Thursday 29 December 2011

White collar crimes

E. H. Sutherland, in 1941, pointed out that besides the traditional crimes involving violence, like murder, dacoity, etc. there are certain other anti social activities that an individual belonging to the upper strata of society commits in the course of his occupation or profession. These criminal activities are called as white collar crimes as opposed to the traditional crimes or the blue collar crimes.
A white collar criminal belongs to the upper socio-economic class and violates the criminal law in the course of his professional work. Such a person is educated and holds a position of respectability. Crimes such as misrepresentation, fraud in the conduct of business, infringement of intellectual property, etc come under the purview of white collar crimes. White collar crimes are different from the traditional crimes, not only in the mode of conduct but also because of their impact on the society at large. The impact of certain white collar crimes can be felt at places and times far remote from where they have been committed.
Various factors effecting the instances of white collar crimes are the competition in the business and professional world, changing economic and industrial scenario, developments in the fields of science and technology and business monopolies, etc.
In India, white collar crime can be observed in the form of hoarding, black marketing and adulteration of foodstuffs and drugs, tax evasion, underhand dealings, keeping false records, money laundering, fabricating records and evidences, etc. White collar crimes are a part of various different professions and are observed in business dealings, engineering works, medical profession, legal profession, computer related activities like hacking, stalking, internet security violation, phishing activities, money laundering, etc.
White collar crimes can be combated by creating public awareness regarding the same. Further, it is required to make stricter laws and special tribunals to deal with them. Stricter punishments are also required to deal with such criminals.

Wednesday 28 December 2011

Capital Punishment

Death sentence has been used as a weapon of retributive justice for centuries by societies. It is a mode of public vengeance as compared to the private vengeance. Death sentence helps in quenching the feeling of revenge underlying in the hearts of private individuals and hence, preventing further acts of crime.
Death sentence is also a mode of deterrent punishment as it serves in instilling a fear in the minds of others harboring a desire to commit any similar offence.
In India, capital punishment is used only in the rarest cases, where the crime is so heinous that it cannot be expected that the wrongdoer can ever be reformed and the act in itself draws the most frightful feelings in the minds of the public at large.
Offences punishable with death sentence under the Indian Penal Code:
(1) Waging war against the Government- Section 121
(2) Abetment of mutiny- Section 132
(3) Giving or fabricating false evidence leading to procure one's conviction for capital punishment- Section 194
(4) Murder- Section 302
(5) Murder by a person undergoing a term of life imprisonment- Section 303
(6) Abetment of suicide by a child or insane person- Section 305
(7) Attempt to muder by a life convict- Section 307
(8) Dacoity with murder- Section 396
Further, death sentence is also awarded under special laws like Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The Law Commission in its 42nd Report suggested that:
(1) Children below the age of 18 years should notbe sentenced to death.
(2) It is not necessary to exempt women from death penalty.
(3) It is unnecessary to insert a statutory provision relating to diminished responsibility in the statute book.
(4) An attempt to commit suicide should cease to be an offence.
The courts while awarding the death sentence take into consideration the gravity of the offence committed and also various other factors affecting the crime and the criminal. However, it has been a common feeling that if the murder has been delibrate, premeditated, cold blooded and gruesome and there are no extenuating circumstances, the offender must be sentenced to death as a measure of social defence.

Theories of punishment

Crime is an act against the social order and the society has from time immemorial inflicted punishment upon the wrongdoer. Punishment is any form of unpleasant action that is inflicted upon any person who by his own intention commits any act that is against the social and moral order. In order to explain the concept of punishment, various theories have been proposed and they are as follows:-
(1) deterrent theory
In the earlier society, punishments were by and large deterrent in nature, aimed at preventing the likeminded persons from committing the same offence. The functional aspect of this theory was that it instills fear in the mind of people and they avoid committing the same or similar offence.
(2) retributive theory
The retributive theory treats punishment as an end in its own. It is based on the concept of an eye for an eye. It is aimed at satisfying the public vengeance. This theory is now obsolete in the modern democratic setup of States.
(3) preventive theory
The purpose of punishment according to this theory is to safeguard the society from future instances of crime. It seeks to prevent the recurrence of crime by incapacitating the criminal. It found support from the likes of Bentham.
(4) reformative theory
The modern theory of punishment is reformative in nature. It treats the offender as a sick person and crime as an ailment and aims to cure the same. The reformative theory aims at reforming the offender as well as the society. It found amongst its supporters Mahatma Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave.