types and patterns: violent crime, theft crime, public order crime, and
organized crime. Numerous attempts have been made to describe and understand particular
crime types. Marvin Wolfgang’s famous 1958 study, Patterns in Criminal Homicide considered
a landmark analysis of the nature of homicide and the relationship between victim and
offender— found that victims often precipitate the incident that results in their death. Edwin
Sutherland’s analysis of business-related offenses helped coin a new phrase—white-collar
crime—to describe economic crime activities. Criminologists also conduct research on the links
between different types of crime and criminals. This is known as a crime typology.

Among the findings:

• Mental illness is not a critical factor in explaining terrorist behavior. Also, most terrorists
are not “psychopaths.”
• There is no “terrorist personality,” nor is there any accurate profile—psychologically or
otherwise—of the terrorist.
 • Histories of childhood abuse and trauma and themes of perceived injustice and
humiliation often are prominent in terrorist biographies, but do not really help to explain
terrorism.

Research on criminal behavior systems and crime types is important because it enables
criminologists to understand why people commit specific sorts of crime, and using this
information, gives them the tools to devise crime reduction strategies.

Victimology: Victims and Victimization

In two classic criminological studies, one by Hans von Hentig and the other by Stephen Schafer,
the critical role of the victim in the criminal process was first identified. These authors were the
first to suggest that victim behavior is often a key determinant of crime and that victims’ actions
may actually precipitate crime.
For those studying the role of the victim in crime, these areas are of particular interest:
• Using victim surveys to measure the nature and extent of criminal behavior not reported
to the police
• Calculating the actual costs of crime to victims
• Measuring the factors that increase the likelihood of becoming a crime victim
• Studying the role of the victim in causing or precipitating crime
• Designing services for the victims of crime, such as counseling and compensation
programs

HOW CRIMINOLOGISTS VIEW CRIME

Professional criminologists usually align themselves with one of several schools of thought or
perspectives in their field. Each perspective maintains its own view of what constitutes criminal
behavior and what causes people to engage in criminality.

The Consensus View of Crime

According to the consensus view, crimes are behaviors believed to be repugnant to all elements
of society. The substantive criminal law, which is the written code that defines crimes and their
punishments, reflects the values, beliefs, and opinions of society’s mainstream. The term
consensus is used because it implies that there is general agreement among a majority of citizens
on what behaviors should be outlawed by the criminal law and henceforth viewed as crimes.
This approach to crime implies that it is a function of the beliefs, morality, and rules
established by the existing legal power structure. According to Sutherland and Cressey’s
statement, criminal law is applied “uniformly to all members of the classes to which the rules
refer.” This statement reveals the authors’ faith in the concept of an “ideal legal system” that
deals adequately with all classes and types of people. Laws prohibiting theft and violence may be
directed at the neediest members of society, whereas laws that sanction economic acts such as
insider trading, embezzlement, and corporate price-fixing are aimed at controlling the wealthiest.
The reach of the criminal law is not restricted to any single element of society.

The Conflict View of Crime

The conflict view depicts society as a collection of diverse groups—business owners, workers,
professionals, students— who are in constant and continuing conflict. Groups able to assert their
political power use the law and the criminal justice system to advance their economic and social
position. Crime, according to this definition, is a political concept designed to protect the power
and position of the upper classes at the expense of the poor.
According to this conflict view of crime, “real” crimes would include the following acts:
• Violations of human rights due to racism, sexism, and imperialism
• Unsafe working conditions
• Inadequate child care
• Inadequate opportunities for employment and education
• Substandard housing and medical care
• Crimes of economic and political domination
• Pollution of the environment
• Price-fixing
• Police brutality
• Assassinations and war-making
• Violations of human dignity
• Denial of physical needs and necessities, and impediments to self-determination
• Deprivation of adequate food
• Blocked opportunities to participate in political decision making

The Interactionist View of Crime

According to this perspective, there is no objective reality. People, institutions, and events are
viewed subjectively and labeled either good or evil according to the interpretation of the
evaluator.
The same interactions help define crime:
• The content of the criminal law and consequently the definition of crime often depend on
human interaction and perceptions. Alcohol is legal, marijuana is not. It could easily be
the other way around. Gay marriage is legal in some jurisdictions, illegal in others.

According to the interactionist view, the definition of crime reflects the preferences and opinions
of people who hold social power in a particular legal jurisdiction. These moral entrepreneurs
wage campaigns (moral crusades) to control behaviors they view as immoral and wrong (e.g.,
abortion) or, conversely, to legalize behaviors they consider harmless social eccentricities (e.g.,
carrying a handgun for self-protection; smoking pot). Laws against pornography, prostitution,
and drugs are believed to be motivated more by moral crusades than by economic values.
Defining Crime
It is possible to take elements from each school of thought to formulate an integrated definition
of crime, such as this one:
Crime is a violation of societal rules of behavior as interpreted and expressed by a
criminal legal code created by people holding social and political power. Individuals who
violate these rules are subject to sanctions by state authority, social stigma, and loss of
status.

CONCEPT SUMMARY
The Definition of Crime
The definition of crime affects how criminologists view the cause and control of illegal behavior
and shapes their research orientation.

Conflict View
■ The law is a tool of the ruling class.
■ Crime is a politically defined concept.
■ “Real crimes” are not outlawed.
■ The law is used to control the underclass.

Consensus View
■ The law defines crime.
■ The law reflects public opinion.
■ Agreement exists on outlawed behavior.
■ Laws apply to all citizens equally.

Interactionist View
■ Moral entrepreneurs define crime.
■ Crimes are illegal because society defines them that way.
■ The definition of crime evolves according to the moral standards of those in power.

CRIME AS SOCIAL PROBLEM

Crime is a violation of criminal law for which formal penalties are applied by some
governmental authority. It represents some type of deviation from formal social norms
administered by the state. Crimes are divided by law into various categories, depending on the
severity of the offence, the age of the offender, the potential punishment that can be levied, and
the court that holds jurisdiction over the case. There is no society in any part of the world, which
is without crimes.
One of the serious problems of today‘s crimes is that in many cases the criminals are socially,
politically and economically so powerful that they decide the course of punishment for others
while they themselves manage to get escaped completely.

CAUSES OF CRIME

There are many causes of the crime. Few of the many causes may be discussed as under:

1. Poverty
2. Education System
3. Unemployment
4. Political Setup
5. Change in Values

CRIME AND THE LAW

A Brief History of the Law
The concept of criminal law has been recognized for more than 3,000 years. Hammurabi (1792–
1750 BCE), the sixth king of Babylon, created the most famous set of written laws of the ancient
world, known today as the Code of Hammurabi. Preserved on basalt rock columns, the code
established a system of crime and punishment based on physical retaliation (“an eye for an eye”).
The severity of punishment depended on class standing: if convicted of an unprovoked assault, a
slave would be killed, whereas a freeman might lose a limb.

More familiar is the Mosaic Code of the Israelites (1200 BCE). According to tradition, God
entered into a covenant or contract with the tribes of Israel in which they agreed to obey his law
as presented to them by Moses, in return for God’s special care and protection.

Though ancient formal legal codes were lost during the Dark Ages, early German and Anglo-
Saxon societies developed legal systems featuring monetary compensation for criminal
violations.

Common Law
After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, royal judges began to travel throughout the land,
holding court in each shire several times a year. When court was in session, the royal
administrator, or judge, would summon a number of citizens who would, on their oath, tell of the
crimes and serious breaches of the peace that had occurred since the judge’s last visit. The royal
judge would then decide what to do in each case, using local custom and rules of conduct as his
guide.

The present English system of law came into existence during the reign of Henry II (1154–1189),
when royal judges began to publish their decisions in local cases. If a new rule was successfully
applied in a number of different cases, it would become a precedent. These precedents would
then be commonly applied in all similar cases—hence the term common law. English common
law evolved constantly to fi t specific incidents that the judges encountered. For example, in the
Carriers case (1473), an English court ruled that a merchant who had been hired to transport
merchandise was guilty of larceny (theft) if he kept the goods for his own purposes.

The Law in Contemporary Society

In contemporary U.S. society, the law governs almost all phases of human enterprise, including
commerce, family life, property transfer, and the regulation of interpersonal conflict. It contains
elements that control personal relationships between individuals and public relationships
between individuals and the government. The former is known as civil law, and the latter is
called criminal law. The law then can generally be divided into four broad categories:

• Substantive criminal law: The branch of the law that defines crimes and their
punishment is known as substantive criminal law.
• Procedural criminal law: Those laws that set out the basic rules of practice in the
criminal justice system are procedural criminal laws. Some elements of the law of
criminal procedure are the rules of evidence, the law of arrest, the law of search and
seizure, questions of appeal, jury selection, and the right to counsel.
• Civil law: The set of rules governing relations between private parties, including both
individuals and organizations (such as business enterprises or corporations), is known as
civil law. Contained within the civil law is tort law.
• Public or administrative law: The branch of law that deals with the government and its
relationships with individuals or other governments is known as public law.

The four categories of the law can be interrelated. A crime victim may file a tort action against a
criminal defendant and sue for damages in a civil court. Under tort law, a crime victim may sue
even if the defendant is found not guilty because the evidentiary standard in a civil action is less
than is needed for a criminal conviction (preponderance of the evidence versus beyond a
reasonable doubt).

Shaping the Criminal Law

• Statutes
• The content of the law may also be shaped by judicial decision making.

The Substantive Criminal Law

The substantive criminal law defines crime and punishment. Each state and the federal
government has its own substantive criminal code. Criminal laws are divided into felonies and
misdemeanors. The distinction is based on seriousness: a felony is a serious offense; a
misdemeanor is a minor or petty crime. Crimes such as murder, rape, and burglary are felonies;
they are punished with long prison sentences or even death. Crimes such as unarmed assault and
battery, petty larceny, and disturbing the peace are misdemeanors; they are punished with a fi ne
or a period of incarceration in a county jail.

By outlawing these behaviors, the government expects to achieve a number of social goals:

• Enforcing social control.

• Discouraging revenge.
• Expressing public opinion and morality.
• Deterring criminal behavior
• Punishing wrongdoing.
• Maintaining social order.
• Providing restoration

Types of Criminals

1. OCCASIONAL CRIMINALS:
The occasional criminal only performs the act if the opportunity occurs in his/her routine
of daily life. For example someone is walking by a car & it happens to be unlocked & the person
notices they might take their car stereo, etc. Those whose criminal acts were due to external
circumstances and who were driven to commit crimes because of a special passion.
o Most crime committed by amateurs whose acts are unskilled, and unplanned
o Occasional crime occurs when there is a situational inducement
o Frequency of occasional crime varies according to age, class race, and gender
o Occasional criminals have little group support for the crimes
2. HABITUAL CRIMINALS:
Individuals who regard the systematic violation of the law in the light of an ordinary
trade. Include those convicted of theft, fraud, arson, forgery and blackmail. A habitual
offender, repeat offender, or career criminal is a person convicted of a new crime who
was previously convicted of crimes. Various state and jurisdictions may
have laws targeting habitual offenders, and specifically providing for enhanced or
exemplary punishments or other sanctions. They are designed to counter
criminal recidivism by physical incapacitation via imprisonment.
3. PROFESSIONAL CRIMINALS:
Professional criminals differ from ordinary or conventional criminals. The difference
may be discussed at several levels:
(1) Professional criminals are skilled in their criminal activity but not the conventional
criminals.
(2) Professional criminals depend on crime as a main source of earning their livelihood
but not the ordinary criminals.
(3) Professional criminals are habitual criminals but not ordinary criminals.
(4) Professional criminals not only regard themselves as criminals but are also known to
others as criminals, while many ordinary criminals think that they are not criminals but
 are the victims of circumstances. Others also may or may not regard them as criminals.
(5) Professional criminals get status and recognition only in the underworld while the
ordinary criminals have status in the conventional world too.
(6) Professional criminals avoid other types of criminals and associate primarily with one
another but ordinary criminals associate with other criminals too.
(7) Professional criminals have their own philosophy of life but this is not true of
ordinary criminals.
(8) Professional criminals tend to come from better economic backgrounds than do
ordinary criminals.
(9) Professional criminals begin their career in crime at a relatively late age as compared
to ordinary criminals.
(10) Professional criminals tend to continue in crime for most part of their lives but not
ordinary criminals.

4. WHITE COLLAR CRIME:

• White-collar crimes are crimes committed by people of high social status who commit
their crimes in the context of their occupation.
• This includes embezzling (stealing money from one's employer), insider trading, tax
evasion, and other violations of income tax laws.
• Generally generate less concern in the public mind than other types of crime, however, in
terms of total dollars, white-collar crimes are even more consequential for society.
• Nonetheless, these crimes are generally the least investigated and least prosecuted
because they are protected by a combination of privileges of race, class, and gender.
• For example, the Great Recession can be understood as in part the result of a variety of
white-collar crimes committed within the home mortgage industry.
• In Pakistan after the promulgation of National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, different
mega scams and public fraud are emerged. Such illegal and poor decision making and
failure on the part of public institutions can be seen and traced in the scandals like the
National Insurance Corporation Limited (NICL) scam, the Rental Power Projects (RPPs),
Independent Power Producers (IPPs), Forex scam, Double Shah scam, Land and Property
scams some time on behest of political elite and political patronizes, Modarba Scams, etc.
• Types of White Collar Crimes
a) Food and Drug Adulteration:- Mixing Of inferior or harmful thing to any substance.
b) Computer Fraud:- Fraud involving hacking or stealing information.
c) Extortion:- obtaining someone's property by actual or threatened force.
d) Insider trading:- Use of confidential or advancv information to trade in Public shares.
e) Money-Laundering•.- concealment Of origin Of illegally obtained money.
f) Tax Fraud:- Evading tax by providing wrong information.

5. ORGANISED CRIME:
• Organized crime is committed by structured groups typically involving the distribution
and sale of illegal goods and services.
• Many people think of the Mafia when they think of organized crime but the term can
refer to any group that exercises control over large illegal enterprises (such as the drug
trade, illegal gambling, prostitution, weapons smuggling, or money laundering).
 • A key sociological concept in the study or organized crime is that these industries are
organized along the same lines as legitimate businesses and take on a corporate form.
• Organised crime includes drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, black
marketeering, political violence, terrorism, abduction, etc.
• Pakistan falls under the Golden Crescent, which is one of the two major illicit opium
producing centres in Asia.

Types of Organized crime

• Gang Criminality: This type of criminality includes kidnapping, extortion, robbery,
vehicle theft, etc. on a large scale.
• Gangs are composed of tough and hardened criminals who do not hesitate to kill, assault,
or use violence.
• They are equipped with modern pistols, bullet-proof vests, cars, etc. The gang criminals
are efficient, disciplined but dangerous.

• Racketeering: This is an activity of an organized criminal gang engaged in extortion of

money from both legitimate and illegitimate business through intimidation of force.
• It also involves dishonest way of getting money by deceiving or cheating people, selling
worthless goods and articles, adulterated commodities, spurious drugs and so forth.
• The racketeers, unlike organized criminal gangs do not take away all the profits but allow
the owners of the illegitimate business to continue their operations like prostitution,
gambling, liquor trafficking, drug peddling, etc., but give them (racketeers) regular fixed
money.

• Syndicate Crime: This is furnishing illegal goods and services by an organized criminal
gang, often called 'mafia'.
• The illegal goods could be drugs, liquor, etc. while the illegal services could be call-girls,
gambling and so forth.
• The syndicates create their own 'business' procedures, usually operating from established
headquarters.
• They avoid using violence which differentiates them from organized criminal gangs, who
frequently use violence or threat of violence.

6. Corporate crime
• In criminology corporate crime refers to crimes committed either by a corporation (i.e., a
business entity having a separate legal personality from the natural persons that manage
its activities), or by individuals acting on behalf of a corporation or other business entity.
• The Australian criminologist John Braithwaite defined corporate crime as "the conduct of
a corporation or employees acting on behalf of a corporation, which is proscribed and
punishable by law.
• Hundreds of companies routinely commit crimes that injure the public much more than
street crimes in many ways: economically, socially, physically and environmentally.
Types of corporate crimes
Violence against workers: 6 million workers injured on the job in the US and 10,000 people die
in the workplace from injuries and 10,000 from long term effects of occupational diseases.

Violence against consumers: thousands of unsafe products injure or kill consumers every year.
100,000 people are permanently disabled each year and 30,000 die.

Corporate pollution: The general public also experiences violence in the form of pollution and
other green crimes. There are many different green crimes but they are all committed for the sake
of profit and they all harm the environment.

Economic Corporate Crime:

Price fixing: tacit price fixing occurs when a limited number of controlling companies in a
particular market follow the lead of their competitors in price increases. Setting the price at the
pre determined rate, dividing the market into the region, using illegal means in getting contracts.

False advertising: when companies use false advertisements to entice consumers to buy
products or services that offer few, if any, of the publicized benefits. It does not violate criminal
or civil laws, but it is designed to mislead consumers.

7. Hate Crime
• Hate crimes are crimes against persons or property that are committed while invoking
prejudices of race, gender or gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or
ethnicity.
• In 2016, the election of Donald Trump was followed by an increased in hate crime.
• Same in the case of India, MODI's Hinduism campaign in both election has witness
uphill in the hate crime an hate speeches.

ETHICAL ISSUES IN CRIMINOLOGY

By accepting their roles as experts on law-violating behavior, criminologists place themselves in
a position of power; the potential consequences of their actions are enormous. Therefore, they
must be aware of the ethics of their profession and be prepared to defend their work in the light
of public scrutiny. Major ethical issues include these:
• What to study?
• Whom to study?
• How to study?
What to Study?
when criminologists maintain discretion of choice, the direction of their efforts may not be truly
objective. The objectivity of research may be questioned if studies are funded by organizations
that have a vested interest in the outcome of the research. For example, a study on the
effectiveness of the defensive use of handguns to stop crime may be tainted if the funding for the
project comes from a gun manufacturer whose sales may be affected by the research findings.
Efforts to show that private prisons are more effective than state correctional facilities might be
tainted if the researchers received a research grant from a corporation that maintains private
prisons.

Whom to Study?
A second major ethical issue in criminology concerns who will be the subject of inquiries and
study. Too often, criminologists focus their attention on the poor and minorities while ignoring
the middle-class criminal who may be committing white-collar crime, organized crime, or
government crime. Critics have charged that by “unmasking” the poor and desperate,
criminologists have justified any harsh measures taken against them.

How to Study?
Criminologists must take extreme care when they select subjects for their research studies to
ensure that they are selected in an unbiased and random manner.

When criminological research efforts involve experimentation and treatment, care must be taken
to protect those subjects who have been chosen for experimental and control groups. For
example, it may be unethical to provide a special treatment program for one group while
depriving others of the same opportunity.
 RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RATIONAL CHOICE:
During the early Middle Ages (1200–1400), superstition and fear of satanic possession
dominated thinking. People who violated social norms or religious practices were believed to be
witches or possessed by demons and not rational decision makers. An estimated 100,000 people
were prosecuted throughout Europe for witchcraft during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Development of Classical Criminology:

During the eighteenth century Enlightenment period, social philosophers such as Jeremy
Bentham (1748–1833) began to embrace the view that human behavior was a result of rational
thought processes.
According to Bentham’s “utilitarian calculus,” people choose to act when, after weighing
costs and benefits, they believe that their actions will bring them an increase in pleasure and a
reduction of pain. It stands to reason that criminal behavior could be eliminated or controlled if
would-be law violators could be convinced that the pain of punishment exceeds the benefits of
crime.

Cesare Beccaria
The development of rational classical criminology is most closely identified with the thoughts of
Italian social philosopher Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794), and his famous treatise, “On Crimes and
Punishment” in which he called for fair and certain punishment to deter crime. Beccaria
suggested that (a) people choose all behavior, including criminal behavior; (b) their choices are
designed to bring them pleasure and reduce pain; (c) criminal choices can be controlled by fear
of punishment; and (d) the more severe, certain, and swift the punishment, the greater its ability
to control criminal behavior. While necessary, Beccaria also believed that punishment must be
proportional to the seriousness of crime.

