Victimology and Crime Prevention

Content

Introduction
Understanding Victimology
Theories of Victimology
Crime Prevention Perspectives and Practice

Introduction

Over time, scholars have also been interested with crime victims and vulnerable communities. While concentrating on criminal victims, we will also examine societal victimisation and the larger social systems that contribute to it. In ancient societies, a victim was "a human or an animal put to death during a religious event in order to placate some supernatural power or deity," according to Karmen (2010). The term "victim" has a broader connotation in modern speech than just those who have been the victims of crimes. We discuss victims of societal structures, epidemics, and natural calamities, among other things. The majority of persons who are harmed by an illegal act are criminal victims (Karmen, 2010).

In his discussion of how a victim can become socially relevant, Strobl (2010) asserts that an effective transmission of a traumatic experience is necessary. This then becomes important while dealing with victimisation. A wide definition of "victims" is given in the 1985 United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power: "Victims" are people who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm due to acts or omissions that violate the criminal laws in effect in Member States, including the laws prohibiting criminal abuse of power, including harm to their physical or mental health, emotional suffering, economic loss, or significant impairment of their fundamental rights. No matter whether the offender is found, detained, charged, or convicted, or if the victim and the perpetrator are related, a person may be considered a victim under this Declaration. The term "victim" also refers to those who have suffered injury when stepping in to help distressed victims or stop victimisation, as well as the victim's immediate family or dependents, as appropriate.

We now have the categories of main and secondary victims thanks to this definition. According to Karmen (2010), main victims are those who directly experience a criminal act and its repercussions. Due to its empowering connotations and ability to capture resistance to victims' systemic powerlessness, the term "survivors" is frequently used instead. Secondary victims may be burdened even when they are not directly hurt or implicated. These might be close friends or family members. The above concept encompasses primary as well as secondary victims. But occasionally the procedure of getting the victim designation may be complicated.

Christie's description of the "perfect victim" as a young, defenceless female who is attacked by an unidentified stranger is discussed by Walklate (2007a). The ideal victim is portrayed as being helpless and worthy of harm. The issue with such labelling is that certain victims would not be viewed as ideal and might not get support as a result. Discussions about sexual assault frequently start with this idea of the "perfect victim." In addition, certain crimes are perceived to have no victims at all. For instance, a drug addict is frequently viewed as a willing participant in drug usage and may not be perceived as a victim. Such a stance can result in these victim groups being denied services.

Victims and the CJS

Since it places more emphasis on the rights of the accused than it does on the needs of victims, the adversarial criminal justice system has come under fire. However, that is gradually altering. The human rights movement, particularly the feminist movement, has had a significant impact on this trend. The development of victim contribution in the CJS is traced by Walklate in 1989. The victims took a more active part in the criminal court system in Saxon, England. Later, as the State took on cases on their behalf, this function was reduced. The treatment of victims within the criminal justice system is subject to some principles set forth in the UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power. The treatment of victims should be kind and honouring of their human dignity. They have the right to prompt relief. It should be possible to seek this redress through formal and informal channels, and appropriate legal and administrative frameworks should be put in place. Article 6 declares,

The following should be done to make it easier for judicial and administrative systems to be sensitive to the needs of victims:

(a) Informing victims of their role and the scope, timing and progress of the proceedings and of the disposition of their cases, especially where serious crimes are involved and where they have requested such information;
(b) Allowing the views and concerns of victims to be presented and considered at appropriate stages of the proceedings where their personal interests are affected, without prejudice to the accused and consistent with the relevant national criminal justice system;
(c) Providing proper assistance to victims throughout the legal process;
(d) Taking measures to minimize inconvenience to victims, protect their privacy, when necessary, and ensure their safety, as well as that of their families and witnesses on their behalf, from intimidation and retaliation;
(e) Avoiding unnecessary delay in the disposition of cases and the execution of orders or decrees granting awards to victims.

Restitution for the injury suffered by the victim, their families, and dependents is a topic covered in the Declaration. In terms of compensation, the Declaration emphasises that the State shall make an effort to offer monetary compensation where the perpetrator is unable to fully afford it. When it comes to victims of crime in the criminal justice system, the Declaration is the most significant international document. Although it implies victim involvement and participation, this by no means occurs. After examining the global norms, we now turn our attention to the situation in India.

