Criminology: Abuse of Power - Essay Example

? Abuse of Power Most of the governments in the world of today are not focused on serving their citizens whole heartedly. Most of the governmental officials enter into leadership positions with their own selfish interests and private motives. Therefore, the subject of abuse of power by the government has been in the air with citizens complaining and chattering all about the ineffectiveness of the chosen leaders. Period after period, leaders continue to lie to the citizens and abuse the power given unto them by the citizens. In the previous periods, citizens thought that the introduction of democracy would lead to reduction of abuse of power. However, with democracy, abuse of power is on the verge of increasing. The government crimes can be categorized in to a wide range, depending on the point of view of the citizens and the country of concern. Taking for instance; in Africa land grabbing is considered to be a governmental crime, while in the Western parts of the world, it is the opposite. However, scholars have tried to categorize different government crimes thus, finally coming up a conclusive number. The major ways in which governments abuse their powers include; Most governments tend to use a country’s resources for unintended and unplanned projects. This is a crime that is mainly caused by lack of accountability of the government officials (Grant & Keohane, 2005). The article explains that accountability is so problematic among all leaders globally. Most government officials take advantage of the power placed upon them to misuse a country’s resources due to lack of accountability. In addition, other leaders use the resources on projects that they claim are meant to help the citizens. However, research shows that they are the key beneficiaries of these projects (Abraham, 2006). This is indeed a crime since; resources used on other projects should be used for the sake of the citizens. For instance, African government officials have been known to use their powers to enrich themselves before the end of their terms of leadership. Government officials also abuse the power rested upon them by coming up with projects that are worth lot of money without even consulting the citizens. This is abuse of power since; the officials take such actions on the basis that no one can question them. This is a case that was clearly manifested in Venezuela in the year 2006. Projects were started but the returns and revenues from the projects were not clearly shown. In addition, the expenses of the projects were overly stated, giving rise to large figures (Coronel, 2006). The issue of bending and breaking of laws is also a crime committed by the government officials. Most governments in the world have put in place laws that they do not follow themselves. The legal accountability is exceedingly poor in most states because courts do not have a wide general authority over governments. Previously, it has been noted that the courts will only ask the leaders if they have performed their duties well. However, the courts do not follow up to know if the duties have been performed or the officials could be lying sometimes (Grant & Keohane, 2005). Governments have been involved in these crimes and many others such turning a deaf ear to the cries of the poor in the society. While citizens cry out for help with issues such as hunger, unemployment problems and poverty, the government takes no action to control these issues. Most government officials in the world have also been involved in rigging during elections in order to win the elections. This of course is a crime since; they will have attained leadership the wrong way. Again, in such cases the courts will do nothing to punish these leaders since; in most cases they will have no evidence of the crimes committed. Governments have also committed the crime of corruption against the citizens. This is decidedly different from the embezzlement of funds in the country. It involves the use of a country’s money to manipulate people in order to get what they want. For instance, in case of scandals concerning some government officials, they ensure that they use corruption to cover up their crimes. This is mainly done by paying a lump sum of money to the newspapers and media people and asking them not to broad cast the scandal to the citizens in exchange. Therefore, the officials have learnt to get away with crimes by using money in exchange of favors (Coronel, 2006). Many scholars have tried to research on the causes of abuse of power among leaders but the findings are much disguised since, the choice to be a dishonest and corrupt leader is made individually. In addition, it has been noted that most of the leaders if not all, always promise to be faithful to the citizens while campaigning for the leadership positions. However, research shows that almost ten out of ten of all the leaders do not fulfill their promises (Finer, 2004). Some scholars also noted that most leaders tend to follow the trend of their predecessors. Thus, those who come after corrupt government officials will most probably be corrupt too. Although this will not always be the case, it happens in most of the situations. Researchers have also found out that abuse of power is also caused by weak political and social institutions (Coronel, 2006). This is a case where the political institutions for organizing elections are filled with inexperienced and unqualified personnel. The decisions made in the political institutions are poor and ineffective. Therefore, in most cases, the political institutions are over powered by the chosen leaders and do not have control over their corrupt actions. Recommendations given by a number of people state that if only the leaders were well directed by the political institutions then there would be very limited corrupt cases. On the other hand, social institutions focus on the relations between the chosen government officials and the society. The government officials have no close relations with the people they lead. The do not even know the problems and needs of their people. In addition, some of the people also do not know their leaders. Therefore, they even choose leaders without knowing their true characteristics. The result of this is that; people end up choosing officials who mishandle resources and misuse funds. Abuse of power in the government is also caused by populist government officials who focus on promoting a welfare state, in