The Essay on “Crime its Causes and Prevention” for CSS, PMS, and Judiciary examination. Crime is more often concerned with injustice. We all know that when injustice happens, crime raises. According to me the main cause of increasing crime is a fail system of justice. So, here is an essay on the topic of Crime its causes, and measures to prevent it.
Essay on “Crime its Causes and Prevention”
Crime is often defined as “conduct in violation of the criminal laws of a state, of the Federal government, or of a local jurisdiction, for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse. Not only is a crime the commission of an act, but it can also be an omission of an act, such as the failure to assure that a child has clothing, food, or shelter.
Crime has many detrimental effects on society. Victims of crime can suffer fear, stress, suicidal thoughts or behaviors, personal financial costs, medical costs, and health problems.
An action or omission that constitutes an offense and is punishable by law. Shoplifting was a serious crime or action or activity that, although not illegal, is considered to be evil, shameful, or wrong: apartheid was a crime against humanity.
Crime the intentional commission of an act usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and spell define. prohibited, and punishable under criminal law. Comes n me common-law tradition were originally defined primarily by judicial decision. Most common-law crimes are now codified. According to a generally accepted principle, nullum ae sine lege, there can be no crime without a law.
A crime generally consists of both conduct (the actus reus) and a concurrent state of mind (the mens rea). Criminal acts include arson assault and battery, bribery, burglary, child abuse, counterfeiting, embezzlement, extortion, forgery, fraud, hijacking, homicide, kidnapping, perjury, piracy, rape, sedition, smuggling, treason, theft, and usury.
Causes of Crime
Individuals need to be responsible for their own actions. An understanding of root causes can not and should not be seen as a way to absolve us from personal accountability. However, while individuals have an obligation to act responsibly and with respect for their fellow citizens, communities have a responsibility to address those conditions, which hinder healthy development and can become the breeding ground for Crime. The root causes of crime are well documented and researched. Crime is primarily the outcome of multiple adverse social, economic, cultural, and family conditions. To prevent crime it is important to have an understanding of its roots.
These are complex and interrelated, but can be summarized in three main categories:
- Economic Factors / Poverty
- Social Environment
- Family Structures
Economic Factors/Poverty
In addition to lack of financial resources, poverty manifests itself in a lack of educational opportunities, lack of meaningful employment options, poor housing, lack of hope, and the prejudice against personal living in poverty.
Social Environment
Our Social structures mirror to citizens and communities what we value and how we set priorities. Social root causes of crime are inequality, injustice, not sharing power, lack of support to families and neighborhood, rea or perceived inaccessibility to services, lack of leadership in communities, low value placed on children, and individual well-being, overexposure to television as a means of recreation.
Family Structures
Many sociologists believe that families are uniquely placed in contributing to raising healthy responsible members of society. But the task of putting children first goes well beyond the family to include communities and society. Dysfunctional family conditions contribute to future delinquency. These conditions include:
- Parental inadequacy
- Parental conflict
- Parental criminality
- Lack of communication (bot in quality and quantity)
- Lack of respect and responsibility
- Abuse and neglect of children
- Family violence
Crime prevention must focus on improvements in all these areas. Crime can be closely linked to the conditions for children in our community. There is a strong link between reducing risk and building resilience in children and decreasing crime.
Problems arise when the larger social, political, and economic systems within which children live jeopardize the family’s resources and create stress on the family unit. As a result, the provision of appropriate care and required resources to all children will have great significance for their long-term physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being and their development into independent, healthy adults.
The offender of tomorrow is often the vulnerable child of today. Vulnerable children are those at risk for significant and enduring social, emotional, or behavioral problems. These children are more likely to be dependent on public resources over the course of their development, particularly through child welfare, social assistance, corrections, or mental health service systems. All children are potentially vulnerable and may develop emotional .or behavioral problems when their own physical or emotional resources are unable to meet the challenges of their social and physical environment.
Prevention of Crimes
There are three levels of prevention of Crime:
- Primary Prevention
- Secondary Prevention
- Tertiary Prevention
Primary Prevention
Primary prevention efforts try to ensure the health of the community as a whole by attempting to stop adverse conditions from developing in the first place. Programs that address parenting, family support, adequate housing, etc. could all be considered primary prevention if they are universally accessible and offered before any difficulties are identified.
Primary prevention can be the most cost-effective method of dealing with a problem because it can reduce costs in many different areas over the long term. Universal programs are only ever as effective as their ability to include and support populations at risk.
Secondary Prevention
Secondary prevention attempts to stop a crime from occurring after certain “warning signs” has appeared. An example might be programmed, which focuses on a specific problem or problem group. Anti-social or delinquent behavior (e.g., disrespect for school staff; spray-painting slogans on buildings) can often be stopped through early intervention in problem situations before they become more serious and lead to a life of crime or victimization.
Tertiary Prevention
Law enforcement efforts generally- fall into the category of tertiary prevention. Sentencing a person to prison ensures that they will not commit a crime while serving their sentence. This is crime prevention after the fact because the person is known to the community and has already broken the law. While these measures ensure (for a time) that an offender cannot commit another offense they cannot reverse the effects of the original crime.
Preventative efforts strive to achieve the following goals:
- Reduce the incidence of serious, long-term emotional and behavioral problems in all children.
- Promote optimal social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development in children at the highest risk.
- Strengthen the ability of communities to respond effectively to children and their families in social and economic need.
Successful prevention programs share many of the following characteristics:
- Enhance children’s mental health and promote a healthier environment for children.
- Ae freely accessible to all children
- Do not single out or stigmatize individuals, families, or communities
- Focus on education, building competence and skills
- Actively include families and communities in the development and implementation
- Maximize the likelihood of. positive outcomes and produce cost-savings when compared to treatment
Multiple Factors
Risk factors combine to make the probability of criminal behavior more likely. No one variable should be considered in isolation. Following are the major risk factors supported in research. Many persistent offenders begin their involvement in anti-social activities before and during adolescence.
Age alone is not a risk factor. It must be looked at in the context of poverty, racism, family violence, parental and community neglect, and problems at school. Research into persistent offending has emphasized the need to focus prevention efforts on early childhood years. Birth to age 5 is the most critical time for healthy social and emotional development.
While crime rates for females have increased in recent years, males are much more likely to be involved in crime. The research points out that crime usually involves aggression, risk-taking a predatory behavior.
These factors combined, greatly increase the risk of turning to crime. Low family income and poor housing often amplify poor parental supervision, marital disharmony, inconsistent care, poor nutrition, chronic health care problems, poor school performance, and psychological disorders.
Unsatisfactory living conditions are particularly stressful during pregnancy. Fetal development is negatively affected by maternal stress. Such stress has shown to be closely related to ill-health,
neurological problems, slow development, and behavioral disturbances in children. While there is no direct cause and effect relationship between poverty and crime, the conditions arising out of poverty combine to create “high” risk populations who are mostly involved in crimes.
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