Everyone is entitled to equal protection under the law, as stated in Article 14 of the Constitution. Under Article 21, a number of concerns have been addressed, including restitution in criminal cases, restitution for torture committed in detention, fair trials, natural justice, restitution for police crimes, etc. Some areas are protected from victimisation by Articles 17, 23, and 24.

Untouchability is abolished under Article 17. Forced labour and human trafficking are prohibited by Article 23.

Children may not be employed, according to Article 24. The right to constitutional remedies is the last option. The State is required to advance the wellbeing of all its citizens in accordance with Article 38 (Directive Principles).

The promotion of the economic and educational interests of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other weaker groups is discussed in Article 46. In this vein, numerous regulations exist to safeguard various populations that may be more susceptible to crime, such as the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act of 1956, which forbids the exploitation of those who have been the victim of commercial sexual exploitation. Some laws pertaining to children's protection include the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, and the Child Labor (Prohibition and Regulation) Act. The system of bonded labour is eliminated by the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act.

The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, and numerous IPC provisions address the exploitation of women. The registration of a report, or FIR or NCR, is the first step in the criminal justice process because the victim is the one who starts it. Any crime victim's initial point of contact should be the police, but we frequently hear about less than perfect interactions in the media. In actuality, social work intervention in the police system has made a significant contribution at this point. This will be covered in the upcoming module.

Information in cognizable offences is a topic covered in Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code. A woman police officer or woman officer must record this information in cases involving crimes against women.

According to the JJ Act, complaints for children must be filed in a location where the kid feels safe and in the presence of those who can help them, such as their parents or a social worker. Anyone whose complaint is denied may speak with the police superintendent. The process for a rape victim's medical examination is outlined in Section 164A, which was revised in 2005. There is a procedure for the separation of the victim and accused and their dignified treatment, and making shelter arrangements is required in situations where the State is also responsible for the immediate custody of the victim, such as cases of trafficking, child labour, or any child in need of care and protection, destitute women, victims of sexual assault, etc.

The aggrieved's involvement in the compounding of offences is outlined in Section 320 of the Criminal Procedure Code throughout the trial. The courts have in a number of instances recognised the victims' rights to petition the court over bail and closure reports. Additionally, in some circumstances, a special public prosecutor is appointed (Murlidhar, 2003).

However, section 12 (g) of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 states that everyone who must file or defend a case has the right to legal services under this Act if they are in custody, including custody in a protective home as defined by clause (g) of section 2 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956. This is despite the fact that there is no explicit provision for legal aid for victims. A person in need of legal assistance must be a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe (12(a)), a victim of human trafficking (12(b)), a woman or a child (12(c)), a person with a disability (12(d), or someone who has suffered a mass disaster, acts of ethnic or caste violence, a flood, a drought, an earthquake, or an industrial disaster. According to Section 327 (2), an investigation into and trial for rape or an offence under Sections 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D, or 376E of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) must take place behind closed doors.

In cases of conviction, the magistrate may issue an order at the conclusion of the trial specifying the fine amount to be paid to the victim as compensation (Section 357 of Cr.P.C.). In 2009, Section 357A was added to create a victim compensation plan. Sections 357 B and C, which deal with financial compensation in situations of sexual assault and free medical care, were also added in 2013. Many States and Union Territories have since developed their own victim compensation plans as a result.

The Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law, which issued its report in 2013, and the Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System, which submitted its report in 2003, are two significant reports that emphasise related topics and recommendations (Justice Verma Committee). The Justice Verma Committee suggested, among other things, adding additional parts to in-camera proceedings.

There was pressure on the state governments to establish victim compensation schemes after the Justice Verma Committee's report was submitted. For instance, the Manodhairya system in Maharashtra was created to provide monetary compensation, medical assistance, and counselling services to victims of rape and sexual assault. These policies offer compensation not just at the conclusion of the case but also when the FIR is being filed. The compensation also covers medical costs. The policy covers acid attack victims, juvenile victims, and victims of sexual abuse. Under this programme, compensations up to Rs. 3 lakhs may be awarded.

