Category: Crime Prevention

‘CRIME’ is a social and economic phenomenon, crime is as ancient as human. Halsbury defines ‘crime’ as an unlawful act which is an offence against the public, and the perpetrator of that act is liable to legal punishment. Women who constitute half of the population and without whom the survival of the world would have been impossible, are going through hell in this male dominated world. In the current scenario, either in domestic sphere or in the outer world women and children have been sexually exploited. Sexual crime against women and children are higher when compared to other crimes. Sex crime is one of the crimes which exist in all societies. Eve teasing, indecent assault, obscenity, rape, incest, immoral trafficking etc, are some of sexual crimes against the women and children. Countries like India has recorded an upward trend in recent decades in sexual delinquency. We have a lot of women based organizations and many government policies, schemes in favour of women to prevent and protect them and many acts and amendments for children to protect them and give then a basic education. But still the crime against women and children are not controllable. The reason behind this was people were unaware of the laws, policies and schemes available for them. And there is a lack of women in national political office.

Indian society always revered women. History says that man and women represent the two half of the divine body. The superiority and inferiority between man and women was not there in ancient time. According to Mahabharata by cherishing the women one virtually worships the goddess of prosperity. In vedic period , women enjoyed equal rights as men. It was mentioned in many religious books. But after many years when other countries started to invade India they attacked and abused women and children. So to protect them from these cruel situations, they did not allowed the women and children to go out. Later on this practice became as a custom. Men did not allowed the women to participate in any of the activities. This situation leads the entire society to a male chauvinistic one. Male chauvinism means men who convey an attitude of superiority towards women. Later on this became as a traditional and customary practice. They allotted certain duties to women that alone she can do. Taking care of children, family and doing all the household works are the duties allotted to women. She can’t do anything against men. Men had a thought that women are created to satisfy all their needs alone. They didn’t consider women as a human being. They treated them as slaves. The impacts or effect of the male chauvinism is comparatively higher. The first impact of this was the literacy rate was totally reduced. In ancient times, girl babies are killed at the time of birth itself. Now the consequence of this was, the population of women is reduced to half. As per the census carried out by the government of India, there are 933 females for every 1000males in our country. In Goa, a man can remarry if his wife does not give birth to any male child till the age of 30. This law just shows how women are treated. After many decades slowly women started to raise their voice against men for their basic rights, like right to basic education, freedom of speech etc. After a lot of fights and struggles now women are getting their education and they can able to understand what is good and what is bad and they are capable of making their own decisions in their life. But in this 21’st century women are not safe. In ancient time women were not given any freedom. When a women is born in a family she is under the control of her father or brother. She should obey their words and act in accordance with that. Once she get married she is under the control of her. The words of husband is considered as the words of god. After her husband the control of that women will pass to his son. This is the life cycle of women. And this system will pass by one generation to another. But in this 21’st century though we have all the rights and freedom we can’t able to enjoy it. Women and children are not safe. There is no equality between men and women. Still the discrimination between men and women prevails in the society.

Women and girls have restricted mobility, access to education, access to health facilities, and lower decision making power, and they experience higher rates of violence against them. Political Participation is also restricted to women. Rural women as compared to women in urban areas faced inequality at much higher rates in all aspects of life. Women who are in urban areas enjoy relatively higher access to economic opportunities, health, and education, and they expirence less domestic violence when compared to women who are in rural areas. In rural areas women are further discriminated in the name of class and caste. Women from lower caste are unable to access health and educational services, lack decision making power, and they will face higher level of violence.

A survey taken by Thomson Reuters Foundation in the year 2018 reports that India is the most dangerous country for sexual violence against women. Not only sexual violence but also there are many crimes like chain snatching, molestation etc, happening against women in recent years.

Nirbhaya case which was happened in the year 2012 december says what is the place of women in this society. A 23- year old women , Jyoti singh , and her boyfriend were returning home on 16th December 2012 after watching a movie. They both boarded the bus at about 9:30 pm. There were totally six members in the bus including the driver. Boyfriend had a doubt when the bus deviated from its normal route and when the doors were shut. When he went and ask them he was beaten, gagged and knocked unconscious with an iron rod. And they dragged jyoti to the rear of the bus and all the members in the bus raped her mercilessly. Later Jyoti and her boyfriend throw out of the bus. Despite of all the treatment jyoti passed away. Death penalty was given to all the criminals who Involved in this merciless activity. But still that death penalty was not executed to the convicts. 8years gone but still the convicts are not hanged. This shows what is the place of women in an society.

Last year same thing was happened in Hyderabad. 26 years old veterinary doctor was gang raped by 4 men. She was burnt alive. Lot of protest and strikes happened. This rape case shaked the whole country. Atlast the four acquist shot dead by the police officerswhen they try to escape from them during investigation.

These two cases shows what is the position of women in an society and how the society treats the women. After nirbhaya case the government made lots of policies and schemes in order to protect the women and children from these cruel activities. But still no use of those laws in this 8 years crime against women and children are increased rapidly. There are many jyoti singh and priyanka redy are there in our society. Who face the same problem. But the thing is these two cases happened in public so people could able to know about this. But there are many cases which isnot coming out due to many reasons.

Technology may develop. But the position of women remains the same when there is no change in the society. The society should not consider women as the weaker section of the society. It should help them to achive more in life as how it helps the men. Society should not portrait women as thing which satisfy mens need. The real development of a country depends upon both men and women. Single hand can’t make a sound . so we need to join our hands to make a sound country. That is the real development. When the place and status of women change the country will reach its height for sure.

Crime against women occurs throughout the life cycle of women from prebirth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood to sentence. Women may be the victims of any general crimes like murder, robbery, cheating etc. The crimes which are directed particularly against women are characterized as “CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN”.

Women in the present world were not physically secured. Physical crimes against women increased rapidly. Women in all over the world lack physical security. Map which is given below says the “PHYSICAL SECURITY OF WOMEN” all over the world.

[image: ]This map shows the physical security of women all over the world. We can able to see only in very few countries women are secure. Most of the countries throughout the world does not provide physical security foe women. This survey was taken by WOMAN SATS PROJECT in the year 2019.

Rape, the most frequently used word now a days in our society. The word “rape” originates from the Latin word “rapere” which means ‘to seize’ or ‘take by force’. Rape literally means a forcible seizure. An sexual intercourse with a women without her consent by fraud or force.

Rape destroys the entire psychological of a women and pushes her into deep emotional crisis. The physical scar may be cured, but the mental scar cannot be cured. It is estimated that approximately 35% of women world widely have experienced some form of sexual harassment in their life time. Some seeks legal remedy for this. And some people don’t approach or seek legal remedy because of many reasons.

Women whose age is between 16-19 are four times likely to be the victims of rape or sexual assault and women who is between the age of 18-24 are three times likely to be the victims of the rape or sexual assault. Transgender are twice likely to be the victims of the rape and sexual assault.

THE NATIONAL CRIME BUREAU (NCRB) has released the annual CRIME IN REPORT 2017on October 28. According to that report 3,59,849 cases were reported against women in 2017. This is the rape statistics in India. When compared to other countries the rape case reported in India was less because the reason is the rape victim’s have lot of internal and external issues. The main reason why the rape victims are not reporting are as follows

Why rape victim’s are not ready to file a report in the police for the crime happened against them?

· The very first thing is victim’s family support. The victim’s family do not encourage them to file a report to the police because of their prestige in the society. They feel that once the society came to know that their daughter or wife or sister is a rape victim the society won’t respect the family. This is the main reason.

· People will always blame women. They generally hold the women responsible for the act though she may be innocent. They don’t criticize men. They will advice women what to do and what not to do. But whatever men do they say he is right. And in India they people will say “HE IS A MEN SO HE WILL DO WHATEVER HE WANT he may be wrong but they will say HE IS A MEN”. There is no right and rong for men “WHATEVER MEN DID IS RIGHT”. This things made women to feel like they are the wrong doer. So they are scared of society to tell them that she is a rape victim.