Classical Criminology
The writings of Beccaria and his followers form the core of what today is referred to as classical
criminology. As originally conceived in the eighteenth century, classical criminology theory had
several basic elements:
■ In every society, people have free will to choose criminal or lawful solutions to meet their
needs or settle their problems.
■ Criminal solutions can be very attractive because for little effort they hold the promise of a
huge payoff.
■ A person will choose not to commit crime only if he or she believes that the pain of expected
punishment is greater than the promise of reward. This is the principle of deterrence.
■ In order to be an effective crime deterrent, punishment must be severe, certain, and swift
enough to convince potential criminals that “crime does not pay.” This classical perspective
influenced penal practices for more than 200 years.
Beccaria’s ideas and writings inspired social thinkers to believe that criminals choose to commit
crime and that crime can be controlled by judicious punishment.
This vision was embraced by France’s postrevolutionary Constituent Assembly (1789) in
its Declaration of the Rights of Man:
[T]he law has the right to prohibit only actions harmful to society. . . . The law shall
inflict only such punishments as are strictly and clearly necessary . . . no person shall be
punished except by virtue of a law enacted and promulgated previous to the crime and
applicable to its terms.
Similarly, a prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment was incorporated in the
Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Beccaria’s writings have been credited as the basis
of the elimination of torture and severe punishment in the nineteenth century.

THE CONCEPTS OF RATIONAL CHOICE

According to the contemporary rational choice approach, law-violating behavior occurs when an
offender decides to risk breaking the law after considering both personal factors (i.e., the need
for money, revenge, thrills, and entertainment) and situational factors (i.e., how well a target is
protected and the efficiency of the local police force). People who believe that the risks of crime
outweigh the rewards may decide to go straight. If they think they are likely to be arrested and
punished, they are more likely to seek treatment and turn their lives around than risk criminal
activities.

Offense and Offender

Rational choice theorists view crime as both offense- and offender-specific. That a crime is
offense-specific means that offenders will react selectively to the characteristics ofan individual
criminal act. Take for instance the decision to commit a burglary. The thought process might
include:
■ Evaluating the target yield
■ Probability of security devices
■ Police patrol effectiveness
■ Availability of a getaway car
■ Ease of selling stolen merchandise
■ Presence of occupants
■ Neighbors who might notice a break-in
■ Presence of guard dogs
■ Presence of escape routes
■ Entry points and exits
The fact that a crime is offender-specific means that criminals are not robots who engage in
unthinking, unplanned random acts of antisocial behavior. Before deciding to commit crime,
individuals must decide whether they have the prerequisites to commit a successful criminal act.
These might include evaluation of:
■ Whether they possess the necessary skills to commit the crime
■ Their immediate need for money or other valuables
■ Whether legitimate fi nancial alternatives to crime exist, such as a high-paying job
■ Whether they have available resources to commit the crime
■ Their fear of expected apprehension and punishment
■ Availability of alternative criminal acts, such as selling drugs
■ Physical ability, including health, strength, and dexterity

Note the distinction made here between crime and criminality. Crime is an event; criminality is
a personal trait.

Structuring Criminality
A number of personal factors condition people to choose crime. Among the more important
factors are economic opportunity, learning and experience, and knowledge of criminal
techniques.

a) Economic Opportunity: Some people may engage in criminal activity simply because
they need the money to support their lifestyle and perceive few other potential income
sources. Sociologists Christopher Uggen and Melissa Thompson found that people who
begin taking hard drugs also increase their involvement in crime, taking in from $500 to
$700 per month. Once they become cocaine and heroin users, the benefits of other
criminal enterprises become overwhelmingly attractive: how else can a drug user earn
enough to support his or her habit?
b) Learning and Experience: Experienced criminals may turn from a life of crime when
they develop a belief that the risk of crime is greater than its potential profit. One dealer,
earning $50,000 per year, explained her strategy this way:
“I stayed within my goals, basically . . . I don’t go around doing stupid things. I don’t
walk around telling people I have drugs for sale. I don’t have people sitting out in front of
my house. I don’t have traffic in and out of myhouse . . . I control the people I sell to.”

c) Knowledge of Criminal Techniques Criminals report learning techniques that help them
avoid detection, a sure sign of rational thinking and planning.

Structuring Crime:Criminal decision making is not only based on an assessment of

personal needs and capabilities, but also on a rational assessment of the criminal event. Decisions
must be made about what, where, when, and whom to target.
Choosing the Type of Crime: The choice of crime may be dictated by market conditions.
Generalists may alter their criminal behavior according to shifting opportunity structures: they
may rob the elderly on the first of the month when they know that Social Security checks have
been cashed, switch over to shoplifting if a new fence moves into the neighborhood, and, if a
supply becomes available, sell a truckload of hijacked cigarettes to neighborhood convenience
stores.
Sometimes the choice of crime is structured by the situational factors. Eric Baumer and
his associates found that cities whose population of crack cocaine users is on the increase also
experience an increase in their robbery rates and a corresponding decrease in burglary rates.

Choosing the Time and Place of Crime: There is also evidence that criminal choice is
structured by the time and place. Interviews with burglars show that they prefer “working”
between 9 A.M. and 11 A.M. and in mid-afternoon, when parents are either at work or dropping
off or picking up kids at school. Burglars avoid Saturdays because most families are at home;
Sunday morning during church hours is considered a prime time for weekend burglaries.
The place of crime is also carefully chosen. Because criminals often go on foot or use public
transportation. they are unlikely to travel long distances to commit crimes and are more likely to
drift toward the center of a city than move toward outlying areas.

Selecting the Target of Crime: Criminals may also be well aware of target vulnerability. When
they choose targets, they may shy off if they sense danger. In a series of interviews with career
property offenders, Kenneth Tunnell found that burglars avoid targets if they feel there are police
in the area or if “nosy neighbors” might be suspicious and cause trouble. Paul Bellair found that
robbery levels are relatively low in neighborhoods where residents keep a watchful eye on their
neighbors’ property.
In some instances, however, targets are chosen in order to send a message rather than to generate
capital. crimes are a response to one of three types of violations.
• Market-related violations
• Status-based violations
• Personalistic violations

ELIMINATING CRIME
Crime is not some random act, but a means that can provide both pleasure and solutions to
vexing personal problems. As Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi put it, these criminals
derive satisfaction from “money without work, sex without courtship, revenge without court
delays.”
 A) SITUATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION
Crime prevention can be achieved by reducing the opportunities people have to commit
particular crimes, a practice known as situational crime prevention.
Criminal acts will be avoided if (a) potential targets are guarded securely, (b) the means
to commit crime are controlled, and (c) potential offenders are carefully monitored. Situational
crime prevention was first popularized in the United States in the early 1970s by Oscar Newman,
who coined the term defensible space. This term signifies that crime can be prevented or
displaced through the use of residential architectural designs that reduce criminal opportunity,
such as well-lit housing projects that maximize surveillance.

Targeting Specific Crimes

Situational crime prevention can also involve developing tactics to reduce or eliminate a specific
crime problem (such as shoplifting in an urban mall or street-level drug dealing). According to
Derek Cornish and Ronald Clarke, situational crime prevention efforts may be divided into five
strategies:
■ Increase the effort needed to commit crime
■ Increase the risks of committing crime
■ Reduce the rewards for committing crime
■ Reduce provocation/induce guilt or shame for committing crime
■ Reduce excuses for committing crime

Increase Efforts: Putting unbreakable glass on storefronts, locking gates, and fencing yards.
such as steering locks on cars,
Reduce Rewards: Making car radios removable so they can be kept in the home at night,
marking property so that it is more difficult to sell when stolen, Tracking systems,
Increase Risk:

Increase Shame/Reduce Provocation

Remove Excuses: Crime may be reduced by making it difficult for people to excuse their
criminal behavior by saying things like “I did not know that was illegal” or “I had no choice.”
SITUATIONAL CRIME PREVENTION: COSTS AND BENEFITS
Some attempts at situational crime prevention have proven highly successful while others have
not met their goals. Among the hidden benefits of situational crime control efforts are:
Diffusion: Sometimes efforts to prevent one crime help prevent another; in other instances,
crime control efforts in one locale reduce crime in another area. This effect is referred to as
diffusion of benefits.
Discouragement: Sometimes crime control efforts targeting a particular locale help reduce crime
in surrounding areas and populations; this is referred to as discouragement. While there are
hidden benefits to situational crime prevention, there may also be costs that limit their
effectiveness:
■ Displacement: A program that seems successful because it helps lower crime rates at specific
locations or neighborhoods may simply be redirecting offenders to alternative targets; this is
known as displacement.
■ Extinction: Sometimes crime reduction programs may produce a short-term positive effect,
but benefits dissipate as criminals adjust to new conditions.
■ Encouragement: Crime reduction programs may boomerang and increase rather than decrease
the potentiality for crime. Increased illumination may make it easier for offenders to commit
crimes and to escape.

B) GENERAL DETERRENCE
General deterrence theory holds that crime rates are influenced and controlled by the threat
and/or application of criminal punishment. If people fear being apprehended and punished, they
will not risk breaking the law.
Deterrence theorists tend to believe that the certainty of punishment seems to have a
greater impact than its severity or speed. In other words, people will more likely be deterred from
crime if they believe that they will get caught; what happens to them after apprehension seems to
have less impact.

Perception and Deterrence

According to deterrence theory, not only does the actual chance of punishment influence
criminality, so too does the perception of punishment.
To prove the association between perception and deterrence empirically, Canadian
criminologists Etienne Blais and Jean-Luc Bacher conducted an interesting experiment: they had
insurance companies send a written threat to a random sample of insured persons reminding
them of the punishment for insurance fraud. Clearly the written warning that offenders will be
caught and punished for insurance fraud deterred illegal activity.
 a) Certainty of Punishment and Deterrence:
According to deterrence theory, if the probability of arrest, conviction, and sanctioning
increases, crime rates should decline.
b) Severity of Punishmentand Deterrence:
According to general deterrence theory, as the severity of punishment increases, crime
rates should decrease.
c) Shame and Humiliation:
Fear of shame and embarrassment can be a powerful deterrent to crime. Those who fear
being rejected by family and peers are reluctant to engage in deviant behavior.
d) Speed (Celerity) of Punishment and Deterrence:
The third leg of Becarria’s equation involves the celerity or speed of punishment: the
faster punishment is applied and the more closely it is linked to the crime, the more likely
it will serve as a deterrent.

Analyzing General Deterrence

Some experts believe that the purpose of the law and justice system is to create a “threat system.”
That is, the threat of legal punishment should, on the face of it, deter lawbreakers through fear.
Despite efforts to punish criminals and make them fear crime, there is little evidence that the fear
of apprehension and punishment alone can reduce crime rates. How can this discrepancy be
explained?
Rationality Deterrence theory assumes a rational offender who weighs the costs and benefits of
a criminal act before deciding on a course of action. In many instances, criminals are desperate
people who suffer from personality disorders that impair their judgment and render them
incapable of making truly rational decisions.
Compulsion We know that a relatively small group of chronic offenders commits a significant
percentage of all serious crimes. Some psychologists believe this select group suffers from an
innate or inherited emotional state that renders them both incapable of fearing punishment and
less likely to appreciate the consequences of crime.
Need desperate people may not be deterred from crime by fear of punishment because, in reality,
they perceive few other options for success.
Greed Some may be immune to deterrent effects because they believe the profits from crime are
worth the risk of punishment.

C) SPECIFIC DETERRENCE
The theory of specific deterrence (also called special or particular deterrence) holds that after
experiencing criminal sanctions that are swift, sure, and powerful, known criminals will never
dare repeat their criminal acts. While general deterrence relies on the perception of future
punishments, specific deterrence relies on its application:
■ The drunk driver whose sentence is a substantial fine and a week in the county jail should be
convinced that the price to be paid for drinking and driving is too great to consider future
violations.
■ The burglar who spends five years in a tough maximum security prison will find his
enthusiasm for theft dampened.
■ The tax cheat who is assessed triple damages will think twice before filing a false return.

According to the theory of specific deterrence, the harsher the punishment, the less likely
the chances of recidivism. But research shows that this is not always the case. Offenders
sentenced to prison do not have lower rates of recidivism than those receiving more lenient
community sentences for similar crimes. White-collar offenders who receive prison sentences are
as likely to recidivate as those who receive community-based sanctions.
There are a number of factors that might help explain why severe punishments promote rather
than restrict criminality:
■ Offenders may believe they have learned from their experiences, and now know how to beat
the system and get away with crime.
■ Severely punished offenders may represent the “worst of the worst,” who will offend again no
matter what punishments they experience.
■ Punishment may bring defiance rather than deterrence. People who are harshly treated may
want to show that they cannot be broken by the system.
■ Harsh treatment labels and stigmatizes offenders, locking them into a criminal career.
■ Criminals who are punished may also believe that the likelihood of getting caught twice for the
same type of crime is remote: “Lightning never strikes twice in the same spot,” they may reason;
no one is that unlucky.
The Domestic Violence Studies
The most famous of these involve arrest and punishment for domestic violence. The implications
of the domestic violence research is that even if punishment can produce a short-term specific
deterrent effect, it fails to produce longer- term behavior change.

D) INCAPACITATION
It stands to reason that if more criminals are sent to prison, the crime rate should go down.
Because most people age out of crime, the duration of a criminal career is limited. Placing
offenders behind bars during their prime crime years should lessen their lifetime opportunity to
commit crime. The shorter the span of opportunity, the fewer offenses they can commit during
their lives; hence crime is reduced. This theory, known as the incapacitation effect

Does Incarceration Control Crime?

Economist Steven Levitt concludes that each person put behind bars results in a decrease of 15
serious crimes per year.
While Levitt’s argument is persuasive, not all criminologists buy into the incapacitation effect:
■ There is little evidence that incapacitating criminals will deter them from future criminality
and even more reason to believe they may be more inclined to commit crimes upon release.
■ By its nature, the prison experience exposes young, first-time offenders to higher-risk, more
experienced inmates who can influence their lifestyle and help shape their attitudes. Novice
inmates also run an increased risk of becoming infected with AIDS and other health hazards.
.■ The economics of crime suggest that if money can be made from criminal activity, there will
always be someone to take the place of the incarcerated offender. New criminals will be
recruited and trained, offsetting any benefit accrued by incarceration.
■ Most criminal offenses are committed by teens and very young adult offenders who are
unlikely to be sent to prison for a single felony conviction.
■ An incapacitation strategy is terribly expensive. The prison system costs billions of dollars
each year.
 Positivist school (Biological Explanation)
POSITIVISM:
The positivist school of thought in the field of criminology introduces a scientific approach to the
field of criminology, and they also included the biological and medical findings in this approach.

In the 19th century, the positivist school of thought came into existence due to the "scientific
revolution," especially Charles Darwin discoveries and following scientific advancements. A
search for the most important and basic questions about human beings and the universe around
them was started and presented by using the "objective" science, instead of using religious and
theological beliefs or "arm-chair" philosophy.

The social sciences appreciated this kind of mode of inquiry, presented by positivist, largely
through the work of August Comte (1798-1857) who is often called the ‗founder of positivism‘
as well as the ‗founder of the sociology‘ discipline. Comte stated that theological, metaphysical,
and positive or scientific are the three stages through which the knowledge passes.

However, the big breakthrough in the positivist criminology came when an Italian doctor Cesare
Lombroso published his book Criminal Man in 1876 which earned him title of the "father of
criminology‖.

Lombroso, Influenced by Darwinian theory of evolution, started to calculate the physical features
of prisoner and concluded that specific physical characteristics, such as skeletal, cranial, and
neurological malformations were more correlated to the criminal behaviour. In his work,
Lombroso discussed the biological aspects of the criminal behavior, and stated that since the
physical characteristics determine the criminal behaviour therefore a criminal is "born" that way
and can be differentiated from non-criminals according to these physical characteristics.
Lombroso called them ‗stigmata or characteristics‘.

Lombroso's work was the beginning of the positivist criminology and then it is subdivided into
different fields. Today biology (began with Lombroso), psychology, and sociology there are
three major fields of positivist criminology. Thus, biological positivism describes the criminal
within the individual by considering its physical structure; psychological positivism locates the
causes by considering the personality development; whereas the sociological positivism sees the
causes by looking at the social factors and social structure.

BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
In the early 1970s, spurred by the publication of Sociobiology, by biologist Edmund O. Wilson,
the biological basis for crime once again emerged into the limelight. Sociobiology differs from
earlier theories of behavior in that it stresses that biological and genetic conditions affect how
social behaviors are learned and perceived.

Contemporary Trait Theories

The study of sociobiology revived interest in finding a biological basis for crime and
delinquency. If, as it suggests, biological (genetic) makeup controls human behavior, it follows
that it should also be responsible for determining whether a person chooses law-violating or
conventional behavior. This view of crime causation is referred to as trait theory.
BIOSOCIAL THEORY
Rather than viewing the criminal as a person whose behavior is controlled solely by conditions
determined at birth, most biocriminologists believe that physical, environmental, and social
conditions work in concert to produce human behavior; this integrated approach is commonly
referred to as biosocial theory. The following subsections will examine some of the more
important schools of thought within biosocial theory.
1. Biochemical Conditions and Crime
Some trait theorists believe biochemical conditions, including both those that are genetically
predetermined and those acquired through diet and environment, control and influence antisocial
behavior.
a) Smoking and Drinking: Maternal alcohol abuse and/or smoking during gestation have
long been linked to prenatal damage and subsequent antisocial behavior in adolescence.
b) Exposure to Chemicals and Minerals: over- or undersupply of certain chemicals and
minerals—including sodium, mercury potassium, calcium, amino acids, monoamines,
and peptides—can lead to depression, mania, cognitive problems, memory loss, and
abnormal sexual activity.

Excessive intake of certain metals such as iron and manganese may be linked to
neurological dysfunctions such as intellectual impairment and attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD). These neurological conditions are believed to be a precursor of delinquent and
criminal behaviors.

c) Diet and Crime: Those biocriminologists who believe in a diet–aggression association

claim that in every segment of society there are violent, aggressive, and amoral people
whose improper food, vitamin, and mineral intake may be responsible for their antisocial
behavior. If diet could be improved, they believe, the frequency of violent behavior
would be reduced.
d) Sugar Intake: One area of diet that has received a great deal of attention is the
association between high intakes of carbohydrates and sugar and antisocial behavior.
Experiments have been conducted in which children’s diets were altered so that sweet
drinks were replaced with fruit juices, table sugar with honey, molasses substituted for
sugar in cooking, and so on; results indicate that these changes can reduce aggression
levels.
 e) Glucose Metabolism/Hypoglycemia: Hypoglycemia occurs when glucose in the blood
falls below levels necessary for normal and efficient brain functioning. Research studies
have linked hypoglycemia to outbursts of antisocial behavior and violence.

f) Hormonal Influences: Criminologist James Q. Wilson, in his book The Moral Sense,
concludes that hormones, enzymes, and neurotransmitters may be the keys to
understanding human behavior. According to Wilson, they help explain gender
differences in the crime rate. Hormone levels also help explain the aging-out process.
Levels of testosterone, the principal male steroid hormone, decline during the life cycle
and may explain why violence rates diminish over time.
A number of biosocial theorists are now evaluating the association between violent
behavior episodes and hormone levels, and the findings suggest that abnormal levels of
male sex hormones (androgens) do in fact produce aggressive behavior.
How Hormones Influence Behavior: Hormones cause areas of the brain to become less sensitive
to environmental stimuli. High androgen levels require people to seek excess stimulation and to
be willing to tolerate pain in their quest for thrills.
Premenstrual Syndrome: Hormonal research has not been limited to male offenders. The
suspicion has long existed that the onset of the menstrual cycle triggers excessive amounts of the
female sex hormones, which affect antisocial, aggressive behavior. This condition is commonly
referred to as premenstrual syndrome, or PMS. The link between PMS and delinquency was fi rst
popularized more than 35 years ago by Katharina Dalton
g) Allergies: Allergies are defined as unusual or excessive reactions of the body to foreign
substances. There are two types of allergies: Cerebral allergies and Neuroallergies.
Cerebral allergies cause an excessive reaction in the brain, whereas Neuroallergies affect
the nervous system.Neuroallergy and cerebral allergy problems have also been linked to
hyperactivity in children, a condition also linked to antisocial behavior.
h) Environmental Contaminants: There are still many dangerous substances in the
environment, including lead, copper, cadmium, mercury, and inorganic gases such as
chlorine and nitrogen dioxide. Prolonged exposure to these substances can cause severe
illness or death; at more moderate levels, they have been linked to emotional and
behavioral disorders.
i) Lead Ingestion: A number of recent research studies have suggested that lead ingestion
is linked to aggressive behaviors on both a macro- or group/nation level and on a microor
individual case level. On a macro-level, areas with the highest concentrations of lead also
report the highest levels of homicide. On a micro-level, research finds that even limited
exposure to lead can have a deleterious influence on a child’s development and
subsequent behavior and correlates signify cantly with neurological conditions such as
hyperactivity.
 2. Neurophysiological Conditions and Crime
Studies conducted in the United States and in other nations have indicated that the relationship
between impairment in executive brain functions and aggressive behavior is significant. The
association between neurological disorder and antisocial behaviors may take a number of
different paths:
Direct association: Clinical analysis of convicted murderers by Peer Briken and colleagues
found that a significant number (31 percent) showed evidence of brain abnormalities, including
epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, childhood encephalitis, or meningitis causing brain damage,
genetic disorders, and unspecified brain damage.
Indirect association: Being in possession of a neurological impairment leads to the development
of personality traits that are linked to antisocial behaviors. For example, impulsivity and lack of
self-control have been linked to antisocial behavior.
Interactive cause: Neurological deficits may interact with another trait or social condition to
produce antisocial behaviors.