Understanding Victimology

Victimology is the study of victims and victimisation in its most basic form. It is considered to be a relatively new branch of criminology. According to Karmen (2010), victimology is "the scientific study of the harm people experience due to criminal behaviours on a physical, mental, and financial level" (pp. 2). He outlines the activities of victimologists to further explain this term, starting with an examination of the victim's situation and the consequences of the harm and losses caused by the offender. Research on the public's political, social, and economic responses to victims' plight is also done by victimologists. He adds that victimologists also research how the criminal justice system treats victims.

Victimologists' main goal is to comprehend criminal victims' experiences and aid in their healing from the trauma and adversity they have endured. They are also concerned about how this situation is being overlooked. Victimologists also attempt to comprehend how society views victims; while some are revered, others may face stigma. Victimologists are interested in how victims respond to and are affected by their victimisation. The work of Hentig (1948) and Mendelsohn is where the academic field of victimology first emerged (1974).

In his book Criminal and his Victim, Hans Von Hentig included a chapter on victims. Victimology was first used in a paper that Mendelsohn delivered at a congress meeting in Romania in 1947. He is credited with founding victimology. Mendelsohn focused on the victim's guilt, whereas Hentig concentrated on "victim precipitation." Hentig examined the victim's involvement in the crime (Walklate, 1989). The relationship between the victim and the offender is more nuanced than the basic divisions of criminal law, according to Hentig (1948), who writes about it in the chapter Contribution of the Victim to the Genesis of Crime. "These are two people. Male or female, young or old, wealthy or impoverished, ugly or attractive—whenever they get close to one another, a variety of interactions, repulsions as well as attractions, are set in motion. The law keeps an eye on both those who act and those who are acted upon. A subject and object, a perpetrator and a victim are distinguished by the external criterion. Depending on societal and psychological factors, the circumstance can be quite different. There are instances where they are reversed, and the victim takes on the role of a determinant in the complex web of causal forces (p. 383, 384). This paints a realistic picture of how Hentig perceives the victim's role in the crime.

Hentig's victim types comprised groups including the weak, feeble bodied, feebler sex, and feebleminded individuals. Hentig claims that these settings are perfect for being taken advantage of. According to his classification, the first four categories of victims were the young, female, elderly, mentally ill, and insane. In terms of women, Hentig's examination of killings in Europe came to the conclusion that the majority of them were committed by women working in the personal services industry as a result of sexual assault and subsequently "physical removal of the eventual claimant" following pregnancy (Id. pp. 407).

According to Hentig, the elderly, who have amassed fortune but are also physically and psychologically frail, frequently commit homicides and have high suicide rates. Others who made them weak were minorities, stupid people, and people with abnormal characteristics. Immigrants experienced a decline in crucial interpersonal links, faced linguistic challenges, and needed to rebuild psychological ties, all of which made them more susceptible to fraud. Psychological categories included depressed people who can be provocative, instigative, passively surrendering, and soliciting.

The category of the acquisitive can be avaricious and lead to victimisation. For instance, victims of financial fraud may succumb to the temptation of making an extra dollar, and fraudsters frequently take advantage of this temptation. Through their risk-taking behaviour, the wanton, the lonely, and the heartbroken may contribute to their victimisation. An abuser who torments the victim is one who has previously been the victim of abuse. He used the example of a father abusing his young son, who later grows up and threatens to kill him. The blocked, exempted, and battling victims made up the last group. Hentig uses the scenario of a banker who committed fraud in order to avoid defaulting as an example. He refers to him as the blocked victim, describing him as "someone who has been in such a losing scenario that defensive efforts have either become impossible or more harmful than the injury at criminal hands" (id. p. 433). There is a state of self-imposed helplessness in this situation. The desire to adopt dishonest means of earning money is the victim's defining characteristic in this case. Criminals can take advantage of such a victim who then would not report the matter to the authorities.

