20 Regional Imbalances of Crimes in India

Dr. Upma Gautam

Introduction:

Crime as a social incident has always existed in the society since time immemorial. Crime is considered to be a legal wrong against the society and its well being therefore it becomes the duty of the State to curtail and control such incidences with the legally framed rules and regulations and also provide sanction to these rules in the form of punishment. But the meaning and types of crimes are to differ in different societies as the acts which are termed to be as crime are the behavior against the accepted values in a given society and therefore it can be aptly said that the criminal law of a particular country at a given point of time is the reflection of the moral standards of the society. Therefore, crime cannot be given a standard and static definition which suits all the societies in all times. Crime is a changing concept, dependent upon the social development of people that is upon the fundamental interests and values dominating their common beliefs.

Crime though essentially a social happening doesn’t differentiate between the urban and rural societies, as it exists in both the type of set ups. But, the factors that give rise to criminality have correlation with both urban and rural societies. Generally, the opportunities available for crime to happen are cumulatively higher in urban areas because of their widespread extent and high density of population. These very factors make the monitoring of crime in urban areas very difficult. With increasing urbanization, the crime and crime rates increase proportionately. The nature and proportion of crime also changes according to the geographical conditions, seasons and structure of landscape. The geographic phenomenon plays an important role in influencing criminal behavior. Crime is influenced by geographic factors like climate, topography, and natural resources. Crime is also influenced by the geographic location of a place in addition to being socio-culturally located.

Increased crime rates play a decisive role in hindering the growth of a nation as a unit, especially in the case of developing countries like India. There is a strong need to monitor and analyse the crimes occurring across the country in addition to regulating them. Though the task of crime regulation is solely under the hands of the government, analysis of the crimes can be carried out in order to derive conclusions and suggest necessary actions and measures extracted from analytical analysis of the data sets available. Such an analysis can play a significant role in helping the government in taking better actions for maintaining law and order in the nation.

Crime and Geography

The interaction between crime and various spatial elements have been the subject matter of study in different times in geography. The role that geographical elements play as an important role in crime and its patterns have always interested geographers at various phases of pedagogical evolution of the subject. Ellsworth Huntington and various French, Italian and German criminologists have tried to show the relation between the features of geographical elements and the proportion of crimes. Earliest determinists explained the role of various physical features and natural resources on spatial locations of various types of crime.

In the evolution of geography, 1960s marked a revolution in the spatial study. Geographers concerned with crime studies analyzed crime in its varied locations, being a social fact (Durkhiem 1938) and occupying physical and social spaces(Pearce 1989). Geographers were identifying clusters of crime as ‘delinquency areas’, the reasons, factors for their location and characters that they have assumed. Regional variation of different types of crimes was the focal theme of studies. Models and concepts propounded during this time period were based on spatial activities of human beings where s/he was considered as a rational actor who has perfect knowledge of world.

With the rise of ‘Behavioral Geography’, person’s decisions and locational alternatives of crime became the focus of study. Spatial behavior and behavior in space got recognition as the focal themes. Studies revolved around where criminals were situated as behavior in space related to the location of opportunities for crime. It presumed that the spatial structure of an area can be used to explain criminal behavior in space. In 1970 when the debate was on about ‘place of people in regional science’ then a popular issue, which emerged, was the ‘place of people in geography of crime’ (Evans and Herbert 1989). There are two things to be noted here, first is the area where criminals are residing and the second the place where the crime is committed. Crime areas of particular types of crimes depending on the favorable environment were identified and studied.

The emergence of humanistic geography brought a new phase in understanding of place/space wherein place location in space is propagated as more than a territory to which people attach values. Post-modem thinkers also believe in analyzing spatial organization of social phenomena such as crime within the local socio-spatial imperatives in a specific context.

Criminal Law in India

Crime in India

A total of 72, 29,193 cognizable crimes comprising 28, 51,563 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes and 43, 77, 30 Special and Local Laws (SLL) crimes were reported in 2014. There was an increase of 9 percent over the 2013 figures. During 2014, the IPC crime rate was 229.2 per lakh. There was an increase of about 14 percent from the previous year. SLL crime rate increased by about 27 percent from 2013 to 2014. Percentage share of IPC cases to total cognizable crimes were 39.4 percent in 2014.

From 2004 to 2014 the total crime rate including IPC and SLL grew by 4.6 percent whereas the increase in the total incidence of crime during the same time period was 19.9 percent. Compound growth rate per annum in the crime rate was 1.2 percent whereas the increase in the incidence of total crime was 2.6 percent.

There is a steady increase in the contribution of IPC crimes to the total cognizable crimes in the country from 2004 to 2014. The proportion has increased from 30.4 percent to 39.4 percent.