Some of the Neurophysical conditions that trigger crime are as under:

a) Minimal Brain Dysfunction Minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) is related to an
abnormality in cerebral structure. It has been defined as an abruptly appearing,
maladaptive behavior that interrupts an individual’s lifestyle and life flow. This form of
the disorder is considered an important cause of such behavior as spouse beating, child
abuse, suicide, aggressiveness, and motiveless homicide.
Learning Disabilities One specific type of MBD that has generated considerable interest is
learning disability (LD), Learning-disabled children usually exhibit poor motor coordination
hand-eye coordination, trouble climbing stairs, clumsiness), have behavior problems and have
improper auditory and vocal responses.

What is the association between learning disabilities and crime? There are two popular
explanations:
■ Susceptibility rationale argues that the link is caused by certain side effects of learning
disabilities, such as impulsiveness, poor ability to learn from experience, and inability to take
social cues.
■ School failure rationale assumes that the frustration caused by the LD produces poor school
performance leading to a negative self-image and acting-out behavior.

b) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Many parents have noticed that
their children do not pay attention to them—they run around and do things in their own
way. Sometimes this inattention is a function of age; in other instances, it is a symptom of
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), in which a child shows a
developmentally inappropriate lack of attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. Children
with ADHD are more likely than non-ADHD youths to use illicit drugs, alcohol, and
 cigarettes in adolescence; to be arrested; to be charged with a felony; and to have
multiple arrests.

Symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder (ADHD)
Lack of Attention
■ Frequently fails to finish projects
■ Does not seem to pay attention
■ Does not sustain interest in play activities
■ Cannot sustain concentration on schoolwork or related
tasks
■ Is easily distracted
Impulsivity
■ Frequently acts without thinking
■ Often “calls out” in class
■ Does not want to wait his or her turn in lines or games
■ Shifts from activity to activity
■ Cannot organize tasks or work
■ Requires constant supervision
Hyperactivity
■ Constantly runs around and climbs on things
■ Shows excessive motor activity while asleep
■ Cannot sit still; is constantly fidgeting
■ Does not remain in his or her seat in class
■ Is constantly on the go like a “motor”

c) Tumors, Lesions, Injury, and Disease: The presence of brain tumors and lesions has
also been linked to a wide variety of psychological problems, including personality
changes, hallucinations, and psychotic episodes. There is evidence that people with
tumors are prone to depression, irritability, temper outbursts, and even homicidal attacks.
d) Arousal Theory: According to arousal theory, for a variety of genetic and
environmental reasons, some people’s brains function differently in response to
environmental stimuli. All of us seek to maintain a preferred or optimal level of arousal:
too much stimulation leaves us anxious and stressed out; too little makes us feel bored
and weary. People who have low arousal levels will seek out risky situations and become
more involved with criminal behavior as an avenue toward thrill seeking children.

The factors that determine a person’s level of arousal are not fully determined, but
suspected sources include:
■ Brain chemistry
■ Heart rate.
■ Autonomic nervous system.
 3. Genetics and Crime
Contemporary biosocial theorists are interested in the role genetics plays in shaping
human behavior and want to uncover if the propensity to commit crime is an inherited
trait passed down from one generation to the next.

■ Direct association: Possessing a particular genetic structure makes a person prone to

aggression, violence, and antisocial behavior.
■ Indirect association: Genetics shapes the way kids view their family relationships; whether
they believe they have a strong attachment to parental socialization is also a strong predictor of
crime and delinquency.
Testing Genetic Theory:A number of studies have found that parental criminality and deviance
do, in fact, have a powerful influence on delinquent behavior.
a) Sibling Similarities Research does show that if one sibling engages in antisocial
behavior, so do his/her brothers and sisters. The effect is greatest among same-sex
siblings.
b) Twin Behavior However, an even more rigorous test of genetic theory involves
comparison of the behavior of identical monozygotic (MZ) twins with fraternal dizygotic
(DZ) twins; while the former have an identical genetic makeup, the latter share only
about 50 percent of their genetic combinations. Research has shown that MZ twins are
significantly closer in their personal characteristics, such as intelligence, than are DZ
twins.
A review of relevant studies conducted between 1929 and 1961 found that 60 percent of
MZ twins shared criminal behavior patterns whereas only 30 percent of DZ twin
behavior was similarly related. These findings may be viewed as powerful evidence that a
genetic basis for criminality exists.

Criticism:
I. Not all research efforts have found that MZ twin pairs are more closely related in their
criminal behavior than DZ .
II. Even if the behavior similarities between MZ twins are greater than those between DZ
twins, the association may be explained by environmental factors.
III. It is also possible that what appears to be a genetic effect picked up by the twin research
is actually the effect of sibling influence on criminality, referred to as the contagion
effect.
IV. The genes–crime relationship is controversial because it implies that the propensity to
commit crime is present at birth and cannot be altered. It raises moral dilemmas:
 4. Evolutionary Theory
Some criminologists believe the human traits that produce violence and aggression are produced
through the long process of human evolution. According to this evolutionary view, the
competition for scarce resources has influenced and shaped the human species.Over the course of
human existence, people whose personal characteristics enable them to accumulate more than
others are the most likely to breed and dominate the species. People have been shaped to engage
in actions that promote their well-being and ensure the survival and reproduction of their genetic
line.
a) Violence and Evolution: In their classic book Homicide, Martin Daly and Margo Wilson
suggest that violent offenses are often driven by evolutionary and reproductive factors.
High rates of spouse abuse in modern society may be a function of aggressive men
seeking to control and possess mates.Men who feel most threatened over the potential of
losing mates to rivals are the ones most likely to engage in sexual violence.
b) Gender and Evolution: Evolutionary concepts have been linked to gender-based
differences in the crime rate. To ensure survival of the gene pool (and the species), it is
beneficial for a male of any species to mate with as many suitable females as possible
since each can bear his offspring. In contrast, because of the long period of gestation,
females require a secure home and a single, stable, nurturing partner to ensure their
survival. Because of these differences in mating patterns, the most aggressive males mate
most often and have the greatest number of offspring. Therefore, over the history of the
human species, aggressive males have had the greatest impact on the gene pool. The
descendants of these aggressive males now account for the disproportionate amount of
male aggression and violence.
Criticism:
1. The official crime statistics suggest, the poor and minority-group members commit a
disproportionate number of such acts, then by implication biological theory says that
members of these groups are biologically different, flawed, or inferior.
2. Biological theory seems to divide people into criminals and noncriminals on the basis of
their genetic and physical makeup.
3. The most significant criticism of biosocial theory has been the lack of adequate empirical
testing.

CONCEPT SUMMARY
Biosocial Theories of Crime
Biochemical
■ The major premise of the theory is that crime, especially violence, is a function of diet, vitamin
intake, hormonal imbalance, or food allergies.
■ The strengths of the theory are that it explains irrational violence; it shows how the
environment interacts with personal traits to influence behavior.
■ The research focuses of the theory are diet, hormones, enzymes, environmental contaminants,
and lead intake.
Neurological
■ The major premise of the theory is that criminals and delinquents often suffer brain
impairment, as measured by the EEG. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and minimal brain
dysfunction are related to antisocial behavior.
■ The strengths of the theory are that it explains irrational violence; it shows how the
environment interacts with personal traits to influence behavior.
■ The research focuses of the theory are ADD, ADHD, learning disabilities, brain injuries, and
brain chemistry.
Genetic
■ The major premise of the theory is that criminal traits and predispositions are inherited. The
criminality of parents can predict the delinquency of children.
■ The strengths of the theory are that it explains why only a small percentage of youth in high-
crime areas become chronic offenders.
■ The research focuses of the theory are twin behavior, sibling behavior, and parent–child
similarities.
Evolutionary
■ The major premise of the theory is that as the human race evolved, traits and characteristics
have become ingrained. Some of these traits make people aggressive and predisposed to commit
crime.
■ The strengths of the theory are that it explains high violence rates and aggregate gender
differences in the crime rate.
■ The research focuses of the theory are gender differences and understanding human
aggression.
 Positivist school ( Psychological Explanation)
Psychological theories of crime have a long history. In The English Convict, Charles
Goring (1870–1919) studied the mental characteristics of 3,000 English convicts. He found little
difference in the physical characteristics of criminals and noncriminals, but he uncovered a
significant relationship between crime and a condition he referred to as defective intelligence,
which involves such traits as feeblemindedness, epilepsy, insanity, and defective social instinct.
Psychologists view antisocial behavior from a psychoanalytic or psychodynamic
perspective: their focus is on early childhood experience and its effect on personality. In
contrast, behaviorism stresses social learning and behavior modeling as the keys to criminality.
Cognitive theory analyzes human perception and how it affects behavior.

1. Psychodynamic Theory
Psychodynamic (or psychoanalytic) psychology was originated by Viennese psychiatrist
Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and has since remained a prominent segment of psychological
theory. Freud believed that we all carry with us residue of the most significant emotional
attachments of our childhood, which then guide future interpersonal relationships.
Elements of Psychodynamic Theory: According to the classic version of the theory, the human
personality contains a three-part structure:
Id: The id is the primitive part of an individual’s mental makeup present at birth. It represents
unconscious biological drives for sex, food, and other lifesustaining necessities. The id follows
the pleasure principle: it requires instant gratification without concern for the rights of others.
Ego: The ego is that part of the personality that compensates for the demands of the id by
helping the individual guide his or her actions to remain within the boundaries of social
convention. The ego is guided by the reality principle: it takes into account what is practical and
conventional by societal standards.
Superego:It is the moral aspect of an individual’s personality; it passes judgments on behavior.
The superego is divided into two parts: conscience and ego ideal. Conscience tells what is right
and wrong. It forces the ego to control the id and directs the individual into morally acceptable
and responsible behaviors, which may not be pleasurable.
Freud’s Model of the Personality Structure
Personality
Structure Guiding Principle Description
Id Pleasure principle Unconscious biological drives; requires instant gratification
Ego Reality principle Helps the personality refine the demands of the id; helps person adapt to conventions
Superego The conscience The moral aspect of the personality

The Psychodynamics of Antisocial Behavior: Psychologists have long linked criminality to

abnormal mental states produced by early childhood trauma. For example, Alfred Adler (1870–
1937), the founder of individual psychology, coined the term inferiority complex to describe
people who have feelings of inferiority and compensate for them with a drive for superiority.
Controlling others may help reduce personal inadequacies. The psychoanalyst whose work is
most closely associated with criminality is August Aichorn. After examining many delinquent
youths, Aichorn concluded that societal stress, though damaging, could not alone result in a life
of crime unless a predisposition existed that psychologically prepared youths for antisocial acts.
This mental state, which he labeled latent delinquency, is found in youngsters whose personality
requires them to act in these ways:
■ Seek immediate gratification (to act impulsively)
■ Consider satisfying their personal needs more important than relating to others
■ Satisfy instinctive urges without considering right and wrong (that is, they lack guilt)

According to this view, crime is a manifestation of feelings of oppression and people’s

inability to develop the proper psychological defenses and rationales to keep these feelings under
control. Criminality enables troubled people to survive by producing positive psychic results: it
helps them to feel free and independent, and it gives them the possibility of excitement and the
chance to use their skills and imagination. Crime also provides them with the promise of positive
gain; it allows them to blame others for their predicament (for example, the police), and it gives
them a chance to rationalize their sense of failure.
a) Attachment Theory: Attachment theory, a view most closely associated with
psychologist John Bowlby, is also connected to the psychodynamic tradition. According
to this view, failing to develop proper attachment may cause people to fall prey to a
number of psychological disorders. Psychologists believe that children with attachment
problems lack trust and respect for others. They often display many psychological
symptoms, some of which resemble attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
relationships. Criminologists have linked people having detachment problems with a
variety of antisocial behaviors, including sexual assault and child abuse.
b) Mental Disorders and Crime: Psychologists recognize a variety of mental
disorders that may be linked to antisocial behavior. Adolescents who are frequently
uncooperative and hostile and who seem to be much more difficult than other children the
same age may be suffering from a psychological condition known as disruptive behavior
disorder (DBD), which can take on two distinct forms: oppositional defiant disorder
(ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) The person with ODD is moody and easily frustrated
and mayabuse drugs as a form of self-medication. Children and adolescents with CD
have great difficulty following rules and behaving in socially acceptable ways Research
shows that they are frequently involved in such activities as bullying, fighting,
committing sexual assaults, and cruelty to animals.

c) Psychosis and Crime The most serious forms of psychological disturbance will result in
mental illness referred to as psychosis, which includes severe mental disorders, such as
depression, bipolar disorder (manic depression), and schizophrenia—characterized by
extreme impairment of a person’s ability to behave appropriately.
 2. Behavioral Theory:
Psychological behavior theory maintains that human actions are developed through
learning experiences. The major premise of behavior theory is that people alter their
behavior according to the reactions it receives from others. Behavior is supported by
rewards and extinguished by negative reactions or punishments. With respect to criminal
activity, the behaviorist views crimes, especially violent acts, as learned responses to life
situations that do not necessarily represent psychologically abnormal responses.
a) Social Learning Theory:Social learning is the branch of behavior theory most relevant
to criminology. Social learning theorists, most notably Albert Bandura, argue that people
are not actually born with the ability to act violently, but that they learn to be aggressive
through their life experiences.For example, the boy who sees his father repeatedly strike
his mother with impunity is the one most likely to grow up to become a battering parent
and husband.
.
Social Learning and Violence: Social learning theorists view violence as something learned
through a process called behavior modeling. In modern society, aggressive acts are usually
modeled after three principal sources:
• Family interaction.
• Environmental experiences.
• Mass media.

In summary, social learning theorists have said that the following four factors may contribute to
violent and/or aggressive behavior:
■ An event that heightens arousal.
■ Aggressive skills.
■ Expected outcomes.
■ Consistency of behavior with values.

3. Cognitive Theory:
One area of psychology that has received increasing recognition in recent years has been the
cognitive school. Psychologists with a cognitive perspective focus on mental processes and
how people perceive and mentally represent the world around them and solve problems. The
pioneers of this school were Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920), Edward Titchener (1867–1927),
and William James (1842–1920).
a) Moral and Intellectual Development Theory The moral and intellectual development
branch of cognitive psychology is perhaps the most important for criminological theory.
Jean Piaget (1896–1980), the founder of this approach, hypothesized that people’s
reasoning processes develop in an orderly fashion, beginning at birth and continuing until
they are 12 years old and older. At first, children respond to the environment in a simple
manner, seeking interesting objects and developing their reflexes. By the fourth and final
 stage, the formal operations stage, they have developed into mature adults who can use
logic and abstract thought. Lawrence Kohlberg first applied the concept of moral
development to issues in criminology. He found that people travel through stages of
moral development during which their decisions and judgments on issues of right and
wrong are made for different reasons. It is possible that serious offenders have a moral
orientation that differs from that of law-abiding citizens.
Moral development theory suggests that people who obey the law simply to avoid
punishment or have outlooks mainly characterized by self-interest are more likely to
commit crimes than those who view the law as something that benefits all of society.

b) Information Processing: When cognitive theorists who study information processing try
to explain antisocial behavior, they do so in terms of mental perception and how people
use information to understand their environment. When people make decisions, they
engage in a sequence of cognitive thought processes:
1. Encode information so that it can be interpreted.
2. Search for a proper response.
3. Decide on the most appropriate action.
4. Act on the decision.
Crime-prone people may have cognitive deficits and use information incorrectly when they make
decisions.
c) Shaping Perceptions: People whose cognitive processes are skewed or faulty may be
relying on mental scripts learned in childhood that tell them how to interpret events, what
to expect, how they should react, and what the outcome of the interaction should be.
Distorted thinking patterns abusers express include the following
• Child as a sexual being.
• ■ Nature of harm.
• ■ Entitlement.
• ■ Dangerous world.
• ■ Uncontrollable.

Therapeutic interventions designed to make people better problem solvers may involve such
measures as (a) enhancing coping and problem-solving skills; (b) enhancing relationships with
peers, parents, and other adults; (c) teaching conflict resolution and communication skills and
methods for resisting peer pressure related to drug use and violence; (d) teaching consequential
thinking and decision- making abilities; (e) modeling prosocial behaviors, including cooperation
with others, self-responsibility, respecting others, and public speaking efficacy; and (f) teaching
empathy.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND CHARACTERISTICS
In addition to creating theories of behavior and development, psychologists also study
psychological traits and characteristics that define an individual and shape how he or she
functions in the world. Two of the most critical— personality and intelligence.

Personality and Crime

Personality can be defined as the reasonably stable patterns of behavior, including thoughts and
emotions, that distinguish one person from another. One’s personality reflects a characteristic
way of adapting to life’s demands and problems.
According to this view, the personality is the key to understanding antisocial behavior. The more
severe the disorder, the greater the likelihood that the individual will engage in serious and
repeated antisocial acts. Take for instance sadistic personality disorder, defined as a repeating
pattern of cruel and demeaning behavior. People suffering from this type of extreme personality
disturbance seem prone to engage in serious violent attacks, including homicides motivated by
sexual sadism.

Intelligence and Crime

Intelligence refers to a person’s ability to reason, comprehend ideas, solve problems, think
abstractly, understand complex ideas, learn from experience, and discover solutions. to complex
problems. It was long believed that people who maintain a below-average intelligence quotient
(IQ) were at risk to criminality.
A) Nature Theory: Nature theory argues that intelligence is largely determined genetically,
that ancestry determines IQ, and that low intelligence, as demonstrated by low IQ, is
linked to criminal behavior

b) Nurture Theory: The rise of culturally sensitive explanations of human behavior in the
1930s led to the nurture school of intelligence. Nurture theory states that intelligence
must be viewed as partly biological but primarily sociological. Because intelligence is not
inherited, low-IQ parents do not necessarily produce low-IQ children. Nurture theorists
discredited the notion that people commit crimes because they have low IQs. Instead,
they postulated that environmental stimulation from parents, relatives, social contacts,
schools, peer groups, and innumerable others create a child’s IQ level and that low IQs
result from an environment that also encourages delinquent and criminal behavior.
 Social Structure Theories
According to this view, it is social forces—and not individual traits—that cause crime. Social
forces in disadvantaged areas may be so powerful that they overwhelm individual choice.
According to this view, rather than focusing on individual choice or traits to understand
the root cause of criminal behavior, we must analyze the influence of these destructive social
forces.

DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGICAL CRIMINOLOGY

Quetelet and Durkheim
The application of sociological concepts to criminology can be traced to the works of pioneering
sociologists L. A. J. (Adolphe) Quetelet (1796–1874) and (David) Émile Durkheim (1858–
1917). Quetelet instigated the use of data and statistics in performing criminological research.
Durkheim, considered one of the founders of sociology, defined crime as a normal and necessary
social event. These two perspectives have been extremely influential on modern criminology.

Quetelet studied data gathered in France (called the Comptes generaux de l’administration de la
justice) to investigate the influence of social factors on the propensity to commit crime. In
addition to finding a strong influence of age and sex on crime, Quetelet also uncovered evidence
that season, climate, population composition, and poverty were related to criminality. More
specifically, he found that crime rates were greatest in the summer, in southern areas, among
heterogeneous populations, and among the poor and uneducated. He also found crime rates to be
influenced by drinking habits. Quetelet identified many of the relationships between crime and
social phenomena that still serve as a basis for criminology today.

