Unit-3

Crime

An act committed or omitted which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law, is a crime.

A crime is an unlawful act that is forbidden and punishable by the state or the law.

According to Sir William Blackstone, “ Crime is an act committed or omitted in violation of public law forbidding or commanding it.”

According to Sir James Stephen → crime is an act committed or omitted, forbidden by law and revolting against the moral sentiments of society.

Kenny defines crime as wrongs whose sanction (penalty) is punitive (punishment) and in no way remissible (able to be pardoned) by any private person, but is remissible by the crown alone, if remissible at all.

Elements of crime

  1. Human being

    • Crime must have been committed by a human being. The IPC makes every person liable for punishment for every act or omission contrary to law.

  2. Mens Rea (Mental element or evil intent) (latin for guilty mind)

    • The mental element is necessary for a crime. An act itself is no crime, unless it is coupled with evil intent or guilt of mind.

    • The word Mens Rea is applied in 2 different ways in IPC

      • The actual intent required for the offence.

      • Expression was fraudulent, dishonestly, unintentionally, etc, are used in definition to indicate the criminal act.

  3. Actus reus (Latin for guilty act)

    • It refers to an act or omission which leads to completion of an offence.

    • It can be a positive act or can be an omission to perform an action.

  4. Injury

    • It means a cause that is illegal, harmed to another person or to society at large.

    • It can be caused to any person’s mind, body, reputation or property.

Classification of Crime

  1. Infraction → non-cognizable

  2. Misdemeanours → simple crime

  3. Felonies → heinous crime

Infractions

These are petty crimes consisting of minor criminal offences, generally violation of rules.

Most infractions are punished by fines instead of jail and do not require attendance in court.

Failure to resolve the penalty charges within the deadline could lead to greater consequences.

Different infractions cases include →

  • Traffic rule violations

  • violation of building codes

  • littering

Misdemeanours

These are minor crimes that the government punishes by confinement is a jail for a year or less.

Eg.→ petty theft, simple assault, disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.

Felonies

These are serious crimes that the government punishes by death or incarceration in a prison for a longer period.

Eg→ murder, rape, robbery, burglary.

Types of crime

  1. Crime against person

    • these result in physical and mental harm to another person

    • characterised as homicide, murder, attempted murder, simple or grievous injury, kidnapping for ransom, rape or sexual assault, child abuse.

  2. Crime against property

    • involves interference with the property of another.

    • may also involve physical or mental harm but primarily results in the deprivation of property.

    • crime includes theft, burglary, robbery, shop lifting, cash or mobile snatching.

  3. Inchoate crimes

    • it refers to those crimes that were initiated but not completed and acts that assist in the commission of another crime.

    • it requires more than a person simply intending or hoping to commit a crime.

    • it involves aiding and abetting, attempt and conspiracy.

      • Statutory crimes

        • These include those crimes which are prescribed by statutes.

        • it involves alcohol related crimes, drug crimes, traffic offences and financial crimes.

      • White collar crimes

        • These are non-violent, financially motivated offences committed by individuals, businesses or government professionals. Often conducted within office setting , involve deceit, concealment, or violation of trust , are primarily driven by financial gain.

        • types → embezzlement, identity theft, insider trading, corporate espionage, fraud.

  4. Organised crime

    • It refers to the unlawful activities of members of criminal organisations that supply illegal good and services. These are run by criminals commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit.

    • Types of organised crimes → racketeering, syndicate crimes, gang criminality.

Concept of criminal

A criminal is one who is convicted by a court for violating the law.

Classification of criminals

  1. Garofalo

    • murders, violent criminals, criminals deficient in probity (strong moral principles, honesty and decency), lascivious criminals (criminals with feelings of lust).

  2. Ferri

    • insane, born, habitual, occasional, passionate

  3. Alexander and Staub

    • accidental

      • He is one who commits a single crime or only a few crimes because of unusual circumstances.

    • chronic

      • He is one who commits crime repeatedly either because of his association with criminal or who engages in criminal behaviour because of an organic condition (pathological criminal) or because of his anxieties, guilt feelings and personality conflicts (neurotic criminal).

  4. Lindesmith and Dunham

    • social

      • Crime for culture.

      • He is one whose criminal behaviour is supported and prescribed by his cultural milieu.

    • individualised

      • crime for personal guilt, jealousy

      • He is one who commits crimes only for his personal ends. He may also commit crimes under the stress of economic needs or in a state of emotional disturbance.

  5. Ruth Cavan

    • criminals who live in non-criminal world

      • casual

      • occasional

      • episodic → serious under emotional state

      • white-collar

    • professional

      • Who depend on crime for his livelihood, moves in the world of criminals and develops a philosophy in support of his activities.

    • organised

      • who systematises his criminal activities with specialised personal and permanent gradations of leadership,

    • habitual

      • who repeats his crimes.

    • mentally abnormal

      • whose crime satisfies his psychological needs.