· When she was raped by some powerful person in the society she can’t able to file a report against them. Whether that powerful person threats the victim not to tell anyone if she tell this he will kill her entire family like this he can threat or in some cases they will kill that girl.

These are all some of the main reasons why rape victims are not ready to file a report.

Domestic violence is universal. It is not confined to age, race, class, culture or country. Every nation experience domestic violence according to their belief systems, traditional styles, customs. Domestic violence a tyranny of private life. It involves abuse of power. Domestic violence occurs when a family member, partner, or any other person in a family attempts to physical or psychological domination or any other harm against women. Domestic violence is, forced confinement of a wife within the four walls of the house, when mobility of women is restricted etc. Dowry death is consider to be the extreme domestic violence. The National Crime Record Bureau reported that 20 dowry death cases are reported every day. Domestic violence is a complex problem. It not only affects the family it affects the entire country. Women who are in rural areas experience lot of domestic violence when compared to women who are residing in urban areas.

In a community based study involving 450 women in Gujarat in the year 2016. In that study it came to know that 42% of women experienced physical beatings and sexual abuse, and 23% of women abusive language, belittlement and threats. Interesting note is that 56% of women belief that wife beating is justified. This study shows that hoe women are treated in their house.

Marriage is consider as the sacramental institution. It still exists in the society. However, over a period of time, dowry emerged as a social evil in the society. Which leads to increasing number of deaths of innocent brides. Dowry “an amount of property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage”. Initially this system was optional . If the parents are rich then they can give all the things to their daughter just because she should not face any difficulties in their husbands house. Later on this system became compulsory. When the parents are poor they can’t afford all the necessity of the girls. The grooms family started to demand for things, money and etc. As a result of this poor girls are not getting married and this leads to the situation where women are considered as burden of the society. This System was practiced in South Asia like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc. As a result of this many innocent girls sucided and many of them just killed for this reason.

As compared to past now the dowry death rate was reduced a lot. But it is not completely eradicated from the society.

Acid attack are increasing phenomenon in India. THE effects of an acid attack are very serious. After the effects of an acid attack though the victim survives are distinct and scar of the victim. The society will started to ignore them. This will affect them both physically and mentally. Today acid attacks are reported in many parts of the world, especially in developing country. Since 19 is 90s, Bangladesh has ben reporting . The intention of the attacker is to humiliate rather than to kill the victim. According to researchers and activists, countries associated with acid attack are

Acid attacks happens highly in South Asian countries. In Devanand v. The state , in this case a man threw acid on his wife because she refuse to cohabit with him. The Wife suffered permanent disfigurement ntand she lost her one eye. In Bangladesh, throwing acid is named as gender crime. Whais the reason for acid attack?

This chart shows the highest acid attack states in India. These are some the useless for which the acid have been thrown. The effects of acid attack are very worse and hard to describe. Victims face lifetime social, psychological, physical, and economic consequences.

Trafficking is a crime of crimes. In this one can dig out the element of abduction, illegal confinements, kidnapping, hurt etc. So multiple abuse and abusres located at different points of time and place together constitute the organised crime of trafficking. India is a source, destination and country foe women and children trafficked foe the purpose of forced labour, commercial, sexual exploitation. Rural forced labour may constitute . Trafficking of young girls who are forced to work as prostitutes is a factor in the rise of AIDS in India. Trafficking does not mean prostitution. The definition of “Trafficking” is set out in 1949 Convention for the suppression on the traffic in persons and of exploitation of the prostitution which refers to all acts involved in the transport, harbouring, or sale of persons within nation or across the international borders through coercion, kidnapping, force, or fraud.

In the academic journal “Behavioral Sciences and the Law,” John Douglas, Robert Ressler, Ann Burgess, and Carol Hartman collectively wrote an article about criminal profiling and how the process is generated. The FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit has been working with different agencies with different jurisdictions since the 1970s. There are six different stages to catching a murderer: profiling inputs, decision-process models, crime assessment, criminal profile, investigation, apprehension.

There are two additional steps to make sure that you have the right offender. These steps are making sure your evidence lines up with your profile and making sure that if there is new evidence, it lines up with your suspect and profile.

Although criminal profiling can be used in rape cases and arsonist cases, it is most useful in sexual homicides. These homicides are the hardest to solve because of their randomness and apparent lack of motive. Most of the time, the perpetrator doesn’t know their victims personally but rather knows of them. They don’t have any quarrels with that particular person; they are a symbol of the killer’s rage. For example, if a killer’s rage is actually directed at his wife, his victims will look similar to his wife and he will take out his rage on them. When profiling murderers, there are two distinctively different forms of profiling; mental health clinicians who want to explain the personality traits of the criminal and law enforcement whose goal is to find the patterns of the perpetrator. The Mad Bomber case that lasted 16 years is a perfect example of a mix of both of these different approaches. George Metesky was an arsonist who planted bombs around Ney York City and was caught because of the profile a psychiatrist-criminologist, James Brussel, created. When he worked as a psychiatrist, he would predict how his patients might react in certain situations so he could be able to help them prepare for those situations. He took his past experience and figured that the arsonist would be middle-aged, heavyset, single, foreign, living with a sister or brother, and wearing a double-breasted buttoned suit. The profile was correct and led the police straight to Metesky.

Criminal profilers are taught to notice the unnoticed. At a crime scene, they need to be able to evaluate what is there and what is not. Most murderers take something with them as a trophy or collection item to remind them of their act.

The first thing a profiler needs to do is look into the victim’s life and see who they associated with regularly if they had a schedule they followed regularly, their relationships, physical condition, personality, and hobbies. The profiler will also need to obtain an autopsy report, toxicology report, crime scene photos, and sketches showing the distances and scales, as well as a map of the area if possible. The next step is the decision process where, the profiler needs to determine the homicide type and style, primary intent, victim risk, offender risk, escalation, time for the crime, and location factors.

The third stage is the crime assessment stage where ,the profiler needs to create a reconstruction of the sequence of events. Meaning, how the crime happened, how the killer encountered the victim, how much time the killer had, and who found the victim.

The fourth stage is creating the criminal profile of the offender. In this stage, the profile is created based on the behavioral organization of the offender and the crime scene. The profiler should also take into account the background information like physical characteristics, habits, beliefs, and values.

The fifth state is the investigative portion where the profiler will work with local law enforcement to use the profile to find suspects fitting the description of the profile.

The sixth and final stage is the apprehension of the suspect. After the suspect is apprehended, it is very important that your profile and evidence match up with your suspect to ensure that you have the right offender. The profiler will then need to conduct an interview to do so. There was a case example that showed all of these steps in the article, but it was far too graphic to include.

Profiling is a very important asset when trying to investigate a crime that seems completely random with no motive. When a profiler analyzes the crime scene photos and notes as well as toxicology reports and the medical examiner’s cause of death, the profiler can determine if it was premeditated or random which will then tell them if the killer is organized or disorganized. The behavior of the murderer reflects their personality traits and if they have trouble with women or confident with them, they are nervous or confident in their own skin, as well as what type of job or experience they’ve had in the past.

The given situation implied that I am the one who created the procedure that may predict violent prone individuals, thus it also gives me the freedom to share my own version of truth. Given that we live in a society wherein crime is almost impossible to prevent amidst several programs implemented by the present government (crime prevention that actually encourage more crime commission, Oplan Tokhang for example), I think it is a major breakthrough to finally create a procedure which may determine negative actions. Since the process is not that complicated, I mean it doesn’t involved serious procedures that may expose hazard to a health of an individual, what is the wrong with trying if it will work or not?

In our country wherein re installation of death penalty is considered and supported by many die-hard fans of Duterte, what harm would it really present if all of us will undergo brain scan, DNA testing and blood analysis? Surely, killing someone just because we think he deserves it for all the crime he committed seems so easy on some, so isn’t it fair to take my procedure seriously and give it a chance to prove its reliability? How will we know, if we won’t try? Death penalty was abolished before due to its ineffectiveness to decrease crime rates, so we have an idea what would be its effect. But this procedure is new, and if discrimination would be the issue, let me just clarify that discrimination exist in all corners of the world.

