Probing the Psyche of a Convict

If India has produced eminent lawyers, renowned artists and path-breaking scientists; it has also led to the breeding of infamous criminals.

From brutal assaults to murders, molestations to rape and petty thievery to a string of robberies, the country has witnessed it all. We convict them, torture them and sentence them to life imprisonment; or death in some cases. But, do we ever bother to reflect upon their lives, their upbringing, and their problems? Do we ever try to understand what goes into their minds? Do we ever try to probe the reason behind such an inhumane and relentless act? Do we ever try to resolve the situation at its ground level? Certainly not.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, a crime against a woman is committed every 3 minutes, a woman is raped every 29 minutes and a dowry death occurs every 77 minutes. Isn’t it shocking that in a country like India where a woman is worshipped as a goddess is abused?

Well, that’s not all. India continues to be a safe haven for drug traffickers, extremists, wildlife poachers, human traffickers and corrupt officials.

We might be on our way to becoming the next superpower but sadly, we are still lagging behind in terms of our legal system. More than three crore cases lie pending in courts across the country, 64,919 with the Supreme Court itself. The data available for the 24 High Courts and lower courts up to the year ending 2013 showed pendency of 44.5 lakhs and whopping 2.6 crores, respectively.

By looking at the crime records, one must be concerned as the state of affairs is going to get no better, but only worse.Therefore, we should try to get to the roots of this problem to be able to combat it.

In this assessment, firstly, we should analyse the childhood and parenting of the convict as it has a pivotal role to play in determining the nature of the crime and the mental make-up of the convict.

In families where children do not receive proper guidance and counselling, are not looked after well, have strained relationships with their parents are more likely to commit a crime compared to those families where parents share a healthy relationship with their child. Hence, it is important that a child receives good nurturing and parental care, so that he grows into a responsible being.

According to the 2012 research report on the survey of 1435 newly sentenced prisoners by the Ministry of Justice in UK, many prisoners had experienced abuse or violence at home, while others reported alcohol or drug abuse by parents.

Secondly, societal impacts unknowingly add to this problem. In some cases anger, discrimination, marginalisation, injustice or death of a family member triggers such outrageous responses.

A 23 year old former militant fighter told Mercy Corps researchers, “I did not join the Taliban because I was poor. I joined because I was angry.”

Do you know the reason behind such a move? US led surge to clear the area of militants destroyed his madrassa thereby fuelling his anger to the extent that he decided to join the banned terrorist outfit, Taliban.

Thirdly, poverty and unemployment come into the picture. It is seen by way of evidence that a high proportion of young people turn into terrorists because of a dearth of economic opportunities and poor living standards.

Terror outfits promise the insurgents with financial and social aid for their families- education, health and good salaries, thereby addressing their grievances. This acts as an incentive enough for the unemployed youth to spread terror across countries.

Hence, the government should act as a major deterrent of financial aid networks supporting terrorism. It should also aim at reducing unemployment by initiating vocational training programmes, expansion of entrepreneurship and education.

Lastly, the law and order system plays foul in promoting crimes. Uttar Pradesh tops the ranking of the worst Indian states list as it holds a dubious position in fostering crime.

"The accused think they can get away as the chief minister and the police head are of their caste. For the last 12 years, both BSP and SP have destroyed police systems in UP and run the state like their fiefdom,” said Prakash Singh, a former DGP of UP.

In my opinion, the law and order system should be revamped; police forces should become more vigilant and strict action should be taken in dealing with criminals. Also, court cases should be fast-tracked as ‘Justice delayed is justice denied.’ And, corrupt officials embroiled in scams should not be allowed to run the country.

Well, it is practically impossible to list all the reasons that arouse a criminal mind. But the ones mentioned above, are some of the major reasons.

Anyway, the bottom line is that as a country, our motive should be to eliminate poverty and unemployment; set up rehabilitation centres for the convicts and strengthen the judicial system.

Delving into the past lives of hard core criminals, have clearly exposed the fact that they were simple middle / poor class people going about their business in life. Suddenly in their otherwise mundane life, their self respect, dignity, source of income, happiness has been snatched away unceremoniously by insensitive govts, high caste people, or by the rich and the powerful.

With a weak and slow judicial system and an indifferent society, they are forced to take the law in their own hands and take to a criminal life.

Who is responsible for this? I guess we all are. Govts, NGOs, society, professionals and each one of us educated people.

Improvements will definitely come if we all become law abiding and law fearing citizens, elect the right candidates and be true patriots putting the interest of humanity first. And what better place is there, to cultivate this attitude than our homes and schools.

Akanksha Khandelwal