According to Émile Durkheim’s vision of social positivism, crime is part of human nature
because it has existed during periods of both poverty and prosperity. Crime is normal because it
is virtually impossible to imagine a society in which criminal behavior is totally absent. Such a
society would almost demand that all people be and act exactly alike. Durkheim believed that the
inevitability of crime is linked to the differences (heterogeneity) within society. Since people are
so different from one another and employ such a variety of methods and forms of behavior to
meet their needs, it is not surprising that some will resort to criminality. Even if “real” crimes
were eliminated, human weaknesses and petty vices would be elevated to the status of crimes.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE THEORIES
The problems caused by poverty and income inequality are not lost on criminologists. They
recognize that the various sources of crime data show that crime rates are highest in
neighborhoods characterized by poverty and social disorder. To explain this phenomenon,
criminologists have formulated social structure theories.
There are three independent yet overlapping branches within the social structure perspective—
social disorganization, strain theory, and cultural deviance theory.
■ Social disorganization theory: It focuses on the conditions within the urban environment that
affect crime rates. A disorganized area is one in which institutions of social control—such as the
family, commercial establishments, and schools—have broken down and can no longer carry out
their expected or stated functions. Indicators of social disorganization include high
unemployment, school dropout rates, deteriorated housing, low-income levels, and large
numbers of single-parent households. Residents in these areas experience conflict and despair,
and, as a result, antisocial behavior flourishes.
■ Strain theory: It holds that crime is a function of the conflict between the goals people have
and the means they can use to obtain them legally. Most people in the United States desire
wealth, material possessions, power, prestige, and other life comforts. And although these social
and economic goals are common to people in all economic strata, strain theorists insist that the
ability to obtain these goals is class dependent. Members of the lower class are unable to achieve
these symbols of success through conventional means. Consequently, they feel anger, frustration,
and resentment, which is referred to as strain. Lower-class citizens caneither accept their
condition and live out their days as socially responsible, if unrewarded, citizens, or they can
choose an alternative means of achieving success, such as theft, violence, or drug trafficking.
■ Cultural deviance theory: The third variation of structural theory, combines elements of both
strain and social disorganization. According to this view, because of strain and social isolation, a
unique lower-class culture develops in disorganized neighborhoods. These independent
subcultures maintain a unique set of values and beliefs that are in conflict with conventional
social norms. Criminal behavior is an expression of conformity to lower-class subcultural values
and traditions and not a rebellion from conventional society. Subcultural values are handed down
from one generation to the next in a process called cultural transmission.
 SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION THEORY
Social disorganization theory links crime rates to neighborhood ecological characteristics.
Communities where the fabric of social life has become frayed and torn are unable to provide
essential services to their residents, such as education, health care, and proper housing. Residents
in these crime-ridden neighborhoods want to flee the area at the earliest opportunity.
Personal relationships are strained because neighbors are constantly relocating to better areas.
Resident turnover further weakens communication and blocks the establishment of common
goals. The result: any attempt at community-level problem solving ends in frustration.
The problems encountered in this type of disorganized area take the form of a contagious
disease, destroying the inner workings that enable neighborhoods to survive; the community
becomes “hollowed out.” Crime and violence take the form of a “slow epidemic,” spreading to
surrounding areas and infecting them with inner-city problems.

Foundations of Social Disorganization Theory: Social disorganization theory was first

popularized by the work of two Chicago sociologists, Clifford R. Shaw and Henry D. McKay,
who linked life in disorganized, transitional urban areas to neighborhood crime rates. Shaw and
McKay began their pioneering work on crime in Chicago during the early 1920s while working
as researchers for a state-supported social service agency. They were heavily influenced by
Chicago School sociologists Ernest Burgess and Robert Park, who had pioneered the ecological
analysis of urban life. Shaw and McKay began their analysis during a period in the city’s history
that was fairly typical of the transition that was taking place in many other urban areas.
Sections of the city started to physically deteriorate. This condition prompted the city’s
wealthy, established citizens to become concerned about the moral fabric of Chicago society.
The belief was widespread that immigrants from Europe and the rural South were crime prone
and morally dissolute. In fact, local groups were created with the very purpose of “saving” the
children of poor families from moral decadence. It was popular to view crime as the property of
inferior racial and ethnic groups.

Transitional Neighborhoods: These poverty-ridden, transitional neighborhoods suffered high

rates of population turnover and were incapable of inducing residents to remain and defend the
neighborhoods against criminal groups.

Concentric Zones: Shaw and McKay identified the areas in Chicago The areas of heaviest
concentration of crime appeared to be the transitional inner-city zones, where large numbers of
foreign-born citizens had recently settled. Shaw and McKay concluded that, in the transitional
neighborhoods, multiple cultures and diverse values, both conventional and deviant, coexist.
Children growing up in the street culture often find that adults who have adopted a deviant
lifestyle are the most financially successful people in the neighborhood: Required to choose
between conventional and deviant lifestyles, many inner-city kids saw the value in opting for the
latter. They join with other like-minded youths and form law-violating gangs and cliques.
The Legacy of Shaw and McKay: Social disorganization concepts articulated by Shaw and
McKay have remained a prominent fixture of criminological scholarship and thinking for more
than 75 years.
The most important elements of their findings still hold up:
■ Crime rates are sensitive to the destructive social forces operating in lower-class urban
neighborhoods.
■ Environmental factors, rather than individual differences, are the root cause of crime. Personal
abnormality or inferiority has little to do with crime rates.
■ Crime is a constant fixture in poverty areas regardless of racial or ethnic makeup.
■ Neighborhood disintegration and the corresponding erosion of social control are the primary
causes of criminal behavior; community values, norms, and cohesiveness affect individual
behavior choices.

Criticism:
1. There is a great deal more fluidity and transition than assumed by Shaw and McKay
2. Reliance on police records.
.
1. The Social Ecology School
About 30 years ago, a group of criminologists began to reexamine ecological conditions that
support criminality. Contemporary social ecologists developed a “purer” form of structural
theory that emphasizes the association of community deterioration and economic decline to
criminality, but places less emphasis on the value and norm conflict that lay at the core of Shaw
and McKay’s vision.

a) Community Deterioration: Social ecologists have focused their attention on the

association between crime rates and community deterioration: disorder, poverty,
alienation, disassociation, and fear of crime. They find that neighborhoods with a high
percentage of deserted houses and apartments experience high crime rates.
b) Poverty Concentration: William Julius Wilson describes how working- and middle-
class families fl ee inner-city poverty areas, resulting in a poverty concentration effect in
which the most disadvantaged population is consolidated in the most disorganized urban
neighborhoods. Poverty concentration has been associated with income and wealth
disparities, nonexistent employment opportunities, inferior housing patterns, and unequal
access to health care. Urban areas marked by concentrated poverty become isolated and
insulated from the social mainstream and more prone to criminal activity, violence, and
homicide.
c) Chronic Unemployment: The association between unemployment and crime is still
unsettled: aggregate crime rates and aggregate unemployment rates seem weakly related.
In other words, crime rates sometimes rise during periods of economic prosperity and fall
 during periods of economic decline. Yet, as Shaw and McKay claimed, neighborhoods
that experience chronic unemployment also encounter social disorganization and crime.

d) Community Fear: In neighborhoods where people help one another, residents are less
likely to fear crime and be afraid of becoming a crime victim. When people feel distant
from one another, disconnected from others in the community, they are more likely to
view their environment as a dangerous place.

e) Community Change: In our postmodern society, the urban areas undergoing rapid
structural changes in racial and economic composition also seem to experience the
greatest change in crime rates. In contrast, stable neighborhoods, even those with a high
rate of poverty, experience relatively low crime rates and have the strength to restrict
substance abuse and criminal activity.

f) The Cycles of Community Change: During periods of population turnover,

communities may undergo changes that undermine their infrastructure. Urban areas seem
to have life cycles, Later stages in this life cycle include changing racial or ethnic
makeup, population thinning, and finally, a renewal stage in which obsolete housing is
replaced and upgraded (gentrification). Areas undergoing such change seem to
experience an increase in their crime rates.

g) Racial Threat: Because of racial differences in economic well-being, those “left behind”
are all too often minority citizens. In changing neighborhoods, adults may actually
encourage the law-violating behavior of youths. They may express attitudes that justify
violence as a means of protecting their property and way of life by violently resisting
newcomers. They may also demand more money be spent on police and other justice
agencies. As racial prejudice increases, the call for law and order aimed at controlling the
minority population grows louder.

2. Collective Efficacy
Cohesive communities, whether urban or rural, with high levels of social control and social
integration, where people know one another and develop interpersonal ties, may also develop
collective efficacy:
There are actually three forms of collective efficacy: informal, institutional, and public social
control.

a) Informal Social Control: Some elements of collective efficacy operate on the primary or
private level and involvepeers, families, and relatives. These sources exert informal
control by either awarding or withholding approval, respect, and admiration. Informal
 control mechanisms include direct criticism, ridicule, ostracism, desertion, or physical
punishment.

b) Institutional Social Control: communities that have collective efficacy attempt to utilize
their local institutions to control crime. Sources of institutional social control include
businesses, stores, schools, churches, and social service and volunteer organizations.

c) Public Social Control: An effective police presence sends a message that the area will
not tolerate deviant behavior. The government can also reduce crime by providing
economic and social supports through publicly funded social support and welfare
programs

The Effect of Collective Efficacy: In areas where collective efficacy remains high, children are
less likely to become involved with deviant peers and engage in problem behaviors. In these
more stable areas, kids are able to use their wits to avoid violent confrontations and to feel safe
in their own neighborhood, a concept referred to as street efficacy. This association is important
because adolescents living in communities with high levels of efficacy are less likely to resort to
violence themselves or to associate with delinquent peers. Collective efficacy has other benefits.
When residents are satisfied that their neighborhoods are good places to live, they feel a sense of
obligation to maintain order themselves and are more willing to work hard to encourage informal
social control.
 STRAIN THEORIES
According to the strain view, sharp divisions between the rich and poor create an atmosphere of
envy and mistrust that may lead to violence and aggression. People who feel deprived because of
their race or economic class standing eventually develop a sense of injustice and discontent. The
less fortunate begin to distrust the society that has nurtured social inequality and obstructed their
chances of progressing by legitimate means. The constant frustration that results from these
feelings of inadequacy produces pent-up aggression and hostility and, eventually, leads to
violence and crime.

Strain theories come in two distinct formulations:

■ Structural strain. Using a sociological lens, structural strain suggests that economic and social
sources of strain shape collective human behavior.
■ Individual strain. Using a psychological reference, individual strain theories suggest that
individual life experiences cause some people to suffer pain and misery, feelings that are then
translated into antisocial behaviors.

The Concept of Anomie

The roots of strain theories can be traced to Émile Durkheim’s notion of anomie (from the Greek
a nomos, “without norms”). According to Durkheim, an anomic society is one in which rules of
behavior (i.e., values, customs, and norms) have broken down or become inoperative during
periods of rapid social change or social crisis such as war or famine. Anomie is most likely to
occur in societies that are moving from a preindustrial society, which is held together by
traditions, shared values, and unquestioned beliefs (i.e., mechanical solidarity) to a
postindustrial social system, which is highly developed and dependent upon the division of labor.
Anomie undermines society’s social control function. Under these circumstances, obedience to
legal codes may be strained, and alternative behavior choices, such as crimes, may be inevitable.

Merton’s Theory of Anomie:

Merton used a modified version of the concept of anomie to fi t social, economic, and cultural
conditions found in modern U.S. society. He found that two elements of culture interact to
produce potentially anomic conditions: culturally defined goals and socially approved means for
obtaining them. Contemporary society stresses the goals of acquiring wealth, success, and power.
Socially permissible means include hard work, education, and thrift.
When socially mandated goals are uniform throughout society and access to legitimate
means is bound by class and status, the resulting strain produces anomie among those who are
locked out of the legitimate opportunity structure. Consequently, they may develop criminal or
delinquent solutions to the problem of attaining goals.
Social Adaptations Merton argued that each person has his or her own concept of the goals of
society and the means at his or her disposal to attain them.
■ Conformity. Conformity occurs when individuals both embrace conventional social goals and
also have the means at their disposal to attain them.
■ Innovation: Innovation occurs when an individual accepts the goals of society but rejects or is
incapable of attaining them through legitimate means. The resulting conflict forces them to
adopt innovative solutions to their dilemma: they steal, sell drugs, or extort money. Of the five
adaptations, innovation is most closely associated with criminal behavior.
■ Ritualism: Ritualists have gained the tools to accumulate —for example, they are educated
and informed—but reject established cultural goals of contemporary society. Ritualists have the
lowest level of criminal behavior.
■ Retreatism: Retreatists reject both the goals and the means of society. Merton suggests that
people who adjust in this fashion are “in the society but not of it.”
■ Rebellion: Rebellion involves substituting an alternative set of goals and means for
conventional ones. Rebellion may be a reaction against a corrupt and hated government or an
effort to create alternate opportunities and lifestyles within the existing system.

Typology of Individual Modes of Adaptation

Modes of
Adaptation Cultural Goals Institutionalized Means

I. Conformity 1 1

II. Innovation 1 2

III. Ritualism 2 1

IV. Retreatism 2 2

V. Rebellion 6 6

SOURCE: Reprinted with the permission of Free Press, a Division

Criticism:
1. Anomie may be used to explain differences in crime rates, but it cannot explain why most
young criminals desist from crime as adults.
2. Anomie theory also assumes that all people share the same goals and values, which is false.

1. Macro-Level Strain Theory: Institutional Anomie Theory

An important addition to the strain literature is the book Crime and the American Dream, by
Steven Messner and Richard Rosenfeld. Their macro-level version of anomie theory views
antisocial behavior as a function of cultural and institutional influences in U.S. society, a model
they refer to as institutional anomie theory. Messner and Rosenfeld agree with Merton’s view
that the success goal is pervasive in American culture. They refer to this as the American
Dream, a term they employ as both a goal and a process. As a goal, the American Dream
involves accumulating material goods and wealth via open individual competition. As a process,
it involves both being socialized to pursue material success and believing that prosperity is an
achievable goal in American culture.
Achieving a “good name” and respect is not sufficient. Capitalist culture “exerts
pressures toward crime by encouraging an anomic cultural environment, an environment in
which people are encouraged to adopt an ‘anything goes’ mentality in the pursuit of personal
goals . . . the anomic pressures inherent in the American Dream are nourished and sustained by
an institutional balance of power dominated by the economy.

Institutional Effects At the institutional level, the dominance of economic concerns weakens the
informal social control exerted by the family, church, and school

2. Micro-Level Strain Theory: General Strain Theory

Sociologist Robert Agnew’s general strain theory (GST) helps identify the micro-level or
individual influences of strain. Whereas Merton explains social class differences. the crime rate,
Agnew explains why individuals who feel stress and strain are more likely to commit crimes.

Multiple Sources of Stress: Agnew suggests that criminality is the direct result of negative
affective states. He finds that negative affective states are produced by a variety
of sources of strain:

■ Failure to achieve positively valued goals: This type of strain occurs when
people aspire for wealth and fame, but, lacking financial and educational resources, assume that
such goals are impossible to achieve.
■ Disjunction of expectations and achievements
■ Removal of positively valued stimuli: Divorce can produce strain as can death of loved one.
■ Presentation of negative stimuli: Included within this category are such pain-inducing social
interactions as child abuse and neglect, crime victimization, physical punishment, family and
peer conflict, school failure, and interaction with stressful life events ranging from family
breakup, unemployment, moving, feelings of dissatisfaction with friends and school to verbal
threats and air pollution.
According to Agnew, the greater the intensity and frequency of strain experiences, the
greater their impact and the more likely they are to cause criminality.
Sources of Strain
According to Agnew, communities contribute to strain in several ways:
■ They influence the goals people pursue and the ability people have to meet these goals.
■ They influence feelings of relative deprivation and exposure to aversive stimuli, including
family conflict incivility, and economic deprivation.
■ They influence the likelihood that angry, strain-filled individuals will interact with one
another.

Coping with Strain

Coping ability may be a function of both individual traits and personal experiences over the life
course. Personal temperament, prior learning of antisocial attitudes and behaviors, and
association with criminal peers who reinforce anger are among other factors affecting the ability
to cope.

Some defenses are cognitive; individuals may be able to rationalize frustrating

circumstances. Not getting the career they desire is “just not that important”; Others seek
behavioral solutions: they run away from adverse conditions or seek revenge against those who
caused the strain.
Evaluating GST
Agnew’s work is important because it both clarifies the concept of strain and directs future
research agendas. The model has been shown to predict crime and deviance within a number of
subject, racial, gender, and age groups. It also addresses the dynamic nature of criminal behavior:
levels of strain vary over the life course and so do crime rates.
One of the biggest question marks about GST is its ability to adequately explain gender
differences in the crime rate. Females experience as much or more strain, frustration, and anger
as males, but their crime rate is much lower.
 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
Social learning theory suggests that people learn the techniques and attitudes of crime from
close and intimate relationships with criminal peers; crime is a learned behavior.
Social learning theorists believe crime is a product of learning the norms, values, and behaviors
associated with criminal activity. The three most prominent forms of social learning theory:
differential association theory, differential reinforcement theory, and neutralization theory.

Differential Association Theory

One of the most prominent social learning theories is Edwin H. Sutherland’s differential
association theory. To Sutherland, criminality stemmed neither from individual traits nor from
socioeconomic position; instead ,he believed it to be a function of a learning process that could
affect any individual in any culture.
Principles of Differential Association: The basic principles of differential association are
explained as follows:

• Criminal behavior is learned

• Learning is a by-product of interaction
• Criminal techniques are learned
• Perceptions of the legal code influence motives and drives.
• Differential associations may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity
• The process of learning criminal behavior by association with criminal and anticriminal
patterns involves all of the mechanisms involved in any other learning process
• Criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, but it is not excused by
those general needs and values because noncriminal behavior is also an expression of
those same needs and values

A person becomes a criminal when he or she perceives more favorable than unfavorable
consequences to violating the law. According to Sutherland’s theory,individuals become law
violators when they are in contact with people, groups, or events that produce an excess of
definitions favorable toward criminality and are isolated from counteracting forces. A definition
favorable toward criminality occurs, for example, when a person is exposed to friends sneaking
into a theater to avoid paying for a ticket or talking about the virtues of getting high on drugs. A
definition unfavorable toward crime occurs when friends or parents demonstrate their
disapproval of crime.
Testing Differential Association Theory: Numerous research efforts have supported the core
principles of differential association. A recent meta analysis of the literature by Travis Pratt and
his associates found that the association between crime and measures of differential association
are “quite strong.
• Crime appears to be intergenerational. Kids whose parents are deviant and criminal are
more likely to become criminals themselves
• The more deviant an adolescent’s social network, partners, the more likely that
adolescent is to engage in antisocial behavior
• People who report having attitudes that support deviant behavior are also likely to engage
in deviant behavior
• Kids who associate and presumably learn from aggressive peers are more likely to
behave aggressively themselves
Differential association may also be used to explain the gender difference in the crime rate.
Males are more likely to socialize with deviant peers than females.
CRITICISM:
• Differential association theory fails to explain why one youth who is exposed to
delinquent definitions eventually succumbs to them, while another, living under the same
conditions, is able to avoid criminal entanglements.
• It fails to account for the origin of delinquent definitions: How did the first “teacher”
learn delinquent attitudes and definitions in order to pass them on? Who taught the
teacher?
• Critics argue that deviant attitudes follows rather than precedes criminality.

DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT THEORY:

Differential reinforcement theory is another attempt to explain crime as a type of learned

behavior. First proposed by Ronald Akers in collaboration with Robert Burgess in 1966, it is a
version of the social learning view that employs both differential association concepts along with
elements of psychological learning theory.
According to Akers, the same process is involved in learning both deviant and
conventional behavior. People learn to be neither “all deviant” nor “all conforming,” but
rather strike a balance between the two opposing poles of behavior. This balance is usually
stable, but it can undergo revision over time.
A number of learning processes shape behavior. Direct conditioning, also called
differential reinforcement, occurs when behavior is reinforced by being either rewarded
or punished while interacting with others. When behavior is punished, this is referred to as
negative reinforcement. Whether deviant or criminal behavior has been initiated or persists
depends on the degree to which it has been rewarded or punished and the rewards or
punishments attached to its alternatives.
Akers’s theory posits that the principal influence on behavior comes from “those groups
that control individuals’ major sources of reinforcement and punishment and expose them to
behavioral models and normative definitions.” The important groups are the ones with which a
person is in differential association—peer and friendship groups, schools, churches, and similar
institutions. According to Akers, “deviant behavior can be expected to the extent that it has been
differentially reinforced over alternative behavior and is defined as desirable or justified.

