Difficulties Associated with Defining the Concept of Crime - Essay Example

? Difficulties Associated with Defining the Concept of Crime Introduction Crime is associated with unlawful acts such as violence or arson, destruction of public and private property, harm inflicted to individuals and similar acts. These are the simple acts that come under the purview of crime and mostly there is no difficulty in defining the same but mostly the perspectives are not so simple due to complexity of the events and the motives behind it. The paper attempts to explore the issues involved in defining the concept of crime in the ensuing paragraphs. Defining Crimes in the Past It is a well known fact that different eras in the history defined crimes in their own way. While going back to the era of 400-450 B.C. in Greece, Socrates was adjudged criminal in the eyes of court as he had committed crime of corrupting the youth of Athens through his teachings but the world today recognize him as one of the greatest philosopher of the ancient times. Durkheim (1966) puts it correctly that Socrates is a criminal if seen from the view point of those rulers; however, when seen from the current perspective, his contribution to mankind is immense as a pioneering advocate for the human freedom of expression and thought. The point is that crime cannot be seen as an abstract viewpoint; it is a complex process in itself and that is why defining the same is a most complicated exercise. Defining Criminality in the Twentieth Century Between 1920 and 1947, M. K. Gandhi, during independence struggle of India, was imprisoned several times for his satyagrah and disobedient movements against the then British regime but the entire world now recognise him in high esteem as the biggest proponent of non-violence movement. In 1960s, Martin Luther king was imprisoned for his Civil Rights Movement as he had committed crime in the eyes of court then. Same is applicable to Nelson Mandela as he was imprisoned for 26 years in South Africa. His crime was that he was opposing a government who promoted the apartheid policies depriving the vast majority from their fundamental rights. The list is endless and it is very difficult to define the crimes of these people in most of the cases. It will be most appropriate to go through some of the most recent events and examine the various perspectives in defining the crime. Terrorist Attack and Criminality Issues On 11 September 2001, one of the terrorist groups called Al-Qaeda destroyed the Twin Towers in New York killing thousands of people in the process. The US Secretary of State then declared it a massive crime against the US. The noteworthy point is that Al-Qaeda was created, supported and financed by the CIA of the US to wage a war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The question does arise who is real criminal? After the incident, the US president divided the world in two factions – one that is with the US and the rest who are not with them will be construed against them. Senate and the US Congress authorised the President to use force against organisations, groups or nations that according to them had participated in support of the terrorist attacks. The point is how abruptly and swiftly the crime and criminality definitions take new forms and means. In 1945, the US forces dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki towns killing over 400,000 people directly and indirectly; however, after the war, only Japanese war criminals were tried and no one was adjudged criminal from the allied forces side. Was it because the Japanese were a defeated group and allied forces had emerged victorious in the war and therefore it was their prerogative to define who the criminals are? Euthanasia and Criminality Perspective Practicing euthanasia in the UK is considered a criminal offence because law does not permit it even though a motive behind the act may be good (Smith, 1996). In spite of this, doctors in the UK have been found assisting terminally ill patients to die (Hooligan, 2012). The point is – can authorities ever establish and file a case against doctors practicing euthanasia? Euthanasia becomes absolutely legal only a few hundred miles away in Netherlands. Does this mean that a person who wants to die should move to Netherlands so that they are out of the clutches of criminal proceedings in the U.K? Doctor never needs a lethal drug to kill the patient. Slightly higher dose of the routine medicine can also finish the life of the patient. In such circumstances, can criminality of a doctor be defined or proved by anyone? A large section of people would not agree the way states have been defining the crime and the actions taken by them in the aftermath of the above quoted events; however, same holds true even for the individuals and private groups who interfere in the individual freedom. Challenging Individual Rights through Fanatic Actions Abortions are permitted by law in the UK and the US. Taylor (2010) reports that British women who do not want to give birth to child are being prevented by Christian protesters to conduct abortions in the clinics. The religious fanatics are targeting Marie Stopes Clinics in London and preventing pregnant women to enter into these clinics. According to them, abortion is an act against god and therefore they have a right to take law in their hands. The moot question is that whether the criminal behaviour of these people can be established in clear terms who are out to challenge the fundamental rights? Having seen so much diverse views on crime and criminality in past several centuries, it would be worth contemplating how sociologists have developed a view point of crime in last 30 years or so. Recent concept of Crime Left realism emerged in Britain and then spread to other parts of the world. Recently efforts have been made to understand many facets of crimes and one of them is called the square of crime. This has four elements: Offender and their acts; the state and various bodies; people or society and the victim. According to left realism, any crime takes place through interrelationships of these four elements. It is the social factors that decide about the criminals and criminality; however, that needs to be examined from the varied angles. In order to understand the crime it is important to understand why people commit crimes, the social factors that cause this crime and exert influence on police, public attitudes and their response towards crime. Young (2002) emphasizes on left realism to understand the crime but takes diversion from his earlier work. He attributes resurgence in crime to the profound changes that has taken place in the society. Going a step further, he argues and relates the issue of crime to the modernism and social exclusion. He explores causes of crime and the social reactions to it. As he states that there has been a major shift in modern industrial societies and they have become more exclusive kind of societies as opposed to the inclusive ones that existed in the past. Moreover, according to him, society has transformed and traveled from modernity to high modernity. The relative deprivation is the reason for rising crime rates in the society. Previously, deprivation did exist but they were less prominent. Living standards have gone up but at the same time differences between poorest and the richest have increased manifold. In a capitalist setup, the rewards for those who are successful are enormous. Market economies tend to increase this gap significantly. Those who are not successful feel deprived and this deprivation increases at the bottom of social class. When such differences exist at the social levels then the question becomes all the same more important that whether states and the socio-economic setup should not be considered responsible for the crimes committed by certain individuals or group of people. Conclusion From the above examples, it is quite clear that defining crime is not an easy task. It also cannot be simply defined following law books. Ordinary dictionary meaning of crime is an unlawful action or behavior that is construed as offence and should be punished by law; however, defining crime has been complicated because of the complexity in the laws itself. Ambiguity is a common issue in defining the crime. Law tries to define the law in its own way but it can never define all possible scenarios. Moreover, definition of crime varies according to time. This concludes that defining crime is a most complex task. References Durkheim, E. (1966). The Rules of Sociological Method. 8th ed. New York: Free Press. Hooligan, A. (2012). “UK doctors 'perform euthanasia' - top Dutch medic”. BBC News. [Online] Accessed 7 December 2012 Smith, A. M. (1996). “Euthanasia: the law in the United Kingdom”. oxfordjournals.org. [Online] Accessed 7 December 2012 Taylor, J. (2010). “US-style anti-abortion protesters target clinics in Britain”. The Independent. [Online] Accessed 7 December 2012< http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/usstyle-antiabortion-protesters-target-clinics-in-britain-2116410.html>. Young, J (2002). “Left Realist Criminology: Radical in Its Analysis, Realist in Its Policy”. [Online] Accessed 7 December 2012 . Read More