IPC Crimes:

As stated earlier a total of 28, 51,563 incidences of total cognizable crimes under IPC were reported during the year 2014. Madhya Pradesh accounted for 9.6 percent of total IPC crimes reported in the country followed by Maharashtra (8.8 percent), Uttar Pradesh (8.4 percent), and Rajasthan (7.4 percent). During the year 2013, Maharashtra ranked first and accounted for 8.9 percent of total IPC crime and was followed by Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (8.6 percent each).

On comparison of data of 2013 and 2014 an interesting fact is brought forth that the States of Andhra Pradesh (8.2 percent) and Tamil Nadu (7.7 percent) which ranked high at third and fourth positions in the year 2013 showed a remarkable reduction in their contribution to the total IPC crime scene of the Country. Their contribution now is 4.0 percent and 6.8 percent respectively. There seems to be a Northward shift in the incidence of the crime under IPC. The more populous states of Northern India now contribute a large share of the total cognizable crime under IPC committed in the country. The only exception to this rule is the state of Kerala which ranks fifth in the country.

In the year 2014 Delhi reported the highest crime rate (767.4) followed by Kerala (585.3), Madhya Pradesh (358.5), and Haryana (298.2). Out of 29 States, eleven have a crime rate higher than the average State figure of 220.5. The States contribute 94.3 percent of the total incidence of cognizable crime committed under IPC in the year 2014.

SLL Crimes:

As stated earlier in the year 2014 a total of 43, 77,630 cognizable crimes were committed under SLL in the country. More than half of it was committed in a single state of Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh contributed a giant share of 54.7 percent to the total SLL crime in the Country. It was distantly followed by Kerala with 9.2 percent. Uttarakhand reported highest SLL crime rate of 1640.6 in the Country during the 2014 followed by Kerala (1142.2) and Chattisgarh (1127.1). Only five States have a higher crime rate under SLL than the average States figure. States contribute 99.7 percent of the total incidence of cognizable crimes under SLL.

    Regional Imbalance of Crime in India

Crime in nowhere evenly distributed amongst the states of any country. In India, some states contribute much higher than other states to the crime scenario of the country. It is widely understood that crime is a reflection and also an outcome of the fulfillment or non-fulfillment o the socio-economic aspirations of people, it is unevenly distributed amongst the states. Thus, regions of crime in India cannot be understood in isolation. Their undeniable  linkage with economic and social development of a place needs to be reinforced.     For the purpose of understanding a regional distribution of Crime in India, following analysis are undertaken:

1.     Categorization of Indian States into low, medium and high crime states.

2.     Analysis of ranking of states based on events of crime and socio-economic development measured through Human Development Index (HDI) of the states. Economic development and social development are mutually reinforcing. Disparities in economic development and social development are also mutually reinforcing. States which are socially excluded (performing poor on social indicators, female-male ratio, literacy rates etc.) are also economically marginalized. There exist several dimensions of economic and social disparities of development in the country. This is further reflected in the crime regionalization in the country.

The most basic limitation of official crime statistics is that they only include crimes actually recorded by the police. There is a long chain of problematic decisions between possible crime and its registration by the police. The majority of crimes, especially petty thefts, are never reported to the police at all. Even in the case of violent crimes, more than one-third of the victims choose not to contact the police, claiming that it is a private affair they have dealt with themselves. As a result of partial reporting and partial recording of crimes, the official crime statistics reflect only a portion of overall offences.

The agency entrusted with the task of accumulating, tabulating, analyzing crime data in the country is National Crime Research Bureau (NCRB).

As stated earlier, crime in India is divided into IPC crimes and SLL Crimes. For understanding the regional imbalance of crime in India, both types of events of crimes in states are taken together. A total of 7229193 crimes under various heads were committed in the country in the year 2014. It is apparent from the table that a giant share (almost 37 percent) of the total crime committed in the country is committed in the state of Uttar Pradesh alone. It is distantly followed by Kerala (8.44%), Tamil Nadu (6.98%), Gujarat (5.84%) and Maharashtra (5.32%). The top seven states in terms of events of cognizable crime committed in the country contribute almost three-fourths of the total crime incidences reported in the country.

Source: Modified from NCRB Report, 2014.

The states are divided into four categories based on the number of cognizable crime committed.

1. Very low incidence of crime (less than 10,000 events reported)

Out of total states, fourteen states belong to this category. The states in this category are all small states of the country. This region comprises of six union territories, seven of the states from the north-east part of the country and Goa. This region is the one with very low incidence of reported crime. The region contributes only 0.59 percent of the total crime committed in the country. This is understandable because the population base of the region is also very small. Large part of the region is in the difficult terrain of the north-east part of the country and also area wise is a small region.

2. Low incidence of crime (between 10,000 to 1 lakh)

Six states belong to this category. They are: Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Punjab, Odisha and Assam. These six states contribute 4.84 percent of the total reported crime in the country. This region is an amalgamation of some of the richest states of India (in terms of percentage of poor in the total population) like Punjab and also one of the poorest states of Odisha. Three (Punjab, Odisha and Assam) of the six states have a high contribution of agriculture as compared to manufacturing in the Net State Domestic Product (NSDP).

3. Medium incidence of crime (between 1 lakh and 4 lakh)

There are twelve states in this category. This region can be called the north central belt of crime in this country. Some of the biggest states like Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh belong to this category. These states contribute almost 35 percent of the total reported crimes committed in the country. But, also true is the fact that their contribution in the total population is much higher than their contribution to the crime scene.

    4. High Incidence of crime (Over 4 lakh)

There are four states in this category. The four huge contributors of the crime scenario of India are Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. These states contribute almost 58 percent of the total reports incidents of crime in India. Whereas, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are big states, Kerala inspite of being a very small state contribute a large share of crime in the country. Sociologists claim that certain socio-economic factors make certain population or areas to be more crime prone than others. For this region, poverty and poor population may be a factor for high crime incidence in Uttar Pradesh but this explanation doesn’t hold well in case of rich states like Kerala and Gujarat.

The incidence of reported crimes is very unevenly distributed in our country. Whereas sixteen states together contribute about 93 percent of the total reported crimes in this country. Another twenty states contribute less than six percent of the total reported crime in this country. Kerala has the highest PPP income per capita (PPP2008$) and the state also has the dubious distinction of one of the highest reported cases of cognizable crime only after Uttar Pradesh.

Crime and Socio-Economic Profile

A crucial measure of understanding the socio-economic performance of a state or country is Human Development Index (HDI). Development is thought to be a roadblock for enhancement of crime. An Attempt was made to understand whether the states ranking on HDI inversely follow the ranking on crimes. Since, HDI as a measure of development is most holistic in nature and takes into account different aspects like literacy, health and economic access, states with high HDI rankings should show low incidences of crime and vice versa. The first Human Development Report in 1990 introduced a new way of measuring development by combining indicators of life expectancy, educational attainment and income into a composite human development index, the HDI. The components are measured by four variables: GDP per capita, (PPP USD), literary rates (%), combined gross enrollment ratio,(%) and life expectancy at birth (years). The composite index results in a figure between 0 and 1, of which 1 indicates high level of human development and 0 being no level of human development.

Students Activity

List the states according to the sex-ratio, female literacy and see how these states fare vis-à-vis incidence of crime against women and rape. Refer to www.ncrb.org

The major states are distributed between the categories of countries with ‘Medium’ and ‘Low Human Development’. As per the HDR 2014 classification, Kerala, with a global HDI of 0.625, is in the ‘Medium HDI’ category. Other major states in this group are Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, West Bengal and Uttarakhand. Nine other states, namely Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Orissa fall in the ‘Low HDI’ category.

     In India, there seems to be no inter-linkages between HDI rankings and the rankings based on incidence of crime committed in the states. Kerala is an unexplained case where most of the socio-economic indicators show high performance but the state also ranks the second highest in incidence of crime after Uttar Pradesh as well as in rate of cognizable crime after Delhi UT. There are other states too, like Odisha where HDI is low and so is crime rate as well as incidence. But, then poverty and social indicators are not the only factors affecting crime. There are crimes of deprivation and then there are crimes of abundance too. Thus, States with high income levels (like Kerala) where state exchequer has abundance of money sent by people of the state staying/working abroad is high, states where urbanization levels are high (like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat) also tend to show high incidence of crimes.

Conclusions

    Police departments, city officials and policy makers all recognize the importance of a better understanding of the dynamics of crime. Both theoretical and applied approaches, and combinations of the two, which provide insight into why and where crime takes place are much in demand. Macrolevel analysis helps to identify problem neighborhoods. Microlevel analysis helps to isolate precise trouble spots within neighborhoods and, as a result, allows for better evaluation of crime and specific socioeconomic, demographic, land use and environmental characteristics associated with these trouble spots. But, spatial patterns of crime or regionalization of crime generates understanding of socio-economic factors of crime. Developing an understanding of regionalization of crime focus around understanding the interplay between crime, space and society. Developing an understanding of “social disorganization” model, Sheffield School etc would help the students of this module.

References

1. Crime in India, 2012, www.ncrb.gov.in
2. Crime in India, 2013, www.ncrb.gov.in
3. Crime in India, 2014, www.ncrb.gov.in
4. Evans and Herbert (1989), The Geography of Crime, First Edition, Routledge.