NEUTRALIZATION THEORY

Neutralization theory is identified with the writings of David Matza and his associate Gresham
Sykes. They view the process of becoming a criminal as a learning experience in which potential
delinquents and criminals master techniques that enable them to counterbalance or neutralize
conventional values and drift back and forth between illegitimate and conventional behavior.
One reason this is possible is the subterranean value structure of American society. Subterranean
values are morally tinged influences that have become entrenched in the culture but are publicly
condemned.
Sykes and Matza base their theoretical model on these observations:
• Criminals sometimes voice a sense of guilt over their illegal acts
• Offenders frequently respect and admire honest, law-abiding people
• Criminals draw a line between those whom they can victimize and those whom they
cannot.
• Criminals are not immune to the demands of conformity

TECHNIQUES OF NEUTRALIZATION:
Sykes and Matza suggest that people develop a distinct set of justifications for their law-violating
behavior. These techniques of neutralization include the following patterns:
• Deny responsibility
• Deny injury
• Deny the victim
• Condemn condemners
• Appeal to higher loyalties
Are learning theories valid?
Learning theories make a significant contribution to our understanding of the onset of criminal
behavior, but at the same time they fail to adequately explain spontaneous and wanton acts of
violence and damage and other expressive crimes. Little evidence exists substantiating that
people learn the techniques that enable them to become criminals before they actually commit
criminal acts.
SOCIAL REACTION THEORY (LABELING THEORY)
Social reaction theory (labeling theory) says people become criminals when significant
members of society label them as such, and they accept those labels as a personal identity.
Social reaction theory, commonly called labeling theory (the two terms are used
interchangeably here), explains how criminal careers form based on destructive social
interactions and encounters. Its roots are found in the symbolic interaction theory of sociologists
Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead, and later, Herbert Blumer. Symbolic
interaction theory holds that people communicate via symbols—gestures, signs, words, or
images—that stand for or represent something else. For example, a gold band on your ring finger
conveys many meanings: married; stable;sexually off limits; conventional.
Social reaction theory picks up on these concepts of interaction and interpretation.
Throughout their lives,people are given a variety of symbolic labels and ways tointeract with
others. These labels represent behavior and attitude characteristics; labels help define not just one
trait but the whole person. People labeled insane are also assumed to be dangerous, dishonest,
unstable, violent, strange, and otherwise unsound. Valued labels, including smart, honest, and
hard working, suggest overall competence.These labels can improve self-image and social
standing. In contrast, negative labels—including troublemaker, mentally ill, and stupid—help
stigmatize the recipients of these labels and reduce their self-image.

Beyond these immediate results, labeling advocates maintain that, depending

on the visibility of the label and the manner and severity with which it is
applied, a person will have an increasing commitment to a deviant career.

INTERPRETING CRIME

Howard Becker sums up the importance of the audience’s reaction:

Social groups create deviance by making rules whose infractions
constitute deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and
labeling them as outsiders. From this point of view, deviance is not a quality
of the act a person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by
others of rules and sanctions to an “offender.” The deviant is one to whom
the label has successfully been applied;deviant behavior is behavior that
people so label.
For example: The difference between a forcible rape and a consensual
sexual encounter often rests on whom the members of a jury believe and how
they interpret the events that took place.

DIFFERENTIAL REINFORCEMENT:
 An important principle of social reaction theory is that the law is differentially applied,
benefiting those who hold economic and social power and penalizing the powerless. Minorities
and the poor are more likely to be prosecuted for criminal offenses and to receive harsher
punishments when convicted.

Consequences of Labeling

This labeling process is important because once they are stigmatized as troublemakers,
adolescents begin to reassess their self-image. Parents who label their children as troublemakers
promote deviance amplification.
• Joining Deviant Cliques
• Retrospective Reading
• Dramatization of Evil

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DEVIANCE

One of the best-known views of the labeling process is Edwin Lemert’s concept of
primary deviance and secondary deviance. According to Lemert, primary deviance involves
norm violations or crimes that have very little influence on the actor and can be quickly
forgotten.
In contrast, secondary deviance occurs when a deviant event comes to the attention of
significant others or social control agents who apply a negative label. The newly labeled
offender then reorganizes his or her behavior and personality around the consequences of the
deviant act.
Secondary deviance involves resocialization into a deviant role. The labeled person is
transformed into one who, according to Lemert, “employs his behavior or a role based upon it as
a means of defense, attack, or adjustment to the overt and covert problems created by the
consequent social reaction to him.” Secondary deviance produces a deviance
amplification effect.

IS LABELING THEORY VALID?

Labeling theory has been the subject of academic debate in criminological circles. Those who
criticize it point to its inability to specify the conditions that must exist before an act or
individual is labeled deviant. Many criminal careers occur without labeling; that labeling often
comes after, rather than before, chronic offending; and that criminal careers.
EVALUATING SOCIAL PROCESS THEORIES
Public policy Implications of Social Process Theory

Advocates of the social learning approach argue that they can “unlearn” them by being
exposed to definitions toward conventional behavior. It is common today for residential and
nonresidential programs to offer treatment programs that teach offenders about the harmfulness
of drugs, how to forgo delinquent behavior, and how to stay in school. If learning did not affect
behavior, such exercises would be futile. Control theories have also influenced criminal justice
and other public policy. Programs have been developed to increase people’s commitment to
conventional lines of action. The influence of labeling theory can be viewed in the development
of diversion and restitution programs.
 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY

• The word delinquency has been extracted from the Latin word 'Delinquere' which means
to leave or to abandon.
• It is a combination of two words . Juvenile and Delinquent.
• Juvenile means any one under the age of 18.
• Section 2 (b) of Juvenile Justice system ordinance 2000 defines juvenile as,” A juvenile
as any person below the age of 18 years.
• Juvenile Justice system Act 2018 defines Juvenile according to the definition of UNCRC
as ‘A person who has not attained the age of eighteen years.
• Delinquent means one who is under the age of 18 and violates social laws.
• So the Juvenile delinquency can be defined as " An individual under the age of 18 fails to
abide the laws is known as Juvenile Delinquency."
• As defined by Merriam Webster online dictionary ,” Juvenile Delinquency is conduct by
juvenile characterized by antisocial behavior that is beyond parental control and therefore
subject to legal action.
• Juvenile Delinquency According to FBI:” According to the FBI, a juvenile is anyone
under the age of 18 regardless of how each individual state defines a juvenile. A
delinquent is an individual who fails to obey the laws. Juvenile delinquency is defined as
an individual under the age of 18 who fails to abide by the laws.”
• It is one of the type of crime committed by children under the age of 18.
• The treatment for Juvenile and adult is different from each other.
• Criminal activities, persistent anti social behavior and disobedience of parents.
• There is a separate judicial system for both the offenders.
• A juvenile who has committed a adult crime can be considered for either juvenile court or
adult court. But this is not the case the adult offender.
Theories on Juvenile Delinquency:
There are three common theories on juvenile delinquency.

Anomie Theory: The anomie theory was first written in the 1940s by Robert Merton. Merton's
theory explains that juvenile delinquency occurs because the juveniles do not have the means to
make themselves happy. Their goals are unattainable within legal means so they find unlawful
means by which to attain their goals. An example would be a juvenile who has had a goal to get
a job and purchase a car. The juvenile is not able to find a job to make money so he either steals
a car or he steals money to purchase a car.

Subculture Theory: Another theory about juvenile delinquency is the subculture theory. In
1955, Albert Cohen developed the subculture theory, which is a culmination of several of his
theories. The subculture theory is much like it sounds; juveniles that do not meet the social
standards seek validation from a subculture. The subculture group is formed of other juveniles
who also do not meet the social standards. These groups then act in manners that are not socially
acceptable and rebel against the socially acceptable standards. According to Cohen, juvenile
delinquency is a product of society. The juveniles commit crimes, such as stealing, because it is
not a social norm, and they do it to fit in with their subculture.

Differential Opportunity Theory: Differential opportunity theory, developed by Richard

Cloward and Lloyd Ohlin in 1960, believes that opportunity plays a role in juvenile delinquency.
Cloward and Ohlin's theory states that if juveniles have more opportunities to succeed, then they
would be less likely to turn to subculture groups for validation. Additionally, the differential
opportunity theory believes that there can be other circumstances besides social factors that add
to a juvenile's delinquency.

Types of delinquency
There are four main types of juvenile delinquency:
• Individual Delinquency
• Group-supported Delinquency
• Organized Delinquency
• Situational Delinquency

1. Individual Delinquency
• This refers to delinquency in which only one individual is involved in committing a
delinquent act and its cause is located within the individual delinquent.
• Most of the explanations of this delinquent behavior come from psychiatrists.
• Their argument is that delinquency is caused by psychological problems stemming
primarily from defective/faulty/pathological family interaction patterns.
• Healy and Bronner (1936) compared delinquent youths with their non-delinquent siblings
and analyzed the difference between them.

2. Group-Supported Delinquency
• In this type, delinquencies are committed in companionship with others and the cause is
located not in the personality of the individual or in the delinquent's family but in the
culture of the individual's home and neighborhood.
• The studies of Thrasher and Shaw and McKay talk of this type of delinquency.
• The main finding in understanding why the young became delinquent was their
association and companionship with others already delinquent.
• This was later put very clearly by Sutherland, who developed the theory of differential
association.

3. Organized Delinquency
• This type refers to delinquencies that are committed by formally organized groups.
• These delinquencies were analyzed in the United States in the 1950s and the concept of
'delinquent subculture' was developed.
 • This concept refers to the set of values and norms that guide the behavior of group
members and encourages them to commit delinquencies.
• Cohen was the first person to refer to this type of delinquency. He was followed by
Cloward and Ohlin and a few others.

4. Situational Delinquency
• A young man indulges in a delinquent act without having a deep commitment to
delinquency because of less developed impulse- control and/or because of weaker
reinforcement of family restraints, and because he has relatively little to lose even if
caught.
• David Matza is one scholar who refers to this type of delinquency.
• However, the concept of situational delinquency is undeveloped and is not given much
relevance in the problem of delinquency causation.

Predictors Of Juvenile Delinquency

There are following predictors:
• Abnormal or slow development skills ( Speech , Language )
• Chronic violation of the rules
• Serious aggressive behavior.
• Impulsive nature

Circumstances constitute for a child to become a delinquent .

• Authoritarian Parenting
• Peer Rejection
• Permissive parenting
• Neglectful parenting
• Indulgent parenting
• Poor academic records

Major causes of Juvenile delinquency

The causes of juvenile delinquency can be characterized into four major parts.
I. Psychological Factors
II. Economic Factors
III. Political Factors
IV. Social Factors

Different criminologist and sociologist have pointed out different causes for juvenile
delinquency. The major and most widely accepted causes are as follows:
 1. Family ( Broken family, single parenting, sibling rivalry, psychological problems,
separated families, parents fight, criminal parents etc.
2. Economic problems in family ( Poor family status )
3. Psychological problems in family ( Mental illness , depression,frustration, aggression,
or hyper behavior ).
4. Social problems in family (Gender discrimination, age discrimination,racial
discrimination and child labor etc. )
5. Moral problems in family ( Parents failed some time to taught to their children about
moral values like how to respect their elders).
6. Parenting Family ( Parenting lifestyle , talking style , rude behavior etc.

Some other causes of juvenile delinquency

• Urbanization
• Population explosion
• Poverty

JUVENILE LAW: STATUS OFFENSES

Some acts are considered criminal only when minors commit them; these are called juvenile
status offenses. Common examples of status offenses include underage drinking, skipping
school, and violating a local curfew law.

Types of Status Offenses

• Truancy (skipping school)
• violating a city or county curfew
• underage possession and consumption of alcohol
• underage possession and use of tobacco
• running away, and
• ungovernability (being beyond the control of parents or guardians)
How States Handle Status Offenses Traditionally, status offenses were handled exclusively
through the juvenile justice system. But in the 1960s and 1970s, many states began to view status
offense violations as a warning signal that a child needed better supervision.
For the most part, state goals in dealing with status offenses became threefold:
• to preserve families
• to ensure public safety, and
• to prevent young people from becoming delinquent or committing crimes in the future.
In this vein, the 1974 Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act emphasized "deinstitutionalizing" status
offenses. This meant giving prosecutors broad discretion to divert status offense cases away from
juvenile court and toward other government agencies that could better provide services to at-risk
juveniles.
States approach status offenses in a number of different ways. In some states, a child who
commits a status offense may end up in juvenile court. In other jurisdictions, the state's child
welfare agency is the first to deal with the problem.
Penalties for Status Offenses:
Common penalties for status offense violations include:
• suspending the juvenile's driver's license
• requiring the juvenile to pay a fine or restitution
• placing the juvenile with someone other than a parent or guardian (such as a relative,
foster home, or group home), or
• ordering the juvenile to attend a counseling or education program

Curfew Violations: Curfew violations are the subject of some controversy. Curfew laws are
established locally, by cities or counties. Typically, they prohibit young people under a certain
age (usually 18) from being in a public place during certain hours (between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.,
for example). For the most part, local governing bodies enact curfews with the goal of preventing
juvenile crime and keeping the peace.
How curfew violations are handled. In some jurisdictions, police bring curfew violators to a
center where they must wait to be picked up by a parent or guardian. Often, the police officer is
given discretion to issue a warning or simply take the minor home. Sometimes the curfew
violator faces fines, mandatory community service, enrollment in after-school programs, or the
loss of driver's license privileges. In extreme cases, a curfew violator might end up in juvenile
hall.

Truancy: A minor is considered truant if she or he skips school without a valid excuse and
without the knowledge of a parent or guardian. Truancy accounts for the majority of status
offense cases in the juvenile system, and studies have show a strong link between truancy and
future delinquency, not to mention difficulty in school. For this reason, many states, counties,
and schools have begun to crack down on truancy.

Need for a Separate Juvenile Justice System

The basis for the juvenile justice system, separate from the adult criminal justice system, has
been provided by social construction of the childhood (Jensen & Jorgen, 2006). At this stage
(Childhood/Adolescence) the child's mental and physical faculties are not developed to the level
of an adult. The child lacks the ability to realize what he/she exactly is doing and what will be
the consequences of his/her actions (Junger-Tas, 2006). Therefore, he/she can not be held
responsible for his/her actions unlike adults. On the basis of this notion children in conflict with
law are in need of nurturing and guidance to grow into responsible adults, and they deserve a
chance to rectify their law violating actions (Jensen & Jorgen, 2006). This is one of the reasons,
put forward by international jurists, policy makers and criminologists, for a specialized criminal
justice system for juveniles.Secondly, it has been found by the researches that in most of the
juvenile cases they have been used by the adults. The juveniles are unaware of the consequences
of their act and therefore they less deserve to be blamed for an offence (Jensen & Jorgen, 2006).
Therefore, a juvenile justice system separate from the adult criminal justice system is justifiable
and the children below a certain age should be dealt with differently than the adult criminals.

Juvenile Justice System in Pakistan

Pakistan is a signatory to the CRC and other agreements. Article 3 (1) of the CRC states that:
“In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare
institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of
the child shall be a primary consideration.”
Article 4 states that:
“State Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for
the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic,
social and cultural rights, State Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of
their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international co-
operation.”

Some of the other important laws dealing with juveniles in Pakistan are: ·
• Sindh Children Act, 1955;·
• Punjab Children Ordinance, 1983;
• Punjab Youthful Offenders Ordinance, 1983
• Sindh Borstal Schools Act, 1955;
• Punjab Borstal Act, 1926;·
• Punjab Supervision & Control of Children Homes Act, 1976;·
• Reformatory Schools Act, 1897;·
• Juvenile Smoking Ordinance, 1959;·
• Probation of Offenders Ordinance, 1960;·
• Employment of Children Act, 1991; and·
• Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992
• Juvenile Justice System Ordinance,2000
• Juvenile Justice System Act,2018
 The Juvenile Justice System Act of 2018
On May 18 2018, the President of Pakistan approved the Juvenile Justice System Act (JJSA)
2018, which was passed by the Parliament earlier this year. JJSA 2018 overcomes the
shortcomings which were present in Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000, and provides a
much better system for criminal justice and social reintegration for juvenile offenders. The Act
defines a child according to the definition of UNCRC as ‘a person who has not attained the age
of eighteen years’.

JJS Act 2018 classifies the criminal offences into following three different categories: 1) Minor,
which means an offence for which maximum punishment under the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 is
imprisonment for up to three years with or without fine. A juvenile is entitled to bail in minor
offences, with or without surety bonds by Juvenile court. 2) Major, which means an offence for
which punishment under the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 is imprisonment of more than three
years and up to seven years with or without fine. Bail shall also be granted in major offences
with or without surety bonds by juvenile court. 3)Heinous, which means an offence which is
serious, brutal, or shocking to public morality and which is punishable under the Pakistan Penal
Code, 1860 with death or imprisonment for life or imprisonment for more than seven years with
or without fine. A juvenile of less than sixteen years of age is entitled to bail in heinous offences,
but a bail is on discretion of court if juvenile is more than sixteen years of age.

The JJSA 2018 is very different from JJSO 2000, and the following are some of its salient new
features. 1) Right of legal assistance: every juvenile or child victim of an offence shall have the
right of legal assistance at the expense of the State. A juvenile shall be informed about his right
of legal assistance within 24 hours of taking him into custody.

2) Observation home: this means a place where a juvenile is kept temporarily after being
apprehended by police as well as after obtaining remand from juvenile court or otherwise for
conducting inquiry or investigation. Observation Homes shall be made separately from police
stations.

3) Juvenile rehabilitation centres: this is a special kind of prison established exclusively for
keeping juvenile offenders. The convicted juvenile, shall be confined to the premises till the
completion of period of imprisonment or until they turn 18 years of age. Here convicts can
receive an education as well as vocational or technical training for their development and
includes certified institutions including women crises centres.

4) Determination of age mechanism: JJS Act 2018 makes it compulsory upon the ranking
officer-in-charge, or the investigation officer, to make an enquiry to determine the age of any
such alleged offender, who physically appears or claims to be a juvenile. Age shall be
determined on basis of accused person’s birth certificate, educational certificates or any other
pertinent documents. In absence of such documents, age of such accused person may be
determined on the basis of a medical examination report by a medical officer.

5) Disposal of cases through diversion: this is an alternative process of determining the

responsibility and treatment of a juvenile on the basis of his social, cultural, economic,
psychological and educational background, without resorting to formal judicial proceedings. The
complaint against a juvenile shall be referred to the Juvenile Justice Committee for disposal
through diversion. All offences, either minor or major, shall be compoundable for purpose of
diversion. For major offences, diversion can only be exercised if the age of the juvenile is not
more than 16 years.

6) Juvenile Justice Committee: this shall dispose of cases through diversion within a period of
one month from the date of the referral. The Committee shall dispose of a case with consent of
the complainant by resorting to different options, including restitution of movable property,
reparation of the damage caused, written or oral apology, participation in community service,
payments of fine and costs of the proceedings, placement in juvenile rehabilitation centre; and
written and oral reprimand. If the offence has been committed against a State and not against an
individual; the Committee may dispose of the case through diversion with consent of the
concerned public prosecutor. The Committee shall also perform inspection of Observation
Homes and Juvenile Rehabilitation Centres and may give directions to concerned persons for
welfare and social re-integration of juveniles kept in these places.

The J.J. Committee is set to consist of four members, including a serving Judicial Magistrate
with powers under section 30 of CrPC (Head of Committee); District Public Prosecutor; Member
of local Bar having at least 7 years experience, appointed by the concerned Sessions Judge for a
period of 2 years; and serving probation officer or social welfare officer not below BPS-17. One
thing that is missing is the presence of a qualified child rights activist that understands the plight
of the underage victims, and is equipped to deal with their issues.

7) Separate challan and trial of juvenile offenders: a juvenile shall not be charged with and
tried for an offence together with an adult person. But if it is in the interests of justice to hold a
joint trial of a juvenile and an adult, the juvenile court may dispense with the physical presence
of the juvenile and they may be allowed to join the Court proceedings through audio-visual
technology link.

8) Imposition of penalty for disclosure of identity of juvenile or to publish proceedings of

juvenile court: JJS Act 2018 exclusively bars revealing the identity of an accused juvenile to the
public without the authorisation in writing of the juvenile or their next-of-kin. The S.H.O,
investigating officer or the juvenile court can also grant permission in this regard.
9) Special provisions for female juveniles: Female juveniles shall not in any circumstances be
apprehended or investigated by a male police officer or released on probation under supervision
of a male officer. A female juvenile shall only be kept in a Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre
established or certified exclusively for female inmates.

10) Removal of disqualification attached with conviction: A juvenile offender convicted

under the provisions of JJS Act 2018 shall not suffer a disqualification, if any attaching to a
conviction of an offence under such law.

11) Preventive Detention: No child shall be arrested under any of the laws dealing with
preventive detention or under the provisions of chapter VIII of the Code of criminal procedure.