From entirely innocent to most guilty, Mendelsohn identified six kinds of victims (Walklate, 1989). The six include:

Completely innocent victim (for example, children or those who are attacked while unconscious or a school shooting);
Victim with minor guilt (often victimized because of ignorance, for example, someone who was attacked or robbed while walking through a crime prone area, a badly lit area or at odd hours and get victimized);
Voluntary victim, whose guilt is equal to that of the offender (For example, a suicide pact, or a person contracting a sexually transmitted disease after consensual sexual intercourse);
Victim more guilty than offender - one who provokes or induces another to commit crime (for example, the case of a person being attacked or killed by a domestic partner after years of abusing that partner);
Victim who alone is guilty (for example, someone who is attacked and kills in self-defence);
Imaginary victim - who has suffered nothing at all but who accuses another falsely or people suffering from mental disorders and believe they are being victimized. (Sengstock, 1976)

The idea of victim precipitation was better defined by Wolfgang. His was the first comprehensive investigation into victim precipitation. He looked at murders committed by criminals in Philadelphia between January 1, 1948, and December 31, 1952. In criminal homicides where the victim is a direct, positive precipitator in the crime, the term "victim-precipitated" is used, according to Wolfgang. The victim's role is defined by the fact that he used physical force on his subsequent killer first in the homicide scenario. The victim-precipitated instances are those in which the victim was the first to display and employ a deadly weapon, to deliver a blow in a fight, or to start a physical confrontation (Wolfgang, 1957, p. 2). He provides various cases of homicides that were precipitated by the victim, one of which being the case of the husband who repeatedly threatened to kill his wife. He attacked her in this case with a pair of scissors, dropped them, and then reached into the kitchen for a butcher knife. He landed on the knife during the subsequent scuffle, which ended on their bed.

Additionally, he discovered that 26% of killings were victim-provoked (Id. pp. 4). Additionally, he discovered that homicides that were victim-precipitated had significantly higher proportions of the following characteristics than homicides that weren't victim-precipitated: black victims (Wolfgang used the term "black"), black offenders, male victims, female offenders, stabbings, victim-offender relationships involving male victims of female offenders, mate slayings, husbands who are victims in mate slayings, alcohol in the homicide In addition, marital disputes, racial killings, and victims who are close friends, relatives, or acquaintances of their killers all occur more frequently in victim-precipitated homicides than in non-victim-precipitated homicides (Id. pp. 11).

Measuring victimization

For a variety of reasons, crime statistics have not been sufficient to assess criminal victimisation. First of all, not every victim of a crime reports it. Second, not all reported crimes are documented. Therefore, a key component of the victimology effort has been to directly question crime victims through extensive victim surveys. In the United States, the first survey on criminal victimisation took place in 1967. (Walklate, 2007b). The many survey categories are listed by Davies et al. (2003): local cross-sectional sample surveys, appreciative surveys, cross-national surveys, national trend sample surveys, and police "consumer" surveys. Local cross-sectional surveys ask the selected sample about their experiences of becoming a victim of crime between a predetermined period and choose a representative sample from a small geographic area. Appreciative studies seek for a more qualitative description of experiences. To better assess criminal victimisation, larger surveys can be used, and the results can then be compared to actual recorded crimes. Cross-national studies, such as the International crime survey, examine victimisation rates between nations. Surveys of police "consumers" look at how satisfied the public is with the force.

Theories of Victimology

Two main concepts that cover the core of victimology knowledge are ‘victim precipitation’ and lifestyle model.

Positive School:

The work of Hentig and Mendelsohn forms the foundation of the positive school of victimology. Later, Wolfgang and Amir carried this out. Wolfgang published a piece titled "Victim Precipitated Criminal Homicide" in 1957. The phrase "victim-precipitated" refers, in Wolfgang's words, to murders that were directly and positively influenced by their victims. The victim's role is defined by the fact that he used physical force on his subsequent killer first in the homicide scenario. The victim-precipitated instances are those in which the victim was the first to display and use a deadly weapon, to deliver a blow during a fight, or otherwise start a physical confrontation (Wolfgang, 1957, pp. 2). Between January 1, 1948, and December 31, 1952, 588 homicide cases from the Philadelphia Police Department were investigated by Wolfgang. 150 of these cases were victim-precipitated, according to him. He discovered that the profiles of the accused and victims were quite similar. This has already been covered earlier.