Discrimination in work when you don’t belong with the same culture. Discrimination exists on gender, intelligence, work, and let us not forget the huge gap between men and women as perceived in this society. Let’s be honest and just face that labelling is always done. Why is it that when labelling is done thru gender (LGBTQ+) or based on intelligence capability or financial status in life, we can tolerate it, but when it comes to labelling someone because of violent attitudes creates huge reactions?

I think it is better to prevent criminal behavior than curing it with death penalty or the tedious process in the criminal justice system that is often favorable to the rich but not to the poor. And in regards to the 5th amendment of self-incrimination in the United States, I assume that it would be in Philippines setting and our right to self-incrimination seems insignificant compared to other rights that the majority are violating every day. Again, I stand on the side of focusing on the positive effect than on the negative. If it can predict violent behavior, then we may implement measures to address those issues.

For example, I am that same youth who was been labeled as *violent prone* (is this somewhat similar to factions society of divergents?  ), I think it would help me to identify my behavior so that I may practice maximum tolerance knowing that I may commit crime once I am provoked. It could help me understand certain attitudes and reactions I sometimes do with little understanding.

All in all, this is my stand over this issue.

Introduction to Criminology’s Role in Society and Law

In this essay I will be showcasing the importance of the study and practice of criminology and why it has a firm placement and fixture in society and law. Criminology is an important aspect of law and social structure within society because it studies why volatile criminal behaviour is apparent in lawful countries. It helps us understand culpability and how morality is tackled within the eyes of criminals and the law.

Exploring the Academic and Scientific Facets of Criminology

Criminology is the academic and scientific study of crime, the causes of crime and how to approach crime within law enforcement and methods of crime prevention. The study of criminology falls under sociology, but within criminology other academic studies are used such as biology, psychology and economics. Criminology also has sub categories that help criminologists delve deeper into certain aspects of crime and crime prevention. The sub categories are Penology, the study of prisons and prison systems. Criminalistics, the study of crime detection and Biocriminology, the study of the biological basis of criminal behaviour.

Theory means an explanations, study or framework to understand a process, decisions or events. Theory within criminology is often the answer or explanation to why an offender commits a crime and why crimes happen, Theories are also based on the study and assumption of what crime entails and that crime exists.

Theoretical Foundations of Criminology: Understanding Crime Causes

Crime theory can be split into two types of theoretical studies, aetiological theory, which takes in legal definitions and uses government appraised laws as their understanding as is to what is deemed lawful and what defines crime. In critical theories, theorists often question and challenge what constitutes as a crime, what is morally good or what has been set up and appeased by the government and law enforcement, critical theorists question if what is placed as lawful is only for the benefit of some and doesn’t benefit society. Theories in criminology are diverse and often the theories are used to point and explain the causes of crime and crime prevention.

Bentham wrote in a similar vein, pointing to the need to understand offenders as rational actors, who engaged in behaviours, including crime, in order to maximise their own outcomes. People are fundamentally selfish according to Bentham, and they will engage in crime if the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived risks and punishment. Anyone can be a criminal, and anyone can commit a crime if the equation is right. If we understand offenders in that way, then the law should be structured in a manner which responds to that trait. Thus, a rational system of punishment should be in place, which was proportionate, which people can understand and follow, and ultimately, be deterred by.

Modern Developments in Criminological Thought

In recent times this thinking has been developed and added to. Sometimes labelled as neo-classical or rational choice models, these models have been important. Authors such as Becker (image right), Clarke, Cornish, Felson and Cohen have added to this. Their work has emphasised that offenders engage in crime in order to advantage themselves in some way. Crime is a consequence of an active decision-making process, whether this is the decision to commit crime at all, or specific choices made in terms of place, time and target of a crime. Clarke and Cornish (2001) discuss the notion of bounded rationality: how decision-making and an individual’s ‘rationality’ must be understood in relation to their resources, knowledge and wider ability to process information. Cohen and Felson’s (1979) routine activity theory, which we might describe as being related to time and space analysis, demonstrate the decision-making and rationality principles in the context of specific crime events. In order for a crime to occur, there must be, A motivated offender: chiefly (but not always) economic motivations for offending. A suitable target: a target of value, which can be taken away, which has symbolic value, and so on. The absence of capable guardianship: the lack of people, processes or physical measures which would otherwise prevent the offending, or result in the apprehension of the offender.

We can count various aspects of crime and justice, not just crime numbers Who is a victim, and offender, plus place, time, fear of crime, patterns of offending, offending outcomes, and so on, can all be measured in some way The most prominent means of collecting data on crime are the official recorded statistics, and victimisation surveys There are other data collection methods used, including self-report surveys, and work by non-governmental organisations and journalists The various ways of counting crime have their strengths and limitations, and each can be particularly useful in some contexts.

Measuring Crime: Methods and Challenges

Counting crime is a subjective process. For instance, accidents, deaths and unreasonable working conditions within a workplace will have largely been absent from conventional measures on crime (see Tombs and White, 2008) for most of the period in which we have counted crime in an organised manner. Over time various activities of employers and responsibilities have eventually been added in to legislations. And thus, now counted in some way

There are two main measures, and a third which is less significant in terms of time and resources invested in it, but still important. Those two main measures are official recorded crime data from agencies who have some direct involvement in dealing with law and order issues (traditionally called official statistics, or police recorded data, even though it is not just the police who collect this information); and information taken from victimisation survey work, the main one in this country being the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). The CSEW was called the British Crime Survey (BCS) until 2012. This started in 1981, but the methodology used has evolved a great deal since then. There are other such surveys in a number of countries, such as the National Crime Victimisation Survey in the US, which began in 1973. Both official crime statistics and the CSEW are tax-payer funded, but adopt very different approaches to the issue of counting crime. As has been the case with the victimisation survey approach, the methodologies and ‘counting rules’ used for official crime data collection have also evolved over time.

The third method comes at the issue in a different way, centred on questions such as have you committed a crime in the past 12 months? Self-report surveys then are the third category. Counting crime that way can produce different findings e.g. including crimes otherwise not counted because they were not reported, or recognised by a victim, or perhaps even victimless crimes One notable example has been conducted as part of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development; remember how in lecture 3 we explored the ICAP model within our discussion of the Integrated Approaches block of theories. Data not only relates to numbers of crimes, but characteristics of victims and offenders, areas, and so on Plus, there are data collections for things such as prisoner numbers, probation outcomes, and so on. They usually entail standard collecting practices, with national guidelines (but remember the ‘Deaths on Probation’ example from the last lecture: the true number of deaths were not accurately counted) Thus, official statistics are very useful, and national in scope, even if we need to handle them carefully.

Class, Power, and Global Implications in Criminology

‘Class’, and what it fundamentally relates to, can be understood in a more dynamic way – ‘critical criminologies’ deal with this in the context of race, ethnicity, gender etc. We might make a link from ‘class’ to recent discussions of social justice and social exclusion. We live in a fundamentally unfair society – extreme poverty uncommon in UK, but relativism is important. Concepts of ‘inequality’ and ‘social justice’ are crucial. Taylor-Gooby: SJ concerned with who ought to get what. Processes vs Outcomes vs Opportunities vs Capabilities Income inequality Vs. Wealth inequality Vs. Services inequality Vs. Skills inequality. Not just about poverty and class (but related in a sense) – Multi-dimensional disadvantage. Person or area suffering from a range of deprivations, e.g. unemployment, low income, poor skills, poor housing, high crime, poor health, family breakdown. Ultimately, social exclusion relates to social class in some sense, and we can (by some accounts) understand it in terms of class divisions, power and the consequences of capitalism.