Juvenile Justice Policy and Role of Key Stakeholders

Some of the guiding principles for a juvenile justice policy in Pakistan:
• All children in conflict with law should be dealt with courtesy and mercifully
• All children in conflict with law shall be treated equally and they shall not be
discriminated on any ground.
• The best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration in all processes of
juvenile justice administration.
• All forms of abuse and violence shall be prohibited in all juvenile justice processes.
• Family and religion and other institutions shall be strengthened for the reintegration of
the child and prevention of delinquency.

A juvenile justice system consists of police, probation, prosecution, courts, and the correctional
institutions like prisons, borstal institutions, day care centers, remand homes etc.

A. Role of Police in Juvenile Justice System:

1. Court referrals: Police officers generally bring in or summon young offenders to the
police department's juvenile division. At the time of an arrest officers decide whether to
refer young offenders to juvenile court or to route these cases out of the justice system.
Police account for most referrals to juvenile court.
2. Status offenses: Police officers handle noncriminal behavior -- known as status offenses
– involving juveniles. Police also intervene in non-delinquent cases in which youngsters
are reported missing or believed to have been abused or neglected. Officers investigate
these situations by interviewing the alleged victims, their parents or guardians, school
officials and others associated with the victims.
3. Protective Service: For juveniles ,police protection might call for removing children
from an abusive home or transporting them to a shelter or hospital if they've been
abandoned. Officers are usually the first on the scene when a child is left home alone,
locked inside a car during extreme hot or cold weather conditions or not strapped into a
car seat as required for infants or toddlers.
4. Education: Police officers sometimes partner with education officials and teachers to
deter criminal behavior among youngsters. Officers visit classrooms as invited guests to
warn students about the consequences of taking and selling drugs.
5. Arrest Alternatives: Arrest and detention aren't the only choices police offer juvenile
offenders. Sometimes police bring young offenders in for questioning, give them a
warning and release them to a parent or guardian.
6. Training: Community leaders in some states recognize that police officers need training
to work with a growing population of juvenile offenders. The International Association of
Chiefs of Police survey, ―2011 Juvenile Justice Training Needs Assessment,‖ shows that
police chiefs generally want officers to learn the skills needed to work more effectively
with young offenders.

B. Role of Prosecution
Prosecution is a liaison department between the police and the court. Prosecution
plays a pivotal role in the administration of justice. According to Black's Law Dictionary,
“Prosecution is a proceeding instituted and carried on by due process of law, before a
competent tribunal (court), for the purpose of determining the guilt or innocence of a
person charged with a crime” (Prosecution, 1999). A prosecutor or public prosecutor is
an expert of the law to represent the state, in court proceedings, against the law breaker.
It is recommended that the prosecutors dealing with child cases must ensure
proper recording of age in line with Section 7 of the JJSO 2000. it can be done through
medical tests, if no other document is available. It is the prosecution department which
has to make it certain and ensure that the investigations are properly and timely
completed by the police in the stipulated time as required by the law under Section 173 of
the Criminal Procedure Code of Pakistan.
The District Public Prosecutors (DPP) should perform their duty of taking
disciplinary actions against the Investigation Officers who prepare the final report
(chalan) inefficiently, misrepresent the facts, and who do not exercise due diligence or
honesty in conducting investigation etc [Section 5(d) of the Prosecution Ordinance 2005].
Strict departmental actions are also needed to be taken against the prosecutor who fails to
put the Chalan (Final Report) in the court after the investigations are complete.

C. Role of Judiciary/Courts
Judiciary is the third pillar of the state which is responsible for its legal system and which
consists of all the judges in the country's courts of law. A juvenile court is the court
 responsible for holding hearings and making decisions regarding disposition of juveniles
who have entered the juvenile justice process.
The courts in Pakistan are suffering from various problems. Section 4 of the JJSO
2000 provides for the establishment of separate juvenile courts by the Provincial
Governments. This ordinance provides a good detail of the juvenile court proceedings but
the establishment of exclusive juvenile courts has yet to be realized.

G. Role of Probation
Imprisonment is not the only way to respond to the criminals. There are various
alternative methods to imprisonment including probation which is arguably one of the most
progressive contributions to modern criminal policy.
Those offenders who, according to the court, are likely to be reformed, and who are not
dangerous to society, are not sentenced to imprisonment and are kept on probation under the
supervision of the state-probation officer. Probation is “a period of time when a criminal
must behave well and not commit any more crimes in order to avoid being sent to prison”
Probation department in Pakistan performs its functions under The Good Conduct Prisoner's
Probation Release Act 1926.
Section 10 (3) of the JJSO 2000 provides for all those juveniles who can not be released
on bail by the court “should be placed under the custody of a Probation Officer or suitable
person or institution dealing with the welfare of the children if parent or guardian of the child
is not present, but shall not under any circumstances be kept in a police station or jail in such
cases”

Role of Associated Agencies:

Juvenile justice policy must take into account the various secondary components and
associated agencies of the juvenile justice system as well. The Social Welfare Department
should be utilized to a greater extent for devising diversionary programmes.
 CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
INTRODUCTION: Crime is world phenomena and with course of time it is going to be a
complicated one. All over the world especially in technically developed countries,
criminologists, detectives are adopting new methods to beat the crime through latest criminal
investigation techniques. But in the country like Pakistan the sources of criminal
investigation are mostly the same as were in the past.

DEFINITION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION:

"A lawful search for people and things to reconstruct the circumstances of an illegal act,
apprehend or determine the guilty party, and aid in the states prosecution of the offender"
OR
―The collection of information and evidence for identifying, apprehending, and convicting
suspected offenders.
OR
" Investigation" is a word confined to proceedings of Magistrates, and that "Inquiry" is the
word appropriate to the proceedings of Magistrates prior to trial.
Section 4(l) of Code of Criminal Procedure defines Investigation as following:-
“Investigation includes all the proceedings under this code for the collection of evidence
conducted by a police officer who is authorized by a Magistrate in this behalf.”

Evidence means ―anything that tends to prove or disprove anything.

In strict sense of Qanun-e-Shahdat Order 1984, evidence includes:
• All statement which the court permits or requires to be made before it by witness in
relation to matters of fact under inquiry; such statements are called Oral Evidence
• All documents produced for the inspection of the court, such documents are called
Documentary Evidence.
Investigation begins with a response to a reported incident i. e; lodging of FIR u/s 154 Cr.P.C,
and ends when it is closed either with the assessment that there is no sound evidence that the
crime was committed (cancellation report) or with the submission of one or more reports
describing what was done.

GOALS OF INVESTIGATION:
• To recognize evidence.
• To Collect Evidence
• Preservation of Evidence.
• Documentation of crime and other proceedings.
POWERS OF POLICE OFFICERS UNDER CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
REGARDING INVESTIGATION:

1. Under sec. 156 of the code of Criminal procedure 1898, a police officer is authorized to
conduct investigation in cognizable cases without order of the Magistrate,
2. A police officer may by order in writing require the attendance of any person who from
information given or otherwise appears to be acquainted with the circumstances of the case u/s
160 Cr.P.C.
3. Under Section 161 Cr.P.C. a police officer may examine orally any person supposed to be
acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the case
4. Police officer shall day by day enter his proceedings in investigation diary u/s 172 Cr.P.C.

DEFECTS IN INVESTIGATION CARRIED OUT IN PAKISTAN:

1. Lack of proper knowledge of prescribed procedures to conduct investigation
2. Lack of Professionalism
3. Biased Investigation, Lack of Impartiality
4. Role of Logic, Good Observation and Good Judgment
5. Integrity
6. Improper Documentation
7. Chain Of Custody
8. Delay
REMEDIES:
1. Reorganization of investigation wing
2. Development of investigation protocols
3. Development of professional attitude
4. Independence of investigation wing
5. Punishment of investigator for corrupt practices
6. Proper Training & Continuous Professional Development
Purpose and goals of criminal investigation
➢ Prevention of crime
➢ Promote justice
➢ Brings order in the society.

The complete investigation can be included following steps:

1. Searching
2. Interviewing
3. Evidence collection
4. Preservation
5. Some other methods that may vary from case to case
Types of criminal investigation
1. There are following major types of investigation.
2. Fraud investigation
3. Theft investigation
4. Sexual crime investigation
5. Homicide investigation
6. Assault investigation
7. Kidnapping investigation
8. Crime scene investigation

Principles of Criminal Investigation

There are following necessary that must be fulfill in every investigation.
1. Transparency In Investigation
2. Accuracy in Investigation
3. Confidentiality In Investigation
4. Exercise of Legal Power should not be oppressed
5. Complete Understanding
6. Regard for Vulnerable People
7. Respect For Professional Ethics

INVESTIGATION PROCESS
The type of activity investigators engage in and the material gathered varies depending on
whether investigations use the reactive or proactive method. However, they all go through
similar stages, as shown in the process of investigation diagram.

Instigation
A criminal investigation can be instigated using either a reactive or proactive approach.
Reactive investigations can start with:
• Reports from the general public
• Referral by other agencies
• Intelligence links to other crimes (linked series)
• Re-Investigation as a result of new information
• A consequence of other police actions
Proactive investigations can start from an intelligence package identifying groups or individuals
who are assessed as being involved in ongoing criminal activity. They are often generated as a
result of the tasking and coordination (T&C) process, and allocated for further investigation.
Intelligence packages may include:
• Crime pattern analysis
• Network analysis
• Operational intelligence assessment
 • Problem profiles
• Market profiles
• Subject analysis
• Tactical assessment
• Criminal business analysis
• Tactical profiles

Call takers
Initial telephone contact between victims and witnesses with the police service should be
regarded as the start of the investigative process. The call is an opportunity to obtain accurate
and relevant information.

Crime screening
The call handler, at the point of initial report, determines the response to a crime. They must
decide whether it warrants the deployment of a response unit, referral to a crime recording
bureau, or if it should be recorded as an incident requiring no further action (NFA).

2. Initial investigation
Most crimes reported to the police are not major incidents and usually the officer who first
attends is the only resource that is required. This officer may be the investigator throughout the
enquiry.
The quality of the investigation is a significant factor in gathering material that leads to the
detection of a crime. it is vital that those who conduct the initial investigation ensure that
material is not lost.
Officers initially deployed to an incident are likely to have a number of competing demands
placed on them. These demands include:
• Dealing with a violent situation
• Providing first aid and calling for medical assistance
• Reassuring victims and witnesses
• Preventing public disorder
Fast Track Actions: These are defined as: any investigative actions which, if pursued
immediately, are likely to establish important facts, preserve evidence or lead to the early
resolution of the investigation. Identifying these actions during the initial investigation stage
produces the most effective outcome. A delay in protecting, preserving or gathering material
may result in evidence being contaminated or lost.
Factors :The following factors should be considered at the initial investigation:
1. scene management (identify and preserve)
2. material (identify other potential evidence sources)
3. who is the investigating officer?
4. risk management
5. what is the limit of the initial attending officer‘s role?
6. communication
7. record keeping
8. handover and briefing
9. community impact
10. initial fast track actions
11. investigative interviewing (witness, victim and offender)
12. initial search (access routes, exit routes, places where offenders are likely to have been).

The initial investigation phase is concluded when a number of actions have been completed.
These include:
1. the investigator obtaining an account from the victim and any witnesses who are immediately
available (individual force policy will determine whether this a witness statement (MG11),
notebook entry or verbal account)
2. the immediate needs of victims and witnesses have been met
3. the crime scene examination has been instigated
4. all fast-track actions indicated by the material to hand have been taken
5. all records required by the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (CPIA) and
individual force policy have been made
6. all intelligence gathered during the initial investigation has been submitted.

FURTHER INVESTIGATION
Where a crime or intelligence package is allocated for further investigation, investigators should
develop a clear plan for how they intend to bring the investigation to a successful conclusion.
The investigative plan should include the following factors:
• Specific objectives of the investigation
• Investigative strategies that are used to achieve those objectives
• Resource requirements
In circumstances where the initial investigation and evaluation have led to the identification of a
suspect, and there is sufficient material to justify interviewing the suspect under caution, the
investigation is likely to move straight into the suspect management phase.

SUSPECT MANAGEMENT
Where a person is suspected of committing an offence, Guidance 10A of Code C of the Codes of
Practice to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 requires there to be some reasonable,
objective grounds, based on known facts or information, which are relevant to the likelihood that
the offence has been committed and the person to be questioned committed it.
CASE MANAGEMENT
Once the suspect has been charged, there are a number of matters which investigators must
manage before a case goes to court. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and police are jointly
responsible for the prosecution of the case after a suspect has been charged.
Material: Material of any kind, including information and objects, which is obtained in the
course of a criminal investigation and which may be relevant to the investigation.
Sources Of Material:
Material can be gathered from various different sources. These include:
• Victims
• Witnesses
• Suspects
• Scenes (which includes scenes of crime, the victim, suspects and their premises)
• Passive data generators, eg, cctv, telephone records, banking and credit card records
• Intelligence databases
• Communications between the police and experts.
Formats of material:
1. Statements
2. Documents
3. Reports
4. Physical exhibits
5. Fingerprints
6. Images
7. Audio or video recordings
Material Generated The amount of material that is generated by a criminal investigation
depends on a number of factors such as:
• Whether a crime is spontaneous or planned
• The offender‘s criminal experience
• The number of people who know the offender and the victim.

REASONABLE AND RELEVANT ENQUIRIES

When investigators conduct reasonable enquiries and gather relevant material, it is important that
they remember the following points:
1. Review – consider further relevant lines of enquiry or more relevant material
2. Record – keep a log of material and enquiries made
3. Retain – keep material in a durable format and/or copy
4. Reveal – if a prosecution takes place the relevant material will be scheduled for the prosecutor

RELEVANT MATERIAL: The golden hour principle will assist investigators to

maximise the quantity of relevant material gathered.
 Criminal Investigative Analysis (CIA)
Criminal Investigative Analysis (CIA), also known as criminal profiling, is an investigative tool
used within the law enforcement community to help solve violent crimes. The analysis is based
on a review of evidence from the crime scene and from witnesses and victims. The analysis is
done from both an investigative and a behavioural perspective. The analysis can provide insight
into the unknown offender (characteristics and traits) as well as investigative suggestions and
strategies for interviews and trial.

CIA services can assist in the investigation of interpersonal violence, particularly homicide and
sexual assault cases. CIA is suitable for single-incident or serial cases with one or more victims,
including:

o homicides;
o kidnapping, including infant kidnapping;
o sexual assault;
o child molestation and abuse;
o hostage taking;
o bombings;
o arson;
o threat cases; and
o extortion.

CIA analysts are experienced investigators with extensive training in behavioural analysis.

CONSULTING SERVICES:The consulting services that CIA analysts offer to criminal

investigators include the following areas:

Personality Profile: This is a detailed behavioural analysis to derive information about an

unknown offender.

Indirect Personality Assessment: This is an assessment of a known individual believed to be

responsible for committing a violent crime. The assessment, based on an evaluation of the
individual's personality, can help to determine:

o whether or not the suspect's personality fits the crime under investigation;
o suspect's strengths, weaknesses and areas of vulnerability ;
o interview techniques appropriate for the suspect;
o strategies for a successful undercover operation;
o strategies for negotiating successfully with a hostage-taker;
o strategies for investigating offenders of sexual homicide or serial rape,
particularly to elicit predictable actions on the part of the offender; and
o most appropriate trial and courtroom strategy.
Equivocal Death Analysis: This is an in-depth crime scene reconstruction undertaken to provide
an opinion on the manner of death: homicide, suicide, accidental death, death by natural causes,
or death by misadventure. This is generally done in conjunction with a psychological autopsy.

Assessment of Threat or Extortion Communications: To assess the validity of the threat and
the level of risk to the victim.

Consulting to Provide Expert Analysis: A CIA analyst can provide services such as:

1. crime scene reconstruction;

2. expert evidence/reports to coroner's inquest;
3. expert opinions for use in search warrant and privacy act applications;
4. expert evidence/reports regarding the 'signature' of serial violent offenders;
5. analysis of stalking cases;
6. research on unusual areas of expert examination;and
7. consultation on media strategy and releases.

Different Approaches to Profiling

Academic literature has described three general approaches of the offender profiling process:
1) criminal investigative,
2) clinical practitioner, and
3) scientific statistical (empirical) approach.
Historically, the criminal investigative approach stems from the original process developed by
the FBI‘s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) in the 1970s.
The clinical practitioner application relies heavily on the individual‘s level of experience and
ability to draw inferences from crime scene information, which some people suggest differs little
from the criminal investigative approach, except for the noticeable absence of the requirement
for extensive investigative experience. In contrast, the empirical approach adheres to statistical
methods aimed at detecting global patterns and trends and largely is based on multivariate
analyses of behavioral information found at the crime scene to infer offender characteristics.
 Stop Operation
• A brief detention of a person based on specific and articulable facts for purpose of
investigating suspicious activity.
• No warning is required.
• This operation is different from arrest.
• It is of short duration, after the brief inquiry the person go to free.
• An officer can stop anyone on the basis of suspicion and any information about that
person who is criminal or going to commit an offence or act of crime.
• An officer can stop a person in public, a pedestrian or on vehicle.

There may be following process in the whole stop operation:

• Identification
• Duration of stop
• Explanation given to stop person
• Rights of detained person
• Effect of no cooperation
• Stopping witness near the scene of a crime
• Stopping vehicle

Frisk Operation
• Frisk operation is a reasonable and limited search or dangerous weapons done by mostly
law enforcement agencies say Police.
• There is no need for an officer to identify factual facts and information to conduct Frisk
Operation.
• Any small suspicion and hint of doubt is enough for an officer to conduct Frisk.
• In practical, a person who refuses to cooperate in a Stop operation can lead towards Frisk
Operation .
• Other than weapons, if offer finds some other evidence like Drugs or other stuff or
criminal act, they would be immediately seized by the officer.

Search and Seizure

• Search and Seizure is a procedure in almost every country and it is allowed in many legal
system.
• It is a procedure done by law enforcement agencies say Police, who suspect that crime
has been committed so they commence a search of a person's property and seized any
evidence and material related to crime.
• Searching means looking for something, person's property.
• Seizing means taking something in custody for the purpose of evidence which can be
useful for the criminal proceeding.
• Search and seizure by law enforcement agencies is purely done by for the purpose of
evidence.
• Law enforcement agencies of most of the countries have this power.
• The procedure of power may vary from one country to another. In some country the
permission for search and seizure is required and in some countries it is not mandatory.
• Like in Pakistan, NAB have exclusive power to search and seizure. Recent case of
AGHA SIRAJ DURANI.
• The requirement of permission for search and seizure is can hamper the investigation
process as, the offender can alter the evidence.
• The evidence seized by the law enforcement can be used for the purpose of tests.
• However, in search and seizure, the authorities are required to take care of the privacy of
the members and ethics of investigation must prevail.
 UNODC
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a United Nations office that was
established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. It is a member of the
United Nations Development Group and was renamed the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime in 2002. In 2016 - 2017 it has an estimated biannual budget of US$700 million.

• Abbreviation: UNODC
• Formation: 1997
• Type: Agency
• Legal status: Active
• Head Executive Director: Ms. Ghada Waly of Egypt,
• Parent organization: United Nations

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The agency, employing between 1,500 and 2,000 people worldwide, has its headquarters in
Vienna (Austria), with 21 field offices and two liaison offices in Brussels and in New York City.
The office aims long-term to better equip governments to handle drug-, crime-, terrorism-, and
corruption-related issues, to maximise knowledge on these issues among governmental
institutions and agencies, and also to maximise awareness of said matters in public opinion,
globally, nationally and at community level.

AIMS AND FUNCTIONS

UNODC was established to assist the UN in better addressing a coordinated, comprehensive

response to the interrelated issues of illicit trafficking in and abuse of drugs, crime prevention
and criminal justice, international terrorism, and political corruption. These goals are pursued
through three primary functions: research, guidance and support to governments in the adoption
and implementation of various crime-, drug-, terrorism-, and corruption-related conventions,
treaties and protocols, as well as technical/financial assistance to said governments to face their
respective situations and challenges in these fields.

These are the main themes that UNODC deals with: Alternative Development, Corruption,
Criminal Justice, Prison Reform and Crime Prevention, Drug Prevention, -Treatment and Care,
HIV and AIDS, Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, Money Laundering, Organized
Crime, Piracy, Terrorism Prevention.

CAMPAIGNS

UNODC launches campaigns to raise awareness of drugs and crime problems. On 26 June every
year, UNODC marks the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. On 9
December every year, UNODC commemorates the International Anti-Corruption Day.
 • ―Do Drugs control your life? – World Drug Campaign
• ―Your No Counts – International Anti-Corruption Campaign
• ―Think AIDS– World AIDS Campaign
• Blue Heart Campaign Against Human Trafficking

CRITICISM
1. UNODC did not promote harm reduction policies like needle exchange and Heroin-
assisted treatment.
2. The UNODC has been criticized by human rights organizations such as Amnesty
international for not promoting the inclusion of adherence to international human rights
standards within its project in Iran.