In 1977, Lukenbill proposed the Situated Transaction Model. He also drew on police data of ten years from 1963 to 1972 in a California County. According to his claims, a homicide is an interaction between the perpetrator, the victim, and potentially an audience member that results in the victim's death. He discovered that homicides were the result of a protracted conversation between a perpetrator and a victim. In the homicide cases he reviewed, he also discovered that there had been previous instances of these transactions that had not ended in death, type of rehearsals. He witnessed a murder in six phases. Stage 1 was the initial manoeuvre, during which the victim's activity was the main point of emphasis. According to his research, either the victim made a verbal or physical gesture that the offender found offensive, the victim refused to cooperate with the offender, or both. The second stage was explaining the victim's first action. The third step involved the offender taking revenge, either through a physical or verbal challenge or by killing. In this case, the offender also has the choice of avoiding confrontation and leaving the area. In step 4, where there was no murder in stage 3, the victim had to either contest or accept responsibility. The victim has the same freedom to leave as the abuser does. Instead a victim may choose violence. The author perceived the victim's action in these homicide cases as an implied consent to violence. In stage 5, both the victim and the offender seem ready for combat. The accessibility of guns strengthened this resolve. The victim was already dead at this point, and the perpetrator had either fled the scene, phoned the police on their own initiative, or was being detained against their will by a witness.

Victim precipitation was used in rape cases by Amir. Not merely the empirical problems were the cause of much of the criticism for this work. However, the emphasis is now on victimisation prevention rather than crime prevention. This school of thought has generally been criticised for its victim blaming. 2003 (Walklate). Another criticism is that using data from actual criminal cases can be troublesome. The positivist school is also criticised for focusing on victims of typical interpersonal crimes since it makes the presumption that victims will be obvious.

Radical Victimology

Influential figures in this school of thinking include Quinney and Elias. The state's contribution to victimisation is the key issue at hand. The school of thought emphasises on human rights, and it deserves praise for doing so. This school is criticised by Walklate (2003) for not being able to transform its principles into an objective standard of measurement.

Recently, Kauzlarich et al. (2002) brought state victimology back into the spotlight. They establish six victimology of state crime tenets,

Victims of state crime tend to be among the least socially powerful actors.
Victimizers generally fail to recognize and understand the nature, extent, and harmfulness of institutional policies. If suffering and harm are acknowledged, it is often neutralized with the context of a sense of ‘entitlement’.
Victims of state crime are often blamed for their suffering.
Victims of state crime must generally rely on the victimizer, an associated institution or civil social movements for redress.
Victims of state crime are easy targets for repeated victimization.
Illegal state policies and practices, while committed by individuals and groups of individuals, are manifestations of the attempt to achieve organizational, bureaucratic or institutional goals (pp. 183-189).

The lack of understanding of victimisation by many state victims is one issue with this school. But the acknowledgment of the power dimension in victimisation is a significant contribution here.

Feminist Victimology

The way in which violence affects women has been significantly influenced by feminist study. It had called into doubt the scope and character of the female experience as recorded by both official statistics and academic studies. Can there be a feminist victimology? is the chapter. In 2003, Sandra Walklate outlined the contributions. She starts by claiming that the idea of victim precipitation is viewed as victim blaming, which leads to the negligence assigned to victims by the court. Additionally, the criminal justice system as a whole has been negligent. The term "survivor" is another important contribution. The focus on helplessness in the term "victim" is what causes objection to its use. In contrast, the word "survival" suggests active resistance. According to her, there is a conflict between victimology's positivist perspective and feminists' criticism of scientists' independence from their own work. In addition, the topic of the ideal victim is covered elsewhere.

Structural Violence Theory

The phrase "structural violence" was originally used in the context of peace research by Johan Galtung in 1969. He connects the phrase to the notion of social justice. Galtung claimed that "violence is present when human beings are influenced so that their actual physical and mental realisations are below their potential realisations" (p. 168). When there is no person involved in the violence, it is called structural violence. Additionally, it is impossible to pinpoint a specific person for the repercussions. Galtung claims that because violence is "baked into the structure," it manifests as unequal power and, as a result, as unequal life chances (p. 171). He continues, "Resources are unevenly distributed, as when income distributions are heavily skewed, literacy/education is unevenly distributed, medical services are available in some districts and for some groups only, and so on." Above all, "Resources are unevenly distributed because power to decide how they are distributed is unevenly distributed." (p. 171).

