Criminals are defined as those who violate social norms and values. If the court declares a person an offender, s/he is criminal. But what about those who can influence state mechanisms and earn fortunes through criminal networks hidden from law enforcement? Such a practice of labeling petty criminals but letting the big fish get away should be challenged.
Indian Criminologist Ram Ahuja explains that the social definition of crime is “behavior or activity that offends the social code of a particular community.” It is also defined as “an anti-social act.’’ However, Nepali Criminologist Madhav Acharya describes crime as part of human behavior and says it is interlinked with human existence. Jock Young has framed crime on the basis of dichotomies between legal versus social frameworks. [break]
mspy.com
Although society creates law, it is again a member of society who breaks the law, which provides the notion that law-making and law-breaking are both social phenomena. Crime is not only related to law and order, but also to collective consciousness of social members that is challenged by some members. Whether or not it violates law, an act is a crime if it challenges the collective consciousness of society.
A philosophical lens is essential to understand as well as challenge this orthodox concept. Crime may be seen as a normal occurrence, and a society exempt from crime is inconceivable. As Emile Durkheim argued, crime consists of an act that offends strong collective sentiments. The rules of society pave way for deviations as well as non-deviation, where both are seen as normal. Durkheim further remarks that crime is an integral part of all “healthy societies.’’ For him, crime has a function: that of affirming the collective consciousness of social members.
The nature of crime is an important theme that explains the essence of crime. Durkheim makes three specific claims about the nature of crime. First, crime is normal. It occurs in all forms of societies and is closely related to the conditions of collective life, and its frequency tends to increase as societies evolve. Individual as a part of society acts according to already constructed social system. Society then strengthens itself and prepares to adjust the system. But alongside, criminal activities also adapt to the changing social system.
However, it is essential to keep in mind that society is the cause of crime; it prepares crime. According to American Psychiatrist Ben Karpman, all persons are born criminals in the sense that they come into the world unconditioned and unrepressed. Society is the mechanism through which we are indoctrinated to repress our criminal tendencies and deviance.
Foucault argues that a crime is committed because it procures certain advantages. D. T. Herbert explains crime as the most significant form of deviance which covers a wide range of human behavior, both in terms of labeling and breaking the rules of society. On the one hand, rules are for social adjustment, and on the other hand, rules create problems for social members who may not be able to adjust. To adapt to this society, certain members require deviance.
They act individually or form subcultures. An individual can play the role of a criminal to fulfill the needs of the society. A society absent of crime or with unnecessary crime would suffer from pathos.
The probability of deviance and crime is higher among such members who have minimal chance of achieving socially prescribed goals. Attraction or imposition toward crime is determined by its social structure embedded with the available environment. Cultural goals are achieved through legitimate ways, but not all individuals have legal access to such prescribed goals. In such conditions, the probability of criminal behavior is higher. Gangs and subcultures with members who face similar challenges are compelled to unite in order to attain common goals.
Whether people are born criminals or are made so has been the subject of research for ages. But research says that a person is not born a criminal. On the one hand, the given social conditions influence a social member to participate in criminal activities, and on the other hand, society tags a person a criminal.
Thus, crime is not only related to law and order, but also has a close relationship with social structure. Internal social factors are also affected by external factors, which can be explained in terms of globalization and increasing interaction between different societies. Whenever social norms and individual behavior contradict in society, it leads to criminal acts.
KC is the author of the book Social Causes of Indo-Nepal Cross-
Border Crime
dipeshkc@gmail.com
Related story
Heaviest baby born in Dhaulagiri Hospital