Class and power can be seen as operating on an international level Global processes create divisions and inequalities This has implications for thinking about crime, offending, and victimisation We can, perhaps apply a Marxist analysis, and indeed other theoretical models to understand the occurrence of crime internationally. New opportunities and new means by which criminal activities can be conducted, and new forms of victimization. Globalization affects the workings and nature of the nation state = consequences for the organization of policing / Criminal justice Gives rise to new insecurities and inequalities, existential and ontological insecurities and anxieties Gives Rise to a “new mentality” = focus on risk. ‘Risk Society’, and this impacts on some communities more than others in terms of how law enforcement practices operate.

Inequalities in wealth, development and power have emerged, and these are linked to global markets and trading, and political interests. Victimization related to global markets, and differentials in power, and status. Critical criminologies are helpful in allowing us to understand the world in a certain way. States crimes, corporate crimes / harms and other instances of global inequalities must be considered. ‘Class’. ‘inequality’ and ‘power’ are important ideas within such Marxist analyses of crime, but those ideas can also be used more broadly. The above can be seen as operating not only at a domestic level, but at an international level also.

The earliest explanations of female criminality, centres on biological understanding. Emphases then were placed on the role of biological and psychological factors in explaining female involvement in crime. Although, early explanations of crime focused heavily on male criminality and treated female crime as somewhat of an anomaly, some attempts were made to explain female crime. As was the case in criminology, more generally, two competing viewpoints informed the writings on female offending in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. One viewpoint emphasized the role of biological factors and psychological factors in women and girls’ crime, typically postulating that criminal women exhibited masculine biological or psychological orientations (Lombroso and Freud) or what Igbo (2007) refers to as “penis envy”.

The second view stressed the role of social or economic forces and assumed that the social and cultural influences affecting male criminality similarly influenced female criminality. The issue of increase in rate and change in pattern of female crime in Nigeria is alarming. This is because women by their nature are bearers and nurturers of children; and the social responsibilities that go with these biological and social functions demand that they should be worthy in character. Over the years, societies devised ways and means of controlling crime and dealing with those who deviate from its norms and values. In pre-colonial times women were more or less restricted to their traditional social roles.

The communal system of living together added to the internal and external mechanism for crime control, (mainly of ridicule and public disgrace) and kept the level of criminal activities by women low. With the coming of westernization (money, economy and emergence of private property) anchored to colonial period, some women began to seek employment outside the home. With increased labour force participation for them some had the opportunity of getting involved in criminal activities.

Some theories claim that the female role limits offending. Persons (1937) as cited in Igbo (2007) claims that women tend to take up the expressive role in a family-providing emotional support and caring for children as a full-time job, rather than seeking paid work. Due to this obligation, women are seen as having less opportunity to commit crime, being required to stay at home, caring for children. However, nowadays we cannot assume that such obligations are a deterrent against committing crime. New technologies (such as the internet) enable everyone to commit crime. A woman can be at home looking after her children and at the same time she can be cheating innocent people on the internet or even committing identity theft or fraud (Ameh, 2013).

The rate of female crime is on gradual rise around the world. He added that this is particularly evident in developed countries. Germany’s female crime rate is 24% of the total crime, and the rate in the U.S. is 30%. In China, the female crime rate also has increased rapidly. After the founding of New China, from the 1950s to the 1970s, the female crime has accounted for 2% of the total number of crime. After the 1980s, with the social transformation, the number of female crime has increased significantly. While the number of crime increases, the proportion of the female offenders has increased from 2% in the 1970s to 3% in the 1980s, to 5% in the 1990s, and to 18-20% now which almost equal to that of Germany and the United States (Li, 2010). Similarly Enahoro (2017) noted that cases of women violence against their husbands are becoming alarming issues in the different parts of the country.

Ameh (2013) in his study supported the assertion that there is an upsurge in female criminality in Nigeria by indicating an increase of 1001, representing 16.4 percent increase in the number of admission into the prison between 2007 and 2009. Further probe into the data presented on table 1 revealed that female criminality is not only on the increase numerically, but also on the increase in the severity of offences committed, because in 2007 female offenders charged for capital offences (armed robbery, robbery and murder) are 720 representing 11.7 percent, while in 2009 there is 3.5 percent increase in the number of female offenders admitted into Nigerian prisons, represented by 1087 (15.2%). This data indicates that women are not only committing crimes that are ascribed to them as noted by Feminism and Crime (2009) but are now competing seriously with their male counterpart.

Contemporary explanation of female criminality was summarized into nine correlated points by Steffensmeier and Schwartz (2013); the duo reviewed hypotheses and evaluated them based on the findings of empirical data. Below are their submissions:

Law and the Organisational Management of Crime: Change in female arrest trends are due to more efficient official responses to criminality rather than to actual changes in criminal behaviour among females.

Net widening and changes in law: Changes in law enforcement and in statutory law toward targeting less serious forms of law-violating (especially for violence) has increased the pool of female offenders at risk for arrest, since females are disproportionately involved in the less serious forms of law-violating. A more punitive political environment has been an important factor in the net widening process.

Gender equality and female emancipation: The improved status of women, particularly their advances in the paid workforce, offers females more desire and opportunity to commit crime.

Increased economic marginalisation of women: Higher levels of economic insecurity faced by large sub-groups of women in American society increases the pressure to commit (especially) consumer-based crimes.

Increase inner-city community disorganisation: A growing detachment of many inner-city minorities from mainstream institutions, like education and employment, leads to weakened social controls and to adaptive strategies that include crime. The effects of weakened social controls are especially detrimental to female conformity.

Expanded opportunities for female-type crimes: Shifts in pattern of productive activity, including increased consumerism and the availability of consumer goods and greater reliance on a credit-based system, have expanded opportunities for “female-type” crimes more rapidly than “male-type” crimes.

Changes in the underworld: Recent changes in the criminal underworld, such as the reduced supply of male crime partners due to increased incarceration rates and the emerging dominance of drug trafficking, have augmented the prospects for female involvement.

Trends in drug dependency: Drug addiction amplifies income-generating crime for both sexes, but more so for females than males. Also, the likely incapacitation effects of locking up chronic , high-risk male offenders has opened up slots for females in drug and other crime networks while also tending to diminish overall levels of male offending.

Crime prevention programmes targeting male offenders: Implementation of crime prevention programmes aimed at male offenders has reduced male offending for some crimes, thereby narrowing the gender gap.

Crime is a continuous obstacle in everyday life. We see it everywhere we go, whether it be on our way to work or from the window in our homes. We may even never see it, but it is always there. Academic Tim Newburn defines crime as an infraction of the criminal law (Newburn, 2017, p. 8). In march 2020, 122 crimes were recorded per 1000 population in Newcastle Upon Tyne. This raises the question of how and if we can design out crime. It can be argued that to make a city safer, it relies on good design (UTS Design Innovation research centre, 2019). Author Jane Jacobs states We must have eyes on the street(Jacobs,1961:36). This means we must put forward an idea that allows us to see everything deviant that is happening around us e.g, shopping districts close early meaning those streets are quiet and at risk of being subjected to crime. This introduces the idea of Situational Crime Prevention which I am going to be evaluating in this essay. I will begin by looking into Clarkes theory of crime prevention followed by evaluating the positives and negatives of this theory using criticisms from other criminologists and my own creative thought. I will conclude by stating whether I think these methods are efficient and if not, then what needs to be included.