EUROPOL
Europol is the European Union law enforcement organisation that handles criminal intelligence.
Its mission is to assist the law enforcement authorities of Member States in their fight against
serious forms of organised crime. The Europol Convention states that Europol shall establish and
maintain a computerised system to allow the input, access and analysis of data. The Convention
also provides the legal framework for the management of these systems, in particular as regards
data protection, confidentiality and external supervision. The Europol computerised system has
three principal components: - An information system; - An analysis system; - An index system.

Europol is the European Union‟s law enforcement agency whose main goal is to help achieve a
safer Europe for the benefit of all EU citizens. Large–scale criminal and terrorist networks pose a
significant threat to the internal security of the EU and to the safety and livelihood of its people.
The biggest security threats come from terrorism, international drug trafficking and money
laundering, organised fraud, counterfeiting of the euro currency, and people smuggling. But new
dangers are also accumulating, in the form of cybercrime, trafficking in human beings, and other
modern-day threats.

1) Europol headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands

2) working closely with law enforcement agencies in the 28 EU Member States and in other non-
EU partner states and organisations
3) more than 900 staff
4) 185 Europol Liaison Officers (ELOs)
5) around 100 criminal analysts
6) over 18 000 cross–border investigations each year
7) support centre for law enforcement operations
8) hub for criminal information and organisations
9) centre for law enforcement expertise
10) one of the largest concentrations of analytical capability in the EU 11) produces regular
assessments and reports

HISTORY: Europol has its origins in TREVI, a forum for internal security cooperation amongst
EEC/EC interior and justice ministers created in 1975 and active until the Maastricht Treaty
came into effect in 1993.
Once the Maastricht Treaty had come into effect, the slow process of negotiating and ratifying a
Europol Convention began. In the meantime, the Europol Drugs Unit (EDU) had its powers
extended twice, in March 1995 and again in December 1996 to include a range of trafficking
offences in its remit. During this period, information amongst officers could only be exchanged
bilaterally, with a central database to be established once the Europol Convention was ratified.
The Europol Convention finally came into effect in October 1998 after ratification by all 15 EU
national parliaments.
The Europol Convention was superseded by the Council Decision of 6 April 2009 establishing
the European Police Office (Europol), converting Europol into a formal EU agency as well as
increasing some of its powers. The European Parliament was given more control over Europol
by the Council Decision as well.

UNAFEI
The United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of
Offenders (UNAFEI) is a United Nations regional institute, established in 1962 by agreement
between the United Nations and the Government of Japan, with the aim of promoting the sound
development of criminal justice systems and mutual cooperation in Asia and the Pacific Region.

UNAFEI activities include training courses and seminars for personnel in crime prevention and
criminal justice administration, and the research and study of crime prevention and the treatment
of offenders. It also conducts special seminars outside of Japan.

UNICEF
United Nations Children's Fund

Abbreviation: UNICEF

Established: Dcember 11, 1946; 69 years ago

Headquarters: New York

President:

Executive Director:

Parent organization: United Nations Economic and Social Council

The United Nations Children's Fund is a United Nations (UN) programme headquartered in New
York City that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in
developing countries. It is one of the members of the United Nations Development Group and its
executive committee.
UNICEF was created by the United Nations General Assembly on 11 December 1946, to provide
emergency food and healthcare to children in countries that had been devastated by World War
II. The Polish physician Ludwik Rajchman is widely regarded as the founder of UNICEF and
served as its first chairman from 1946.
UNICEF relies on contributions from governments and private donors. .UNICEF's programmes
emphasize developing community-level services to promote the health and well-being of
children. UNICEF was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.

UNICEF's Supply Division is based in Copenhagen and serves as the primary point of
distribution for such essential items as vaccines, antiretroviral medicines for children and
mothers with HIV, nutritional supplements, emergency shelters, family reunification,and
educational supplies. A 36 member executive board establishes policies, approves programmes
and oversees administrative and financial plans. The executive board is made up of government
representatives who are elected by the United Nations Economic and Social Council, usually for
three-year terms.

IPA
The International Police Association (IPA) is the largest organisation for police officers in the
world, founded by British sergeant Arthur Troop (1914–2000). The Association has 64 national
Sections and over 420,000 members and associate members.

The International Police Association was founded on 1 January 1950 under the Esperanto motto
on its emblem, Servo per Amikeco (Service through Friendship), to create friendly links and
encourage cooperation between individual police officers around the world. It organizes
participation in international, national and local professional, cultural and social events and
offers opportunities for professional development in its educational facility. The main offices of
the organization (IAC) are at Nottingham.

HISTORY:
The IPA - the largest police organisation in the World - was founded on 1 January 1950.
In the Queen‘s Birthday Honours List of 1965 Arthur Troop was awarded the British Empire
Medal for his work in founding the IPA. At the 26th IEC Conference in Vienna, in 1995, he was
awarded the IPA World Police Prize.

INTERPOL
• INTERPOL
• Full form is the International Criminal Police Organization and it is an inter-
governmental organization.
• It has 194 member countries, and it help police in all of them to work together to make
the world a safer place.
• To do this, it enable them to share and access data on crimes and criminals, and it offer a
range of technical and operational support.
• It is formed in 1923.
• Its purpose is to investigate international crimes .
 Major functions of INTERPOL
There are four major functions of INTERPOL:
• Secure global police communication services
• Operational data services and databases for police
• Operational police support services
• Police training and development

1. Secure global police communication Services

• INTERPOL enables the communication services among all member countries 24/7.
• Member countries can request to access data instantly in a secure environment.

2. Operational data services and databases for police

• INTERPOL a wide range of databases having the record of criminals, there are
photographs, criminal records , finger prints and other important documents and proofs
related to criminals.
• Interpol has also different kinds of notices in which red notice which is an international
request for the provisional arrest of an individual.

3. Operational police support services

There are six priority crimes of INTERPOL:
• Corruption
• Drugs and organized crime
• Financial and high tech crimes
• Fugitive
• Public safety and terrorism
• Human trafficking
Major role of INTERPOL
There are three major areas in which INTERPOL plays its role:
• Crisis Response
• Event Security
• Crime Prevention

Crisis Response
• Instant help to member country in crisis situation like Rioting .
• Sending quick response team.
• Interpol also provides help in crisis situation like flood, earthquake, floods and any other
natural disaster.
• Instant response team can also be send to manmade disaster like bombing in any member
country.
• Instant response team provides specialized individuals to member country .

Event Security
• INTERPOL provides help to the member country if a country is hosting any major
tournament like World cup etc.
• The support bring expertise and professional related to the security of the event.
• Help in security planning.

Crime Prevention
• Provide crime prevention through its wide network or policing and intelligence network.
• It also provides helps in internet related crime , closing down websites of drug
selling, child exploitation etc.

Crime that came under INTERPOL

• Corruption
• Crime against children
• Cultural heritage crime
• Terrorism
• Human trafficking
• People smuggling
• Maritime crime
• Drug trafficking
• Organized crime
• Environment crime
• War crime
• Vehicle crime
• Illicit crime
• Cyber crime
• Financial crime
 TERRORISM IN PAKISTAN: ITS CAUSES,
IMPACTS AND REMEDIES
Introduction:

Though terrorism has no accepted definition, yet it can be defined as the use of violence and
intimidation in the pursuit of political aim or the calculated use of violence or threat of violence
against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature, this
is done through intimidation or coercion or inciting fear. According to FBI‘s definition,
Terrorism is the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or
coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political
or social objective.

The religion of Islam (Submission), advocates freedom, peace and mutual agreement and
admonishes aggression. The following verses make it very clear.

―And do not aggress; GOD dislikes the aggressors‖. (Quran 5:87)

―You shall resort to pardon, advocate tolerance, and disregard the ignorant‖. (Quran: 7:199)

The true religion of Islam forbids the killing of innocent people, irrespective of the cause,
religious, political or social beliefs.

―...You shall not kill * GOD has made life sacred * except in the course of justice. These are
His commandments to you that you may understand.(Quran 6:151)

Causes Of Terrorism:

1. Internal Causes

a) Socio-Economic Causes

1. Injustice
2. Illiteracy
3. Poverty And Unemployment
4. Food Insecurity:
5. Dissatisfaction:

b) Political Causes:

1. Non-Democratic Set-Up:
2. Improper Government Set-Up
 3. Absence Of Law And Failure Of Law Enforcement Agencies:

c) Religious Causes:

1. Role Of Madrassahs
2. Religious Intolerance:

2. External Causes
a) Afghan War: 1979
b) Iranian Revolution:
c) War On Terrorism: 9/11

• Factors Boosting Terrorism:

a) Anti-Terrorism Campaign And Drone Strikes:

b) Negligence Of Government:
c) Persecution Of Innocent Muslims In Kashmir And Palestine:

• Steps Taken By Pakistan:

a) Ban On Terrorist Organisation

b) Operation Rah-E-Nijat
c) Operation Rah-E-Rast

• Impacts Of Terrorism:

a) Civilian Loss
b) Economic Cost Of Terrorism:

1. Agriculture Loss:
2. Manufacturing Cost:
3. Declining Foreign Direct Investment:
4. Diminishing Tourism:
5. Internally Displaced People/internal Migration

c) Social Impacts

d) Political Impacts:
 e) Psychological Impacts:

f) Religious Impacts:

Remedies

Media Representation of Crime

• The media plays an important role in criminal activity in many ways.
• Media tends to sensationalize issues in order to catch the audience.
• No only the public but the law enforcement agencies also get affected by media pressure.
• Media interest in serious crime like murder and rape create more buzz and attract more
audience.
• Highlighting is one thing which is positive but sensationalism is another.

Media As a Cause of Crime

There are following reason how media cause a crime.
• Imitation: By providing role model to deviant.
• Aroused: Displaying violent and sexual images.
• Desensitization: Repeated viewing of violent scenes.
• By transmitting knowledge of criminal techniques.
• By stimulating desires of masses.
• By portraying police incompetent.
• By glamourizing offenders
• Generating moral panics

Urbanization and Crime

• From the economic point of view Urbanization is good for any country as it contributes
towards growth.
• However, from the social point of view urbanization is one of the major cause of crime.
• One can witness this as large and industrialized cities have high crime rate.
• In case of Pakistan Karachi and Lahore has high crime rate.
• It is very hard to make a relation between urbanization and crime .

There are many studies which pointed many determinants of crime and urbanization.
The common are these five determinants that play an important role.
 1. Unemployment
2. Education
3. Poverty
4. Inflation
5. Income inequality

Problems due to the rapid rate of urbanization

1. Water sanitation
2. Education
3. Environmental degradation
4. Unemployment
5. Transportation

Gender and Crime

• Gender is a socially constructed. The roles of men and women are different in society.
• Most of the societies are patriarchal society.
• The opportunities are different for men and women.
• As, in the definition of crime one of the main point is opportunity.
• As functionalist followers argue that " just as the social classes differ in opportunities for
income and education, so they differ in opportunities in crime also.
• For example, white collar crime are higher among the classes of high social status. And
street crime are more common in lower classes.
• In every society around the globe, it is statistically proven facts that men commit more
crime than women in every category of crime.
• Men in every age category have high crime rate then women. In Pakistan women arrest is
20% less then the men.

Why men commit more crime ?

• It is very difficult to exactly point the causes of why men commit more crime then
women. But following points will be helpful in determining this relation:
• Dominant role of men in society.
• More opportunities for men.
• Men as a leader of the home has more responsibility i.e. financial responsibility.
 MONEY LAUNDERING
Money laundering is a fast-growing crime in the modern world and also a mammoth
threat to the economics of the developing countries. In simple terms, money laundering can be
defined as such a method whereby illegal funds are transferred from one place to another, in
order to cover its tracks.
Interpol definition adopted by UNO General assembly 1995 states "Any act or attempted act to
conceal or disguise the identity of illegally obtained proceeds so that they appear to have
originated from legitimated sources" The Financial Action Task Force (‘FATF’) identifies it
as the processing of criminal proceeds to disguise their illegal origin.

It is further reported that the total amount of money being laundered in the entire world is
between US$500 billion and US$1 trillion. There are three steps involved in this illegal
process – placement, layering, and integration. Firstly, the illegitimate funds are secretly
introduced into the legitimate financial system. Then, the money is moved around to create
confusion, sometimes by wiring or transferring through numerous fake accounts. Finally, it
is integrated into the financial system through additional transactions, until the laundered
money appears clean.

In case of Pakistan, Money laundering is rampant in the country and this can be attributed
to the weak enforcement of laws and loopholes in the current regimes.
In June 2018, Pakistan was included in the ‘grey list’ issued by the FATF, which can have a
detrimental impact on the Pakistani market.

SOURCES OF MONEY LAUNDERING

• Smuggling of goods and people
• Drug trafficking
• Embezzlement
• Fraud
• Bribery
• Tax Evasion (Most common in Pakistan)
• Under / Over invoicing
STAGES OF MONEY LAUNDERING:
Money laundering can easily be understand through its three main stages i.e. placement. layering
and integration.

1. Placement: in this stage the illegitimate money generated from some illegal source i.e.
drug trafficking, illegal activities, human trafficking etc, the money launderer then break this
illegal funds into small cash and then enter into the financial intermediaries, trade economy or
Physical smuggling by means of depositing money in the bank through opening fake accounts,
investment in term certificates, money order, checks or other monetary' instruments. The main
purpose is to conceal the original identity of the money from where it is being generated.

2. Layering: The 2nd stage comes after the placement stage; when money launderer
succeeded in placing the illegitimate money into the financial sector then money launderer create
the layer after layer over these funds by means of moving this money from one channel to
another through transferring from one account to another or one financial intermediary to
another. The subject funds are also channelized to purchase and sale Of government securities or
for the payments of goods and services.

3. Integrating: The third stage after successfully completion of the 2nd stage, money
launderer used these funds to re-enter into the economy in any legitimate source either to invest
in public development projects, luxury assets, or any business ventures.

METHODS OF MONEY LAUNDERING:

1. Smurfing of money:
Smurfing of money is a process where large amounts of money are divided into multiple
small transactions, often spread out over many different accounts, to avoid detection. By
investing in mobile commodities such as gems and gold, the same is easily movedto other
jurisdictions.
2. HAWALA AND HUNDI SYSTEM
Hundi is a major channel of money laundering in Pakistan. Overseas nationals send
remittances to their relatives and friends through Hundi. It works as a credit transfer or
IOU, and transfers money without actually moving it from one region to another.
Allegedly, some foreign exchange companies use this process to hide their taxable
earnings from government.
3. PHYSICAL BULK CASH SMUGGLING
It involves transferring cash to another jurisdiction and depositing it in a financial
institution, such as an offshore bank, with greater bank secrecy or less rigorous money
laundering enforcement. The purchase of real estate with cash is carried out in different
ways such as use of third parties to buy real estate, manipulation of property values,
structuring of cash deposits to buy real estate, rental income to legitimise illicit funds,
overseas-based criminals investing in real estate, purchase of real estate to facilitate other
criminal activity, renovations and improvements to property, use of front companies, and
trust and shell companies to buy properties.
4. LAUNDERING THROUGH TRADE:
Laundering Through Trade involves transferring cash to another jurisdiction and
depositing it in a financial institution, such as an offshore bank, with greater bank secrecy
or less rigorous money laundering enforcement. The purchase of real estate with cash is
carried out in different ways such as use of third parties to buy real estate, manipulation
of property values, structuring of cash deposits to buy real estate, rental income to
legitimise illicit funds, overseas-based criminals investing in real estate, purchase of real
estate to facilitate other criminal activity, renovations and improvements to property, use
of front companies, and trust and shell companies to buy properties.
5. TRUSTS AND SHELL COMPANIES
Trusts and shell companies disguise the true owners of money. Normally, they use the
slang term rathole, though that term usually refers to a person acting as the fictitious
owner rather than the business entity.
6. ROUND-TRIPPING:
In round-tripping, money is deposited in a controlled foreign corporation offshore and
then shipped back as a foreign direct investment, exempt from taxation. A variant on this
 is to transfer money to a law firm or a similar organisation as funds on account of fees,
then to cancel the retainer and, when the money is remitted, represent the sums received
from the lawyers as a legacy under a will or proceeds of litigation.
7. Foreign Remittances and wire transfers are very safe instruments of laundering money
due to the encouraging policies of government. Criminals often take advantage of tax
amnesty schemes to legalise their unreported assets.

MONEY LAUNDERING CONSEQUENCES

1. SOCIETAL IMPACT:
o The initial impact of money laundering on every society which promotes the
crime rates
o Promotes White collar crimes and corruption in the organization.
o Badly affected the moral value of the society
o Creates evils in the society & Promotes dirty politics
o Money launderer establish any legitimate business from the money that
previously generated from illegitimate sources, to get the higher return from the
legitimate business the launderer reduces the prices with higher quality and this
expense is to be financed through the funds coming from illegitimate source
which increase the unfair competition in the society.
2. ECONOMIC IMPACT:

o Parallel economy reduces the earning from foreign exchange through banking
sector.
o Money laundering will help to increase the un-employment level in the economy.
o Tax evasion, illegitimate business, bad integrity, affects public policy making
badly.
o The impact of money laundering will affects foreign and domestic investments.

3. ORGANISATIONAL IMPACT:

o It hurts the corporate & brand image of the organization. it will also hurt the
goodwill of people at key levels of organizations.
o It's created encumbrance in creating new institutional relationship as well as
affects the banking business.

ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING ACT, 2010

The AMLO was reframed via the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010 and various changes
were incorporated in it.
Aims and objectives:
1. Prevention of money laundering
2. Fighting Terror Financing
3. Forfeiture of assets derived from such activities
1. INVESTIGATING AND PROSECUTING AGENCIES:
NAB: The National Accountability Bureau, set up under the NAO, exercises jurisdiction all
over Pakistan, both at the federal and provincial level. However, one blatant flaw is that the
Bureau has no power to investigate and prosecute cases concerning terrorist financing and this is
because the schedule Of the Ordinance fails to include it as an offence.
FIA: The second agency declared as investigating and prosecuting agency under the AMLA is
the FIA. As per the preamble Of the FIA Act 1974, the scope Of the FIA is only limited to the
investigation Of various crimes committed in connection with the matters related to the Federal
Government.
ANF: The ANF is another investigating and prosecuting agency for enforcement Of the AMIA
However, the preamble of the Control of Narcotics Substances Act 1997, is confined to
controlling narcotic drugs, psychotropic items, and their allied matters, therefore its entire role is
regarding the control of narcotics. Its inclusion as an investigation agency is, therefore, pointless.
FBR: Another enforcement agency that is responsible for dealing with money laundering is
Directorate General (Intelligence & Investigation Inland Revenue) FBR. This agency has the
power to investigate and prosecute the cases under the AMLA wherever earnings of crimes are
accumulated under the offences committed under the Customs Act 1969.
One of the main issues that is affecting the practical implementation of the AMLA is the absence
of Joint Task Force.

2. PREDICATE OFFENCES
As per its section 2 (s) the offences enlisted in the schedule of the AMLA are called predicate
offences. At present, there are 98 sections of Pakistan Penal Code 1860 ('PPC') and 19 special
laws that are considered as predicate offences under the AMLA. These offences, however, fall
short of covering all the necessary offences.

3. OFFENCE OF MONEY LAUNDERING:

Section 4 of the AMLA provides punishment for money laundering offence as a rigorous
imprisonment from one to ten years. Moreover, section 21 (a) of the AMLA states that each
crime punished under it shall be non-cognizable.
Non-cognizable offences, on the other hand, are not serious and heinous in nature as compared to
cognizable offences and have maximum punishment up to less than three years.
This drawback of the AMLA has serious consequences. It renders the alleged offence of money
laundering as a lenient one and the accused is given a benefit in this case.

4. MANAGEMENT OF FORFEITED PROPERTIES:

As per the AMLA, the Federal Government is responsible for appointing an administrator for
receiving and managing the confiscated property. According to section 11 of the AMLA, the
administrator also ensures the disposal of such property. Although some procedure is
provided in section 11 of the AMLA for managing the forfeited properties but in practical
terms, there is no Central authority designated for the same.

