Yamini Thakur, Ideal Institute of Management and Technology and School of Law
Introduction
To think of a society to be a crimeless society is a myth. In fact, no society can exist without the problem of crime and criminals. There is no pertaining or delimitation in the definition of crime as it generates from the implicit or explicit behavior or deviations in the society. Any act, so permissible to any point will deem to be only an act however if it passes the societal benchmark then may be deemed to be a crime. To have it defined legally, crime means violation of a criminal law or a social order. A sense of mutual respect and trust for the rights of others regulates the conduct of the members of the society. A certain set of people who deviate from normalcy that is, deviating from normal behavioral pattern of the society and ending up associating themselves with anti-social elements are often found to be causing criminal acts. Different groups have variable and often incompatible interests in the society which gives rise to conflicts eventually resulting in the incidence of crime. Edwin Sutherland defined crime as a system of social disorganization. Therefore one can easily decipher that there are multiple attributes and aspects of crime which are altered with the passage of time. The correct definition of crime isn’t the one which only defines the crime so committed rather the criminal intention of the perpetrator that caused the criminal act. Crime is often considered to be an unlawful act which is an offence against the public and the perpetrator of the act is liable to punishment. The verticals of crime often explain the interchangeable or organic role of an offence wherein one offence may be dealt under multiple categories which in submission turn around the general nature of the offence. Therefore, without exhaustive interpretation all may deem to be of same nature. Although, it is often argued by criminologists that even an act which may appear to be criminal in its nature cannot be called crime until and unless a proper evaluation has been made on the intent of the perpetrator. Crime in society stems from various roots. It can either be mentally, physically, emotionally or even out of pure envious intent.
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