Criminologist Ronald Clarke claims that crime is opportunistic. This means that the more opportunities we see, the more likely we are to commit an offence. He believes that to prevent crime, we need Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) to minimise these opportunities. He defines this as involving the management, design or manipulation of the immediate environmentto reduce the opportunities of crime” (Clarke, 1983: 225). An example of this could be CCTV. This crime prevention strategy is useful as it detects crime and captures offenders. Results of a meta-analysis on the effects of CCTV showed a 16% decrease in crime in these areas. It was also found that CCTV had a huge impact on preventing car park deviance with a decrease of 51% (Welsh and Farrington, 2009). This demonstrates a positive of using SCP as these results support the theory of crime being opportunistic. CCTV provides an increase in risk for the offenders making it less likely for them to commit as well as provide help to the criminal justice system to prosecute these offenders. Although CCTV is proven to be effective, it carries some issues. To keep files for longer, camera quality is reduced making it easier for offenders to hide from being identified. Blindspots also raise an issue as not all areas are covered by CCTV. In Maidstone town centre, a CCTV blindspot is now labelled as an out of control hotspot for crimes such as drug dealing and violence (Downs mail,2021). Another example of an SCP technique used in society is target-hardening which increases the effort to commit crimes. For example, window shutters and the installation of alarms. This Is supported by data that found 6% of burglaries occur with no protection compared to 1% where basic or advanced security is seen (Security, 2013). Although target-hardening reduces the efforts of crime, modernist sociologists may argue that the SCP strategies are risky and thrill-seeking. This conflicts with the idea of crime being opportunistic and more about the people themselves who commit these crimes. These methods of prevention are full of effort and risk giving offenders a sense of thrill known as the idea of edgework (Laurendeau and Lyng, 2006). Overall, Clarke’s idea of SCP is considerably effective using the likes of designs and target-hardening. The opportunities for crime are proven to decline after measures are put in place. However, a criticism of this concept is the view that SCP has negative effects on disadvantaged groups in society. For example, people living in poverty are less likely to be able to afford security for their homes such as alarm systems and upgraded locks. This tells us that Clarke ignores the likes of disadvantaged groups and favours and protects the wealthier who can afford these measures. In Clark’s book on the Seven Misconceptions of Situational Crime Prevention’, he responds to critics by stating SCP “provides as much protection to the poor as to the rich” (Clarke, 2005). In other words, stating these techniques are not too expensive.

A negative of situational crime prevention ignites the debate that SCP puts too much significance on crime being opportunistic. Criminologists may argue that it ignores important factors such as poverty, discrimination and upbringing etc. Poverty can be an initial cause of crime due to desperation to provide for their families which could generate robberies. Lack of education could also result in gangs as it gives those unable to attend school, a form of belonging. Mental illnesses being left untreated are more common in poverty-stricken areas and severe mental illness which increases the risk of an individual committing a crime (Gaille, 2016). Not only do poverty areas have more crime offenders but also include a higher number of victims. It was found the lowest income families were 62% more likely to experience personal crime and 73% violent crime (Cuthbertson, 2018). Another structural factor that has an increase in crime is discrimination. Hate crimes against religious groups, ethnic minorities or the LGBTQ community still exist in modern society and still show to be a significant form of crime. In 201819, police recorded 103,379 hate crimes throughout England and Wales which are 10% higher than 201718 offences (Home Office, 2019). We can try to prevent crimes like this from continuing by the use of media and education on hate crimes in schools. Upbringings can influence the levels of crime, for example, an abusive household may be far more likely to raise violent children. Abused children are more likely to be arrested as both juveniles and as adultsâ (Picker, 2007). This negative view on SCP shows that fundamental changes to political and economical society would be a solution to preventing crime. SCP does not go into the root problems of crime and only looks at crime at the overview of crime. However, it can be argued that we still need to factor in crime as opportunistic as the majority of these criminologists also use target hardening. For example, these criminologists will use crime prevention methods such as locking their doors when leaving or avoid walking through quiet areas alone. This raises the question of whether it is hypocrisy and whether we still need to consider Clarke’s view.

Looking at positive aspects of situational crime prevention we can take into account the benefits of designing. The benefits may include the decrease in wasting police time and also our increase in safety as vulnerable members of society. For example, bus stops have been designed with very thin seating. This could be to avoid the homeless from sleeping there. This has benefits on us as we feel safer to enjoy our everyday lives but also stops the need for police to constantly patrol these areas. This is important as time can be spent on more important cases of crime. A second example could be the use of spikes or gaps in seating to deter skateboarders. Therefore, it increases the safety of the public as there is no risk of being injured by a passing skateboard. This also stops police from having to patrol all aspects of town and stopping possible pointless arrests which distract away from serious crimes being committed elsewhere. However, designs can cause harm as without a clear risk assessment can result in failed designs. This is wasting resources and money. This has been labelled as the dark side of design (Cozens, 2018). A third example of SCP designs could be more street lights, especially in rural areas. Quiet streets are typically avoided due to the danger it holds compared to well-lit streets. More street lights can provide safety to people especially those who are vulnerable. This can also link to poverty as less financially stable families may not be able to afford a form of transport and therefore walking alone at night may be their only solution. A criticism of this view on situational crime prevention is the theory of displacement. These designs may have been put around communities however crime levels will not decrease and offenders may just find another way to commit the crime. This brings upon the overall theory that crime is inevitable.

The displacement of crime theory highlights that SCP does not stop crime but causes the displacement of crime (Displacement theory, 2002). There are five types of displacement. The first is Temporal displacement. This is the idea that if we take away the opportunity for crime, it will just move to another time where freedom is still there. An example of this would be not paying for a metro ticket in the North East. After a certain time, metro barriers may rise and not contain security guards, allowing us to be able to ride the metro without paying. The second form of displacement is Spatial displacement (moving to another place where there are no obstacles). An example of this would be the homeless moving from areas with spikes to places like national parks or playgrounds. The third displacement is Target displacement which involves the switching of crime focus from one target to another target. For example, thieves may want to rob a shop but decide to rob a shop they know has no CCTV instead. This can also be applied to people as criminals may want to target the vulnerable elderly compared to middle-aged men. The fourth displacement is Tactical displacement. Offenders may use another tactic to carry out a crime such as if the software becomes shut down, hackers may upgrade to new software as a way to hack. The final displacement is Functional displacement (committing a different type of crime from the crime initially intended). Offenders may be able to carry out a robbery to buy drugs, so they turn to mug a vulnerable member of the public. However, a criticism of the five displacements would be that SCP would still put a stop to these issues. For example, CCTV and alarm systems would still stop Spatial displacement as we can still see all other areas of society they move to.

In conclusion, situational crime prevention is an effective way of deterring crime. This is supported as methods such as target hardening like alarm systems and CCTV have been proven effective. CCTV is everywhere from streets to car parks. This increases the fear of crime from offenders and therefore deters crime from taking place. However, it was found these methods are not always effective as CCTV has cons such as low-quality images and blindspots making it possible for criminals to get away with crime and deviance. The designs introduced into society such as spikes and more street lights shows that SCP is effective as it would be inconvenient for crime to take place in such places. However, Lyng (2006), argues this could be thrilling for offenders as they may like the challenge and therefore, will not fully prevent crime in these areas. The lack of attention towards other important factors such as poverty and hate crimes shows SCP is not all that effective. Statistics demonstrated a huge link between these factors and everyday crime. This proves that more needs to be done to tackle crime such as more media coverage on these minority groups and education to the younger generation on ways to help stop the crime. This could indicate that both SCP and other individual factors should be brought together. The five displacements also point out the ways in which SCP can be avoided and tricked. Target displacement, in particular, shows that areas of low SCP are more likely to be victims of crime. This links to the idea of disadvantaged areas having a higher chance of being victimised to these crimes. Overall, I think situational crime prevention is an effective way to partially prevent crime in certain areas, however, factors such as minority groups of people who are more likely to commit or be victims of crime need to be factored into the SCP methods as a way to cause a significant decline in crime.

Strategies for preventing crime, drug misuse and other antisocial behavior among young people should be designed to counter specific risk factors and, where possible, to enhance known protective factors. A combination of interventions might be more effective than a single method. On the basis of well-designed experimental research – currently implementing at the United States and Canada – the most convenient methods of preventing youth crime are outlined below. Frequent home visiting by health professionals to women during pregnancy and early stages of pregnancy provide advice about antenatal and postpartum care of the child, neonate improvement, appropriate nutrition, and avoiding smoking, drinking and drug use in pregnancy. Analyses upon studies states that this might lead to a reduction in child abuse by parents as well as a longer term reduction in delinquency among the children concerned.