5. LACK OF JURISDICTION OF BANKING COURT

There are many banking offences enlisted as predicate offences in the schedule of the
AMLA. However, money laundering itself is not declared a scheduled offence in the
schedule of Offences in respect of Banks (Special Courts) Ordinance 1984. Due to this
reason, special banking courts cannot take cognizance of anti-money laundering cases. This
serious impediment prevents the AMLA from achieving its basic purpose.
 6. AGREEMENTS WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES:
There are various ways for gathering of information in criminal investigations. The Interpol,
world's largest international police organization, is a source of informal cooperation between the
police of one country with the police of another country primarily to follow the suspect. Formal
mechanisms of cooperation include the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MAT). Although,
Various sections of the AMLA deal with international cooperation, such as agreements on a
mutual basis, asking for help from a contracting state, mutual shifting of accused persons, and
other forms of cooperation. However, in reality, there is no separate domestic legislation relating
to Mutual Legal Assistance in Pakistan and no MLAT with regards to anti-money laundering
provisions with any country of the world till date.

7. CONFLICT WITH OTHER LAWS

The AMLA is a special Act which has an overriding effect over any conflicting law. Even
though this Act has an overruling effect, it is also inconsistent with many other special laws.
The Protection of Economic Reforms Act 1992 (VERN) is creating a hefty impediment for the
AMLA. The objective of the AMLA to prevent money laundering is clearly defeated with the
existing provisions of the PERA contained in sections 4, 5, and 9 of the PERA. Section 4 of this
Act authorizes the citizens of Pakistan with regards to the free flow of foreign currency. Hence,
this section left it free for all Pakistani citizens and non-nationals to move and pull out foreign
exchange inside or outside Pakistan in whatever form, without making a foreign Currency
declaration.
Another law working against the AMLA is the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 ('ITO'). Section 111
(4) of ITO allows the inward flow of any suspicious money to the country. This provision of the
ITO paves the way for money launderers to bring any amount of their unexplained assets or
income.

8. PERMEABLE: COMBATING TERRORIST FINANCING

Nine special recommendations of the FATF deal with the measures prescribed for combating
terrorist financing. Pakistan has criminalized terrorist financing, radical activities, as well as
terrorist organizations under the ATA, nevertheless, the AML-A simultaneously also aims to
combat terrorist financing. However, this core purpose is defeated when the ATA is applied by
investigating and prosecuting agencies.

9. RECOMMENDATIONS
• The predicate offences in the schedule Of the AMLA should be brought at par with the
international standards. The punishment of money laundering in the AMLA should be
increased to a minimum Of three years long with making the offence cognizable.
• For the effective enforcement Of the AMLA, the investigating and prosecuting agencies
should be given a complete mandate for complete smooth running.
• The MLATs should be made with other countries.
• The procedural flaws in the AMLA that exist to the extent of lack of jurisdiction of
banking courts and the operation of the AMLA to combat terrorist financing should be
rectified immediately.
 CYBERCRIME
INTRODUCTION:
Cyber crime is a term for any illegal activity that uses a computer, cell phone or any other
electronic device as its primary means of commission. Dr. Debarati Halder and Dr. K.
Jaishankar have provided a useful definition that covers other modern day devices. Their
definition is:
Offences that are committed against individuals or groups of individuals with a criminal motive
to intentionally harm the reputation of the victim or cause physical or mental harm to the victim
directly or indirectly, using modern telecommunication networks such as Internet (Chat rooms,
emails, notice boards and groups) and mobile phones”.
Cyber criminals use computer technology to access personal information, business trade secrets,
or use the Internet for exploitive or malicious purposes. It is a crime against property for
individual or organizational gain, committed by upper class members of society who are
educated, wealthy, socially connected and are employed in any legitimate organization.

The Internet use in Pakistan

In Pakistan, since the mid-90s the Internet access is available. . Pakistan is among the top Asian
net users countries. Due to increased number of internet user, the manual business is shifting on
the internet, which has reduced paper work replacing the manual system with computer.
Although, it is a blessing for human beings to save their precious time, but fraud, cheating and
many other illegal activities are also being carried out through internet and computer.

National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes

The Government of Pakistan has established the “National Response Centre for Cybercrime”
(NR3C) under the administrative control of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), to investigate
the cybercrimes, trace the criminals and use their efforts to stop misuse of the internet.NR3C has
expertise to deal in the following subjects’ i.e. digital forensics, information system security
audits, technical investigation, penetration testing and training in these fields.

Targets of Cyber Crimes

Underworld criminal does not have any specific target however the main target of these criminal
is the “databases and archives of governments and national security infrastructures are prime
targets for cyber exploitation by the criminal underworld.

Types of Cyber Crimes:

1. Advance Fee Fraud:
Advance fee fraud is “intentional misrepresentation for the purpose of gain.” Advance fee
fraud is actually a kind of lottery scam which begins with surprising email notification
that says “you have won!” The common of all these scams is that some scanned
documents are emailed to victims, when receiver of the said email is convinced of the
genuineness of the transaction, some fee is requested for bank charges, when fee is
received, the receiver disappears.
2. Bank Fraud:
Bank fraud is a new method for frauds. In bank fraud, an employee of bank sends emails
to their clients for sharing of their personal information such as Credit Cards and Debit
Cards information, which he uses for his personal benefit including unauthorized
 purchases and cause loss to the client for his trust upon the bank employee. Whereas,
client considers it, that the employee is seeking information on behalf of bank.
3. Cyber Defamation:
There are three ingredients of cyber defamation, if these are found in any published
statement then it is considered cyber defamation otherwise this statement will not fall
within this category, elements are;
i. the statement must refer to the victim;
ii. the statement must be false and defamatory and
iii. the statement must be published by electronic means.
If the above mentioned elements are found in any statement, then it is called cyber
defamation.

4. Cyber Pornography:
Cyber pornography is assumed to be the largest business on the Internet in contemporary
era. Millions of pornographic websites are evidence of this business/industry which is
promoting pornographic websites, pornographic online magazines, photos, pictures,
books and writings. Though pornography is not illegal in many countries, still child
pornography is strictly illegal in most of the countries. In March 2016, in Pakistan, the
child pornography was defined and criminalized.

5. Cyber Stalking:
It is defined as” the use of the Internet, e-mail, or other electronic communications
devices to stalk another person.” In other words we can say that “an element that the
person being stalked must reasonably feel harassed, alarmed, or distressed about personal
safety or the safety of one or more persons for whom that person is responsible.”

6. Cyber Terrorism:
Verton has defined it as “the execution of a surprise attack by a subnational foreign
terrorist group or individuals with a domestic political agenda using computer technology
and the Internet to cripple or disable a nation’s electronic and physical infrastructures.”
Some countries have legislated to curb this situation including the UK and US.

7. Data Diddling:
It is the simplest form of committing computer crime, which is defined “the illegal or
unauthorized alteration of the data.” Criminals can cause billions of dollars’ loss to any
financial institution and company, because detection of such alteration is not possible to
curb this situation within shortest possible time. This is called “electronic forgery” in
Pakistani legal system and the criminal is awarded punishment up to three years and fine
up to two hundred and fifty thousand rupees or both.

8. Denial of Service Attack:

Denial of service (DOS) attack (also known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
attack) refers to a cyber-attack “which prevents a computer user or owner’s access to the
services available on his system.” This is initiated by “sending excessive demands to the
victim's computer, exceeding the limit that the victim's servers can support and make the
 servers crash” and “results in authorized users being unable to access the service offered
by the computer.”

9. Digital Piracy:
Digital piracy is the “illegal copying of digital goods (including trademarks), software
(including source code), digital documents, digital audio and video for any reason other
than to back up without explicit permission from and compensation to the copyright
holder.”

10. Email Bombing:

Email bombing refers to “sending a large number of emails to the victim resulting in the
victim’s email account or mail servers crashing.

11. Email/Web Spoofing:

Web and email spoofing occurs when cybercriminals create “web sites, web-based
traffic, email, or instant messages that appear to be legitimate in every way but are
actually fraudulent communications designed to socially engineer people into giving up
confidential information that can then be used to commit crimes.”

12. Fake Social Media Accounts:

Fake social media accounts are those which are created by using other persons’ name
instead of their own name. In other words, it is called Identity fraud/theft which is the
fastest growing while-collar crime in many countries. Website defacement is usually the
“substitution of the original home page of a website with another page (usually
pornographic or defamatory in nature) by a hacker.”120 Governments and religious sites
are mostly targeted by the hackers to display their political and religious beliefs
respectively.

13. Internet Time Theft:

This connotes the usage by “an unauthorized person of the Internet hours paid for by
another person.”

14. Online/ Internet Gambling:

Many websites exist which offer online/internet based gambling.

15. Salami Attacks:

The attack is called salami attack as it is “analogous to slicing the data thinly, like a
salami.” According to Encyclopedia of White-collar & Corporate crime, Salami is “in
banking, a fraud that involves taking all of the round-down fractional cents from periodic
interest payments and crediting them to a single account. Thus each transaction has only
a thin slice removed.”Salami attacks are used for committing financial crimes, where the
employee “makes the alteration so insignificant that in a single case it would go
completely unnoticed.”
 16. Sale of Illegal Articles:
Few decades ago sale of illegal articles was difficult task; through the Internet it is
common to find illegal articles on just a click, i.e. narcotics drugs, weapons and other
article’s information is posted on websites, from where people get information and buy
illegal products.

17. Use of Encryption by Terrorists:

Encryption is a “technique which enables communications to be encoded prior to
transmission, so that they are unreadable if intercepted; only the intended recipient has a
key which enables the message to be decoded and restored to its original legible form.”
Lot of criminals are using this technology to protect information stored on their hard
disks, which creates many problems for law-enforcement agencies to detect and
understand the exact nature of messages.

18. Virus/ Worm Attacks:

Computer viruses are “small software programs that are designed to spread from one
computer to another and to interfere with computer operations.”It “might corrupt or
delete data on the victim’s computer, use the victim’s e-mail program to spread itself to
other computers, or even erase everything on the victim’s hard disk.”

19. Web Jacking:

The web jacking is done through force to get ransom, where the perpetrators have “either
a monetary or political purpose which they try to satiate by holding the owners of the
website to ransom.” Even the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s website was hacked by
hackers in 2010 to put pressure on Pakistani government for release of Dr. Afia.

IMPACTS OF CYBER CRIME:

The impacts of a single, successful cyber attack can have far-reaching implications including
financial losses, theft of intellectual property, and loss of consumer confidence and trust. The
overall monetary impact of cyber crime on society and government is estimated to be billions of
dollars a year.

1. SECURITY COSTS:
Cyber criminals attack on businesses, both large and small. Hackers attempt to take over
company servers to steal information or use the machines for their own purposes.. It
compels companies to hire new staff and update software to keep intruders out.
According to E-Week, a survey of large companies found an average expenditure of $8.9
million per year on cyber security.
2. MONETARY LOSSES:
The overall monetary losses from cyber crime can be immense. According to a report,
more than 1.5 million people fall victim to some sort of cyber crime every day, ranging
from simple password theft to extensive monetary swindles. With an average loss of $197
per victim, this adds up to more than $110 billion dollars lost to cyber crime worldwide
every year.
 3. PIRACY:
The issue of piracy has affected the entertainment, music and software industries in
recent times. Claims of damages are hard to estimate and even harder to verify, with
estimates ranging widely from hundreds of millions to hundreds of billions of dollars per
year. In response, copyright holders have lobbied for stricter laws against intellectual
property theft, resulting in laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. These laws
allow copyright holders to target file sharers and sue them for large sums of money to
counteract the financial damage of their activities online.

SOCIAL IMPACTS:
In a traditional society like Pakistan, cyber crimes have a far reaching effect. Incidents
like Qasur Scandal have shaken the very fabric of our society.
EMOTIONAL IMPACTS:
The emotional impact of cyber crime shows that victims’ strongest reactions are feeling
angry, annoyed, dejected and cheated, and in many cases, they blame themselves for
being attacked. Majority do not expect cyber criminals to be brought to justice. Despite
emotional burden, the universal threat and incidents of cyber crime, few people dare to
report such crimes to FIA.
PROBLEMS IN CYBER CRIME INVESTIGATION:
Due to lack of awareness of existing cybercrimes in Pakistani society, the general public
is facing many problems. Even the law enforcement agencies are unaware of these crimes
due to complex nature of these crimes. The problem is that many investigators have
neither requisite expertise nor the required experience to deal with investigation, evidence
collection, evidence preservation and presentation to the court.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
• As a society we need to take necessary steps to not only to enact legislation covering
every aspect of cyber crime but also evolving ways and means to keep amending the laws
at par with the changing nature of such high tech crimes.
• We should change our traditional laws especially the Pakistan Penal Code in the
backdrop of modern day crimes which involve sophisticated technology.
• We should harmonise our laws on cyber crime in conformity with International
Conventions, treaties and agreements in such a way as to facilitate international
cooperation in preventing and combating these illegal cyber activities;
• The Government should focus on capacity building of its law enforcement agencies
especially FIA in the area of cyber crime and explore bilateral, regional, and multilateral
cooperation mechanisms to enhance the same
• Necessary steps should be taken to create awareness of regarding this menace among the
masses, with a focus on law enforcement agencies, judiciary and legislature.
• To establish a cyber crime victim support fund to restoration and rehabilitation of the
affected people of such crimes.
• To establish a Research Fund, to support efforts to for exploring new methods to tackle
this menace.
• To formulate a manual of guidelines for government offices and its functionaries
regarding usage of internet especially social media.
 ANTI-NARCOTICS FORCE
• The anti-narcotics force is a federal executive bureau of the Government of Pakistan,
tasked with combating the narcotics smuggling and use within Pakistan.
• ANF works under umbrella of Pakistan Army and Ministry of Interior and Narcotics
Control. Due to misconception on section 4 of ANF Act 1997, the forces head consisted
the active-duty general officer of Pakistan army. Although the law prescribes that any
competent person may be appointed as DG.

Mandate of ANF
• To inquire, investigate and prosecute all offences related or connected with intoxicants,
narcotics and precursors.
• Trace and freeze the assets.
• Coordinate elimination and destruction of Poppy cultivation.
• Provide assistance to other law enforcement agencies and share information with all
national and International agencies on drug related matters.
• Arrange and coordinate training of own staff and members of other law enforcement
agencies related to narcotics.
• Maintain liaison with all international narcotics control authorities and represent Pakistan
in conferences and seminars.
• Perform any other related functions that may be assigned by the Federal Government.
• Despite persistent and commendable efforts of all stakeholders, illicit trafficking of
opium and heroin remains a serious concern.
• Given the scale and size of the problem, the Pakistan Government has put in place
stringent measures to contain the flow of illicit drugs.
• Pakistan possesses single mandated Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) under Ministry of
Narcotics Control (MNC), working closely with domestic counterparts and International
partners.
• ANF is a principal agency in Pakistan for combating supply and demand reduction of
illicit narcotic drugs that enter Pakistan mainly through the long porous border with
Afghanistan.
Functions of ANF
• Conduct of drug law enforcement operations through its field component and
subsequently ensuring culmination of law enforcement operational cycle through legal
proceedings.
• Investigation, freezing, litigation, legal disposal of assets acquired with drug money.
• Launching of yearly campaigns by relevant Regional Directorate(s) to eliminate/destroy
Poppy cultivation.
• Training of own and other law enforcement agencies' students in Anti Narcotics Force
Academy.
• Has signed Memorandum of Understanding with numerous countries and works in close
coordination with their drug law enforcement agencies.
 • All above functions are conducted in coordination with relevant Directorates in
Headquarters Directorate General Anti Narcotics Directorate.
• Acting as leading drug law enforcement agency, heads the Inter Agency Task Force that
comprises all relevant law enforcement agencies.

FIA
• Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) came into existence in 1975, following the
promulgation of FIA Act, 1974 with primary role of eradicating corruption.
• In 2004, government transferred anti-corruption wing of FIA to the NAB, but on the 16
August, 2004 this wing of FIA was restored vide notification dated 24 October, 2008 .
• The FIA is headed by the appointed DG who is appointed by the Prime Minister and
confirmed by the President.
• Appointment for the Director of FIA either comes from the high-ranking officials of
police or the civil bureaucracy.
• The DG FIA reports to the Interior Secretary of Pakistan. The Director General of the
FIA is assisted by three Additional Director-Generals and ten Directors for effective
monitoring and smooth functioning of the operations spread all over the country.

• The FIA is headquartered in Islamabad and also maintains a separate training FIA
Academy, also in Islamabad which was opened in 1976.
• In 2002, FIA formed a specialized wing for investigating Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) related crimes. This wing is commonly known as the
National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) and has the credit of arresting 12
hackers, saving millions of dollars for the government exchequer.

Mission of FIA
Mission of FIA :
To achieve excellence in FIA by promoting culture of merit, providing continuous professional
training, ensuring effective internal accountability, encouraging use of technology and having a
meaningful feedback mechanism.

Vision of FIA :
A law enforcement agency which not only enjoys the respect of the society, for its integrity,
professional competence, and impartiality but also serves as a role model for provincial police
forces.
 FIA's Professional Mandate
• Investigation into specialized and organized crime
• Immigration and Anti Smuggling
• Personal Identification Secure Comparison and Evaluation System(PlSCES
• Computerized Control and Exit
• Anti Human Smuggling and Trafficking
• Counter Terrorism(Special Investigation Group)
• Money Laundering( Excluding narcotics and anti corruption proceed)
• Automated Finger Print Identification System(AFlS)
• Cyber Crime and Plastic Money Fraud
• Intellectual Property Rights(lPR)
• Interpol (National Central Bureau)
• National Criminal Database(NCDB)
• Forensic and Technical Support
• Training and Capacity Building

Wings of FIA
• Anti- corruption wing
• Economic crime wing
• Counter terrorism wing
• Immigration wing
• Anti-human trafficking and smuggling
• Technical wing
• Interpol
• Electricity, gas, oil anti-theft unit
• Legal branch
• IPR branch

NAB
• The national accountability bureau is an autonomous and constitutionally established
federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical
national economic intelligence arrestments against economic terrorism to the
Government of Pakistan.
 • The National Accountability Bureau is Pakistan's apex anti-corruption organization. It is
charged with the responsibility of elimination of corruption through a holistic approach of
awareness, prevention and enforcement.
• It operates under the National Accountability Ordinance-1999.
• With its headquarter at Islamabad, it has seven regional offices at Karachi, Lahore,
Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Multan and Sukkur.
• It takes cognizance of all offences falling within the National Accountability Ordinance
(NAO).
• For the initial three years, the focus of its functions was directed only at detection,
investigation and prosecution of white-collar crime.
• Those prosecuted include politicians, public service officials and other citizens who were
either guilty of gross abuse of powers, or through corruption had deprived the national
exchequer of millions or resorted to other corrupt practices.
• In February 2002, NAB launched the National Anticorruption Strategy (NACS) project.
• The NACS team conducted broad based surveys, studied external models of international
anti-corruption agencies and involved local stakeholder.
• All pillars of National Integrity System were studied in detail. After identifying the
causes of corruption in each pillar, a comprehensive strategy and a detail action plan was
recommended.
• Breaking away from traditional enforcement based routines NACS has recommended a
comprehensive process. Relevant amendments have been made in NAO and now NAB is
empowered to undertake prevention and awareness in addition to its enforcement
functions.

Vision of NAB :
The National Accountability Bureau is to be a credible, effective, efficient and dynamic anti-
corruption organization creating an enabling environment for a corrupt free society.
Mission of NAB :
The National Accountability Bureau is to work to eliminate corruption through a comprehensive
approach encompassing prevention, awareness, monitoring and combating.

Objectives of NAB •
• The National Accountability Bureau derives its objectives from its approved project
document titled 'National Anti Corruption Strategy' or NACS and defines them as
follows:
• Short Term Setting in motion systemic improvements that will strengthen the national
integrity system and the people against corruption.
• Long Term The elimination of corruption by engaging all the stakeholders in the fight
against corruption, through a program, which is holistic, comprehensive and progressive.

Responsibility of NAB
The NAB has responsibility to eliminate corruption with three approach:
• Awareness
• Prevention
• Enforcement
Salient Features of NAB Ordinance
• Setting up of a National Accountability Bureau so as to eradicate corruption and corrupt
practices and hold accountable all those persons accused of such practices and matters.
• Take effective measures for the detection, investigation and prosecution of cases
involving corruption, corrupt practices, misuse / abuse of powers, misappropriation of
property, kickbacks & commissions and ensuring speedy disposal.
• Recovery of the outstanding amount from those persons who have committed willful
default in repayments to banks, development finance institutions (DFls), government and
other agencies.
• Implement policies and procedures for awareness, prevention, monitoring and combating
corruption in the society.

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