order to insure their political positions and make them permanent (Coronel, 2006). This is a case that was clearly apparent in Venezuela. Political leaders focused on enriching the rich in the society while the poor continued to be poor. This involves providing people with expensive but unnecessary things instead of providing them with the necessities such as food and jobs. For instance, in Venezuela the political leaders claimed that the revenues from oil belonged to the government. Then they handed out the money to people in exchange for political loyalty. This way, they also benefitted from the money. Otherwise, had they used the money to finance projects such as creation of more job opportunities, they would not have benefitted. However, in the later case, the people benefit more than in the former because; in the former they will use the money given to them and exhaust it finally. However, with the latter case, they will continue to benefit from the jobs even for many years to come. Abuse of power is also caused by fear and lack of adequate administrative norms and controls (Abraham, 2006). This is an issue that leads to uniformity of all political leaders. Leaders who try to oppose the corrupt acts of the government end up being killed by the other parties who are corrupt. Therefore, fearing for their lives, political leaders prefer to follow the wave and remain corrupt too even when it is against their will. Most of the leaders do not speak up or report the corrupt acts of the government due to fear of losing their political positions. Fear can also be explained from the point of view that; political leaders have installed fear in the media people such that the media cannot report the corrupt acts of the government. Therefore, the citizens are kept in the dark without knowing the corruption that is surrounding them. Corruption among political leaders has a lot negative effects on society and in the country’s economy. It lowers the economic growth of a country and increases the poverty levels. This is because; the government revenues are not used for a purpose that benefits the people. In addition, the development of a country continues to dwindle since; development projects are not there in the country. Therefore, the incomes generated in the country are remarkably minimal. This is also caused by the fact that; the number of persons who are employed and participating in generating incomes for the country are extremely few. Therefore, a country that is led by corrupt leaders may not even be able to participate in the import and export market (Clinard, 2010). Abuse of power also leads poor education standards in a country thus leading to raising unqualified workforce. When political leaders in a country are corrupt, they will not commit the county’s finances in the development of education standards. Thus, most of the citizens end up remaining uneducated. For instance, in some of the African countries, individuals in remote areas tend to remain uneducated due to poor governance of the country. The Poverty levels in most countries also continue increasing as a result of abuse of power. In countries where abuse of power by the government is rampant there are high levels of poor housing, lack of food and high mortality rates due to poor health care. This is especially supported by the high inflation rates in the countries, high unemployment rates and slow economic growth (Taylor, 2012). Research has shown that most of the corrupt governments refuse to privatize businesses. Therefore, they remain in control of most of the businesses leading to poor performance of the economy. This has also been also proven by the fact that most parastatals perform very poorly but once they are privatized, they start to perform well. A good example in this case would be the East African Railways. Government crimes are a hard nut to crack since they are recurring. They carry on from one leadership to the next, and it is for this reason that they have been there since time began. Some scholars also assert that government crimes will be hard to eliminate since they are fueled by human’s greediness. Chavez form Venezuela states that corruption will always be there since man will always be greedy and never satisfied (Coronel, 2006). However, some scholars affirm that corruption and abuse of power can be reduced to a manageable level (Grant & Keohane, 2005). The major strategy to achieving this goal is unity and togetherness. All citizens have a part to play in the eviction of corruption from a country. This is because; it is the people who choose the corrupt political leaders. Therefore; if only the people are keener on the people that they choose, corruption levels will be reduced to a manageable figure. Abuse of power can also be reduced by ensuring that political power is not vested upon leaders who have selfish ambitions. Another remedy for government crimes is training of the people on how to choose wise leaders. Young people who are the upcoming leaders for the next generation should also be trained in order to ensure that, they understand the meaning of leading people and the importance of honesty in leadership. The courts should also be given powers to punish the political leaders who are found having abused their powers or even involved in corruption cases. This way, no government official will be willing to risk and thus corruption will reduce to a certain level though it might not end entirely. In conclusion, it is clear that government crimes are the leading causes of problems such as poverty in countries. Therefore, with reduction in government poverty, there will be more prosperity in the countries. References Abraham, H. J. (2006). A People's Watchdog against Abuse of Power. Public Administration Review, 20(3), 152-157. Clinard, M. B. (2006). Corporate corruption: The abuse of power (4th ed.). New York: Praeger. Coronel, G. (2006). Corruption, Mismanagement, and Abuse of Power in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela. Developemnt policy analysis, 12(2), 1-24. Finer, H. (2004). Administrative Responsibility in Democratic Government. Public Administration Review, 1(4), 335-350. Grant, R. W., & Keohane, R. O. (2005). Accountability and Abuses of Power in World Politics. American Political Science Review, 99(1), 29-43. Taylor, J. B. (2012). A return to first principles: economic freedom leads to economic success. First Principles: Five Keys to Restoring America’s Prosperity, 1(2). Read More