Pre-school ‘intellectual enrichment’ programs are designed for stimulating, thinking and reasoning capability at young children, and hence to expansion of their success at school. The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program in Michigan provided high quality nursery education for an experimental group of children in a impoverished African American community, including a curriculum that encouraged children to plan, implement and review their playing activities. A long-term follow-up of former participants at the age of 27 found that they were less likely to have been arrested than a control group of similar children, and more imminent to have been completed their secondary education, to have acceptedly well-paid jobs and to own their homes.

Parenting education programs encourage parents to notice that what their children are doing, to praise good behavior, to state house rules perfectly, and to make rewards and punishments contingent on children’s behavior. A number of programs have demonstrated success in reducing children’s antisocial behavior, although reductions in stealing and other delinquent activities have in some instances proved short-lived. Cognitive and social skills training teaches children to stop and consider for a while before acting, to consider the consequences of antisocial behavior, to understand other people’s feelings, and to solve interpersonal problems by negotiation rather than aggression. Some of these techniques, intended to strengthen children’s own inhibitions against antisocial behavior, have also been used to reduce re-offending among juvenile offenders. Peer influence strategies offer young people advice on how to resist pressure from friends to engage in antisocial behavior ranging from under-age drinking and smoking to drug abuse and other crimes. Research suggests that advice is most likely to be heeded when given by specially trained, high-status peers rather than by parents or teachers.

Management of classroom and other trainings might help teachers to communicate clear instructions and expectations, to notice and reward children for socially desirable behavior and to be consistent in their use of discipline. Anti-bullying initiatives in schools consist of implementing certain rules that encourage children to report bullying occacions and offer help to the sufferers. Playground monitoring and supervision may also need to be ameliorated. Programs in Norway and Britain have substantiated success in reducing bullying, which is itself related with an increased risk of delinquency. Efforts to modify the risk factors related with delinquency have also included community crime prevention programs, with a focus on achieving physical improvements in disadvantaged neighborhoods and providing recreational facilities for young people.

Unfortunately, there is a shortage of convincing evidence for the effectiveness of these programs. Crime prevention in the United Kingdom has, meanwhile, tended to emphasize measures designed to reduce the opportunities for crime in particular situations. Techniques include increased surveillance by closed circuit cameras, improving physical security, and protecting individuals against re-victimization. The major difficulty with such programs is that they may merely displace crime to other places or victims rather than preventing it altogether. .

Historically crime prevention was the main purpose of the police force (Peel, 1829). Since the 19th century, it has changed dramatically from reactive to proactive interventions. By a contemporary definition, crime prevention is actions taken by either individuals or public agencies with the preventive measure in the psychical and social environment in order to change certain behavior and events to reduce the occurrence of a criminal act and minimize the damage caused by it (Crawford 2007) and (Hughes in McLaughlin and Muncie 2003). These methods can include anticipation of crime, everyday actions like closing doors behind ourselves, using identification cards and passwords, and designing products in a way that makes them difficult to use if they got stolen. CP can also use approaches that change offenders’ behavior, environment, and personal circumstances. Also, several crime prevention policies were implemented and local communities and various agencies got involved such as the Five Towns Initiative and the Neighbourhood Watch. In recent years, crime reduction was used more commonly instead of CP as an indication and desire to not just prevent but significantly reduce crime.

History of Crime prevention through environmental design

Oscar Newman was the first person to popularize Situational crime prevention in the U.S. In the early 1970s he coined the term “defensible space.” According to Newman, proper residential designs are effective in reducing crime and criminal opportunities. C. Ray Jeffery had further extended his concepts to other areas as well like factories, and schools. Situational crime prevention was published in 1992 by Ronald Clarke. The best strategies for reducing criminal incidents were mentioned by Clarke in his paperwork.

According to criminologists, a country should use multiple tactics and strategies to reduce crime rates. They say that there is no specific approach for a particular crime however creating an environment where targets are less vulnerable can abate the crime rate. In Washington DC, a few of these techniques are used by the subway system to control crime. Researchers believe that there is behavior and environment are interconnected.

A group of sociologists from the University of Chicago was the first to study how the environment and crime are related. They found that there was social disorganization in specific parts of the city which was the cause of high crime rates. However, the rate was less in the concentric circles that were far away from these areas. The old criminology theories show that the characteristics of an individual are the main cause behind the crime rates which was rejected by the sociologists at Chicago University. Later, Jane Jacobs, an urban planner, came up with a new theory called eyes-on-the-street.

According to him, crime can be reduced by keeping eyes on the streets; eyes refer to the windows. However, his theory was not comprehensive as without the involvement of the community, a reduction in crime rates is not possible (Yong, 2013).

Contemporary thinking of criminologists

C. Ray Jeffrey wrote a book after getting inspired by Jacob’s work where he challenged the old theories of criminologists. The CPTED was first used by him in this book where he used an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the cause of crimes. He analyzed crime from different perspectives or fields such as psychology, sociology, criminology, and administration of justice. Also, he drew the analysis from new fields such as behaviorism, decision theory, system analysis, environmentalism, and crime control models.

Environment affects the crime and its occurrence which is also influenced by a few factors such as the victim’s presence, surveillance and guardianship methods being used, and more. Environmental criminology focuses more on the factors responsible for the occurrence of crime. Hence, most of the theories are called crime opportunity theories.

More studies were conducted on it which demonstrates that crime is encouraged by certain environments. Such environments are areas with no proper light, high-rise buildings where different tenants from different societies live including highly trafficked streets. On the other hand, the use of natural surveillance, community centers, informal social controls, and public parks that is well-maintained show a reduction in crime as well as in fear of crime among people. In addition to this, it is very important to understand how the targets are picked by the criminals and how vulnerability affects their choice.

Introduction

The Royal Malaysian Police (RMP; Malay: Polis Diraja Malaysia, PDRM) is a branch of Malaysia’s security forces. The force is a centralized organization charged with the task of everything from traffic control to intelligence gathering. Its main headquarters are in Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Aman district.

The RMP collaborates collaboratively with police forces all across the world, including those of the four neighboring countries. Malaysia is bordered by the Indonesian National Police, the Royal Brunei Police Force, the Royal Thai Police Force, and the Singapore Police Force.

The modern police organization in Malaysia started on March 25, 1807, with the granting of the Penang Charter of Justice. Police organizations had been limited to their respective states at the time. Only after World War II was a single police organization, known as the Civil Affairs Police Force, established with the maiden administration of the center. H. B. Longworthy organized and established this organization in Malaya.

During the confrontations between Malaysian and Indonesian forces from 1963 to 1965, the police and military forces fought against Indonesian infiltrations in the states of Johor and Sabah. On July 24, 1958, almost a year after Malaysia’s independence, the King of Malaysia, Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhamad, bestowed the Royal title on the Malayan Federation Police Forces. The Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) was formed in 1963 by the acquisition of the Royal Federation of Malayan Police (RFMP), the North Borneo Armed Constabulary, and the Sarawak Constabulary.

Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF), a non-profit organization, was formed on January 11th, 1993. It is the first Chapter established outside of Japan of the Asia Crime Prevention Foundation, which is based in Tokyo. The Foundation was officially launched by Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, YABhg Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who was also the Foundation’s Patron at the time.

In conjunction with the Foundation’s launch, the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) and UNAFEI (United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and Treatment of Offenders) co-organized the Seminar on ‘Effective Counter-Measures Against Organized Crime,’ which did take place between January 18 and 21, 1993. Approximately 200 people were involved. The current patron is Malaysia’s Prime Minister, YABhg Tan Sri Dato’ Hj. Muhyiddin bin Hj. Mohd. Yassin. MCPF’s objectives are to raise public awareness regarding crime prevention and offender rehabilitation at all times. In addition to encouraging public participation in the government’s and other interested parties and non-governmental organizations’ efforts to prevent crime.

The MCPF contributes to the enhancement of effective crime prevention and offender rehabilitation measures. Our country’s main objective is to achieve peace, stability, and a manageable level of crime.

Content

The police force is a group of officers that represent the civil authority of the government. Police officers are typically responsible for maintaining public order and safety, enforcing the law, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activity. Policing refers to these functions. Police are frequently entrusted with various licensing and regulatory functions. However, for two reasons, police researchers have criticized the popular understanding of the term policing, which refers to members of a public organization with the legal authority to maintain order and enforce the law. For starters, it defines police officers’ goals for the organization rather than the specific methods they employ to achieve those goals. Second, the range of situations in which police are involved to intervene needs to be extended far beyond law enforcement and order maintenance.

The Royal Malaysian Police Force constitution, control, employment, recruitment, fund, discipline, duties, and powers are specified and governed by the Police Act 1967. The main role of The Royal Malaysian Police is law enforcement. The Royal Malaysian Police is the main agency that is tasked with maintaining the law and order in Malaysia. Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government who act in an effective manner to enforce the law by discovering, trying to discourage, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms that govern that society.

Next, RMP also deals with community safety concerns. Dealing with community safety is about helping the communities to be and feel safe. This is important for them to make us feel safe. The aim of this is to support communities develop solutions that help tackle crime, fear of crime, and anti-social behavior.

Other than that, resolving disputes among the community or in the force itself. The process of resolving disputes between parties is known as dispute resolution. Although conflicts are generally more deep-rooted and lengthier than disputes, the terms dispute resolution and conflict resolution are sometimes used interchangeably.

Furthermore, RMP also mainly investigates a crime that happened in the community. A criminal investigation is a multifaceted problem-solving activity. When an officer arrives at a crime scene, he or she will be most often required to make critical decisions, sometimes involving life and death, based on limited information in a dynamic environment of active and still evolving events. After the criminal event, the investigator is expected to preserve the crime scene, collect evidence, and devise an investigative strategic plan that will contribute to the emergence of reasonable grounds to identify and arrest the person or persons responsible for the crime.

Lastly, RMP also enforces traffic laws to ensure the safety of the community on the road and the highway. Traffic enforcement is generally described as the controlling of road users’ compliance with road laws and the punishment for noncompliance. The primary objective of enforcement is to minimize the incidence of traffic violations through control and punitive sanctions. Traffic laws are in place to keep you and other drivers safe on the road. If we do not adhere to them, we endanger not only ourselves but also innocent bystanders and drivers. Knowing the rules of the road, practicing good driving skills, and generally taking care as a road user all help to play an important role in preventing a crash.

NGOs are grass-root populations, groups, and institutions that occurred spontaneously from the heart of society, participate in non-profit and voluntary activities to help relieve social problems and serve the general public, and consider their independence from government as their most significant advantage. NGOs, which have been considered among newly founded civil organizations, are established and operated by motivated citizens’ voluntary collaboration to do group collective activities in the form of a coherent structure and organization to contribute to social development and welfare, as well as the empowerment of society members, without any having to rely on the government.

NGOs have different goals, generally moving towards trying to advance social or political goals for the members of the society. For example, protecting the environment, trying to encourage human rights and respect for people and groups, raising the levels of the welfare of the oppressed, and offering joint programs in a manner commensurate. Such organizations, which include a spectrum of political and philosophical situations, are in number.

The roles of RMP and MCPF are different as MCPF is a non-profit government organization that is created to promote awareness in crime prevention and rehabilitation among the community. The first role of MCPF is to promote public awareness of crime prevention at all times. MCPF would travel around Malaysia to help promote the public about to be aware of crime prevention. As this is important for the public in Malaysia to ensure that the public knows how to prevent the crimes that are happening around their neighborhood or anywhere else and to reduce the crime rate in Malaysia. As a result, it can involve community crime prevention. The premise of community crime prevention is that private citizens can play an important role in preventing crime in their neighborhoods. Individual citizens, small groups, and volunteer community organizations are encouraged to participate in activities targeted at decreasing crime and improving the standard of living in their community members through community crime prevention programs.

Next. MCPF’s role is also to get public participation in crime-preventing efforts of the Government and other organizations. In order to tackle crime effectively, communities must always be consulted about the issues that they face and how to resolve them. Involving the public presents both challenges and opportunities, but it can result in increased trust in the criminal justice system. For example, neighborhood watch. Neighbourhood Watch is a program that encourages neighbors to keep a watchful eye out for each other. The program combats crime in the most efficient manner possible – before it commences – by significantly reducing the opportunities for crime to occur. Neighbourhood Watch is a crime-reduction program that encourages you to learn how to recognize and report suspicious activity in your neighborhood, as well as how to make your home less appealing as a target for thieves.

Additionally, conducting, assisting, or encouraging such activities as surveys, research, and related activities in the areas of crime prevention and the treatment of offenders. MCPF conducts surveys with the public in order to assist in crime prevention in public areas. As for the treatment of the offenders, it may help to give them a second chance for the offenders after their prison time. Giving community service as a part of the punishment is a great example.

Other than that, MCPF publishes and distribute pamphlets, post bulletins, and other informative source in order to expose people to crime prevention. This is a great way in order to promote public awareness of crime prevention. Nowadays, MCPF also posts informative stuff online as it is a more logical way because people nowadays get everything online by using social media. Social media platforms are being increasingly used to prevent crimes and conduct an investigation. They allow police departments to share information with the wider population. They also allow law enforcement to interact with and involve their communities in novel and potentially transformative ways.

Lastly, MCPF conducts public talks, meetings, and seminars relating to crime prevention and the treatment of offenders. MCPF conducts events like this for the public to be aware of preventing crime on many levels. Conducting public talks can achieve the goal of preventing crime in Malaysia. It can be conducted both physically and online.

Conclusion

To prevent and respond to crime, modern police organizations were established. For decades, evaluation research has cast doubt on traditional policing strategies. Police forces all over the world and Malaysia are currently experimenting with new methods used to control and prevent crime. Independent of the police, several crime prevention strategies have emerged. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, police departments turned to community policing to minimize environmental crime while improving relationships with their communities. Nowadays, the collaborative effort of non-governmental organizations in crime prevention is also a good idea for exchanging ideas in crime prevention and attaining enlightenment in Malaysia. Experimentation and local knowledge are required for crime prevention. Local governments must play a role in crime prevention and policing, for example, by establishing safety councils to coordinate both. Beyond crime fighting, we must take into account crime prevention. Development can help to reduce crime, but it is not a complete solution. Drugs and alcohol are the two biggest contributors to crime, and campaigns attempting to address both issues are obligated. It is important to acknowledge that significant legal, cultural, and political differences across local and regional contexts affect the consideration and practical application of crime prevention. Even the term ‘crime prevention’ will be applied differently, if at all, in different parts of the world. The body of knowledge about crime prevention is most often derived from a small number of countries and regions, which is particularly problematic. Certain approaches may work well in one context but have negative consequences in another. Lastly, what I hope for Malaysia in the future of crime prevention. All the communities can work together with law enforcement and other organizations in order to maintain peace and a crime-free in this country. Crime always can happen anywhere but if we know how to prevent it, we can achieve what we all want for the sake of Malaysia. This is also for the future of our grandchildren to see and experience and we don’t want them to grow up in a world where crime is a common thing to live in.

References

1. Hughes, G. (1998). Understanding crime prevention. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
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3. Rosenbaum, D. P., Lurigio, A. J.,

This paper focuses on common theft and answers questions such as, what is the appropriate crime prevention strategy that could be used to address the offense? Who is it targeted at? Who will implement it? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this intervention in terms of achieving the desired outcomes? And lastly, how is the outcome evaluated or measured?