    • non-malicious

      • Who is law abiding in terms of his own group and in general confirms to the laws of the larger society except some few instances where his small group norms contradict these laws.

      • eg → bajrang dal

Miranda rights

Also known as miranda warning

It outlines the following rights→

  • You have the right to remain silent.

  • Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law

  • You have the right to hire an attorney.

  • If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.

The police must administer the miranda warning when a suspect is taken into custody, prior to any investigation.

How do you invoke your right to remain silent?

Even prolonged silence is not enough to invoke your right to remain silent. You must speak up and ambiguously announce that you are not going to speak to the officers. No special words are required but you must make your decision to be quiet.

FIR (first information report)

It is written document prepared by the police when they get information about the commission of a cognizable offence.

It is a report of information that reaches the police first in point of time.

Purpose and objective

  1. To reduce the substance of information disclosing commission of a cognizable offence if given orally into writing.

  2. If given in writing to have it signed by the complaint.

  3. To maintain record of receipt of information.

  4. To initiate investigation.

  5. To inform magistrate forthwith of the factum of the information received.

Power of FIR

The police can register FIR only for cognizable offences where the police have the power to arrest without a warrant.

Eg→ Murder, Rape, theft, attack, etc.

For giving false information

Section 182, IPC

Section 203, IPC

Section 211, IPC

A police officer refusing to enter in the diary a report made to him about the commission of an offence and instead making an entry totally different from the information given would be guilty under section 166(A), IPC and section 177, IPC.

Types of FIR

  1. General FIR

    • It is filled by the aggrieved party or the first party against another party in a general transaction at the nearest police station.

  2. Zero FIR

    • It is given the number “0” instead of a serial number.

    • It is recorded regardless of the location where the crime was committed. After registering the zero FIR, the police station transmits it to the jurisdictional police station where the offence took place.

    • When the appropriate police station receives the zero FIR it is assigned a serial number and turned into a regular FIR.

  3. Cross FIR

    • The other party (accused) may file an FIR against complainant after the FIR is filled.

  4. Multiple FIR

    • It is when aggrieved parties file multiple FIRs with the same cause of action. It will be submitted only if the subsequent informer accounts for a new version of alleged occurred.

Acceptance of evidence in court of law

Section 20, IEA (1872) states about the admissions of persons referred to or by a party to a particular suit.

There are two basic factors that are considered when determining whether evidence is admissible or not →

  1. Relevant

    • The evidence must prove or disprove an important fact in the criminal case, if the evidence doesn’t relate to a particular fact it is considered irrelevant and therefore inadmissible in court.

  2. Reliable

    • Reliability refers to the credibility of a source that is being used as an evidence.

McNaughton rule

Responsibility means liability of the person for his acts or omissions and the person is liable for punishment for any illegal action.

The law presumes every individual to be sane (i.e. of sound mind) and responsible for his criminal act unless the contrary is proven.

The criminal responsibility of an insane got public attention in 1843. Daniel McNaughton, a 29-year-old scotsman labouring under a delusion shot dead Edward Drummond, the secretary to the British PM Sir Robert Peel.

McNaughton was a paranoid schizophrenic and had the delusion that Sir Robert Peel was conspiring against him. He had intended to kill Sir Peel but mistakenly killed Drummond.

The after hearing medical evidence from 9 physicians, found McNaughton not guilty by reason of unsoundness of mind. Queen Victoria, Sir Peel and other well-known persons were outraged by the verdict.

They invited 15 eminent judges to the house of lords and were requested to respond to series of questions on criminal responsibility of the insane. The answers given by the learned judges were immortalised in history and have become known as ‘the McNaughton rule’ or ‘the legal test’ or ‘the right-wrong test’ .

This rule states that “ to establish a defence on the ground of insanity, it must be clearly proved that at the time of committing the act, the party accused was labouring under such a defect of reason from the disease of mind, as not to know the nature and the quality of the act he was doing or, if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing what was wrong.”

Therefore, according to McNaughton rule, to plead not to be guilty, the accused has to prove that →

  • He was suffering from mental illness.

  • The mental illness was of such a degree that he was unable to understand the nature and quality of his act or was unable to understand that what he was doing was wrong.

Child witness in court

The testimony of a child witness is likely to be taught and should be accepted only after careful consideration. Because of fear and temptations, the child may testify about things he has not seen. The court must carefully consider whether the child is under any teaching influence. However, the evidence should not be dismissed as he is likely to be taught because of his soft age.

Voire dire test

The term comes from an Anglo-Norman word which means “an oath to speak the truth”. In this context, the term voir originates from French and means “that which is true”. The trial is held with the intention of determining the merits of a child witness to test his/her honesty and to see if the facts are constructed with the progress of the facts that accompany it.

This test is a precursor to determining a child’s maturity and ability to deal with the full potential of a witness to testify before a judge and therefore the judge may examine the child by asking some irrelevant question.

This done to access the absolute fitness of a child witness which may be restricted in nature.