Common theft in Botswana is an offense punishable by section 264 read with section 271 of the penal code (Cap 08:01, 1964). Section 264 (Cap 08:01) provides the definition of stealing as “A person who fraudulently and without claim of right takes anything capable of being stolen, or fraudulently converts to the use of any person other than the general or special owner thereof, anything capable of being stolen, is said to steal that thing.” In addition, the person must have the intention to permanently deprive the owner of that particular thing of it”. Section 271 (Cap 08:01, 1964) confers the punishment for theft stating that “Any person who steals anything capable of being stolen is guilty of the offense termed theft, and is liable, unless owing to the circumstances of the theft or the nature of the thing stolen some other punishment is provided, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years”.

In the case of Moeti v The State (1998), the accused was charged with common theft however the judge acquitted the accused on the basis that the prosecution lacked sufficient elements that make up the offense of common theft. These elements are conferred by subsection 2 of section 264 of the Penal Code. It states that one is said to have fraudulently stolen if they do it with the following intents; “an intent permanently to deprive the general or special owner of the thing of it, an intent to use the thing as a pledge or security, an intent to part with it on a condition as to its return which the person taking or converting it may be unable to perform, an intent to deal with it in such a manner that it cannot be returned in the condition in which it was at the time of the taking or conversion, in the case of money, an intent to use it at the will of the person who takes or converts it, although he may intend afterward to repay the amount to the owner”. In a nutshell, the elements are that there should be men’s rea. i.e. a guilty mind, there should be possession and there should be intent to deprive the owner of such ownership of the thing and it must be taken without claim of right. In the case of R v Turner (1971), “Turner took his car to a garage to have it repaired. After the repairs had been completed, the car was left on the road outside the garage and he (Turner) told the mechanic that he would return the following day to pay him and take the car. Instead, he came back later during the night and took the car using his spare key without paying for the repairs. Later he lied about the matter to the police saying that the car had been stolen. The car was recovered under his custody. He was convicted of theft of the car even though he was the real owner. By the time he took that car, it was not in his custody but was placed under the care of the garage owner (special owner). He had no claim of right over the car.”

In Mahlaje v State (High Court, Crim App 97 of 1983), an employee of the public service had instructed a laborer to load eight bags of sorghum into a lorry and the laborer did so. The lorry was intercepted by the officer in charge of the government establishment in question before it had left the premises, but the fact that it failed to get outside the establishment did not mean that there had been no taking. The court held; that although the sorghum was not moved from the compound, the fact that it was removed from the place where it was supposed to be without the consent of the authority constitutes taking. So he was convicted of theft. The cited cases demonstrate the elements of the offense of common theft.

The appropriate crime prevention strategy for common theft is Social crime prevention and it will target the community. The social crime prevention model purports to discover the root causes of crime and its’ focus is on the social and economic aspects and the motivated offender (Harper, 2015). According to Harper (2015) crime is a result of social ills e.g. ethnic heterogeneity or poor living standards. In relation to common theft, this is to say an individual may commit the offense towards the community because of social ills such as poor living standards as well as having people of diverse ethnicities in an area. The crime prevention measures of this strategy are usually community-based and these include improvement of the education standard of the community and community cohesion (Harper, 2015). This makes social crime prevention more efficient in the combat of common theft because it seeks to address the root cause of criminality via community-based developmental actions such as helping young people transition to working life and enrolling youth in school and helping them stay there (Harper, 2015). Thus, acquiring knowledge of the consequences of common theft could have a deterrent effect on them.

Crime statistics play an important role for criminologists and consultants of the Botswana Police service and according to the Crime Statistics of Botswana (2017), the country registered a total of 1384 males in the category of theft and related offenses. The age groups with the highest ratings of males to be registered are as follows; 30-34 which had a whopping 348, the second age group was 25-29 standing at 306 registered males and it was followed by 35-39 with a rating of 270 males registered. In the female category, the total number of theft and related offenses was 88. The highest categories were 30-34 standing at 28 and 25-29 with 13 females followed by 35-39 at 12 registered females. These crime statistics mean that the above-discussed crime prevention strategy should be modeled on the gender and age groups that have a high propensity for crime being males between the ages of 25-39 and less so for females. These statistics show that the common age group of 30-34 in both males and females share the highest ratings as compared to others as such this shall be the starting point in terms of age group in the implementation of the social crime prevention strategy. This could be overcome by encouraging residents through vocational training and employment (Harper, 2015). The essence is that one’s occupation and level of education determine their knowledge of most matters which could include common assault and why it should be prevented in the community.

This can will be implemented by the government of Botswana and non-governmental stakeholders because this approach seeks the specific involvement of the two organs as echoed by the following quote “social crime prevention implementation refers to a range that is implemented by communities, businesses, non-government organizations and all levels of government to target various social and environmental factors that increase the risk of crime, disorder, and victimization” ( Van Dijk & de Waard, 1991). “Social crime prevention is an interlocking series of interventions that enables people to lead lives where they do not have the inclination, motivation or need to offend against others, whether for expressive or acquisitive reasons” (Manana, 2015). The essence of the quoted text can only be achieved through governmental and non-governmental organizations’ involvement. The police as members of the Criminal Justice System will also need to practice the Police-oriented policing approach which “stresses substance and effectiveness over process and style, it is predominantly evidence-based” (Goldstein, 1977). According to Goldstein (1977), the several purposes of this form of policing are; to prevent and control conduct that threatens life, to aid victims and protect those in danger of physical harm, to protect constitutional guarantees, to assist those who cannot care for themselves, to resolve the conflict between individuals, groups or citizens and their government, to identify problems which may escalate for individuals, the police or even the government and to create and maintain a feeling of security in the community. If this is followed then there could be effective implementation of the strategy so as to prevent common theft because the main mandate of the policing approach is to protect people while the other aspects of the Criminal Justice System such as courts focus on the offender thus tackling the offense from all possible angles as well as rejuvenating the community in an attempt to address the root cause of common theft because at times it could be just anger from those in poor living conditions towards those in the good living conditions.

The advantages of the social crime prevention strategy are that there is a partnership with other branches of the government as well as an improvement of the social fabric and cohesion in families (Manana, 2015). This is to say that whenever the strategy is implemented the benefits are very great and they have a positive impact on the community as it also leads to investments that are long-term in the community (Manana, 2015). An example is having Choppies retail branches or communally owned enterprises in locations that are ridden with cases of theft so that the unemployed in the area get opportunities to earn a living by working in the establishment. This changes their priorities and perspectives on life and once filled with the hope of a bright future, common theft cases could go down. At the same time, ethnic heterogeneity becomes less of a determining factor of crime and a threat to communal cohesion as the community becomes more economically homogenous. In addition, Manana (2015) posits that members of the community are involved in their development and decision-making. This means there are fewer chances of the community being exploited.

The disadvantages of this intervention are that there is usually inadequate political support (Manana, 2015). This is a conundrum in the sense that political leaders or candidates’ election promises to the public are not fulfilled once they have been elected into office. According to Manana (2015), another limitation is that inadequate resources, given the rate of corruption in countries and shortage of funds in the stake-holding ministries make it difficult for them to bring this strategy to success.

The outcome will be evaluated by way of monitoring the use of the model and its social impact as well as its impact on law enforcement. Data will be gathered from the crime statistics and analyzed to show how successful the strategy has been. The evaluation will cover how it was implemented so as to judge if it is a plausible strategy to prevent common assault.

In conclusion, I submit that the use of a social crime prevention strategy is an effective strategy to adopt in order to tackle common theft as it seeks to address the root cause which at times could be one of the social factors discussed above.

Bibliography

1. Goldstein, H. (1977). Policing a free society. Ballinger Publishing Co.
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3. Harper, K. (2015). The social approach to crime prevention. Burlington Crime Community.
4. (1983). Maharaj v States (High Court, Crim App 97). Botswana Law Reports.
5. Manana, D. B. (2015). A STUDY ON APPROACHES TO IMPLEMENTING THE INTEGRATED SOCIAL CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGY IN SOUTH AFRICA. THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND.
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