Kathleen Ho (2007) applies this argument to the discussion of human rights, suggesting that systemic violence and poverty lead to a violation of those rights. She draws attention to the flawed "progressive realisation" method of tracking the Economic,

Cultural and social rights. The vulnerable populations are also made visible by the structural violence theory. Beyond discussions of ESCR, inequalities in structures that perpetuate racism, casteism, and gender-based violence must be addressed.

Lifestyle Approach

In 1978, Hindelang, Gottfredson, and Garfalo published a book titled "Victims of Personal Crime: An Empirical Foundation for a Theory of Personal Victimization," which introduced the Lifestyle Approach. They put forth a theory of personal victimisation in which "lifestyle" is used to describe regular everyday actions. The claim is that people have certain role expectations based on their age, sex, race, etc., and that these expectations are mirrored in their way of life. Personal exploitation takes place during everyday actions. They contend that there is a connection between commonplace behaviours and high-risk victimisation. However, a number of conditions must be met: the offender must be willing and able to use, threaten to use, or threaten to use force; the victim must have occasion to cross paths with the offender in time and place; there must be a source of disagreement or claim. And finally, the perpetrator should consider using force favourable (Walklate, 1989).

They laid down eight propositions for personal victimization to occur

The probability of suffering a personal victimization is directly related to the amount of time that a person spends in public places.
The probability of being in public places, particularly at night, varies as a function of lifestyle.
Social contacts and interactions occur disproportionately among individuals who share similar lifestyles.
An individual’s chances of personal victimization are dependent upon the extent to which the individual shares demographic characteristics with offenders.
The proportion of time that an individual spends among non-family members varies as a function of lifestyle.
The probability of personal victimization, particularly personal theft, increases as a function of the proportion of the time that an individual spends among non-family members.
Variations in lifestyle are associated with variations in the ability of individuals to isolate themselves from persons with offender characteristics.
Variations in lifestyle are associated with variations in the convenience, the desirability, and visibility of the person as a target for a personal victimization (Walklate, 1989, pp.7).

Felson offered a similar strategy, which is covered in more detail in the following section. The inability to ask people to modify their lifestyle is one of the main policy-related objections of this strategy.

Crime Prevention Perspectives and Practice

"Prevention" is defined as "strategies and measures that seek to reduce the risk of crimes occurring, and their potential harmful effects on individuals and society, including fear of crime, by intervening to influence their multiple causes," according to the United Nations Guidelines for the Prevention of Crime from 2002.

The Routine Activity Notion, developed by Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson in 1979, is a theory that is frequently brought up in conversations about crime prevention. This theory takes into account three components that must be present for crime to occur: a motivated perpetrator, a possible victim, and the absence of an effective guardianship (crime triangle). Even the most informal types of social control and surveillance are acceptable in the hands of a good guardian. This hypothesis connects variations in routine activities to shifting crime rates (Gilling, 1997). According to the two authors, "the absence of any one of these is sufficient to preclude the successful completion of a direct contact predatory crime, and the confluence of suitable targets in time and space and the lack of capable guardians may even result in significant increases in crime rates without necessarily requiring any increase in the structural conditions that drive people to commit crime. Changes in everyday activities may nevertheless affect the likelihood of the convergence in space and time, altering the number of motivated offenders or even suitable targets in a society, increasing the risk of crime (Cohen and Felson, 1979 pp.2).

Any regular and common activities that meet the demands of the general population and an individual are considered routine activities. Additionally, any change in the way normal activities are structured raises the likelihood that motivated offenders will find suitable targets in the absence of capable guardians, increasing the likelihood that direct contact predatory crime rates will rise significantly. Sutton et al(2008) .'s discussion of feminist critiques of this theory includes the argument that programmes that focus on the victim's presence, which would limit women's independence, are ineffective in changing the motivations of perpetrators of family violence. The same authors, however, also praise the theory for shifting attention away from more conventional criminal justice remedies that simply concentrate on the perpetrator and have had only little results.

Eck (2003) extends beyond the direct roles of perpetrator, victim, and guardian to add indirect effect of larger social institutions as part of this extension. To Felson's crime triangle, he adds an outside triangle. The offender, target, and location are included in the inner triangle. Those who can manage, monitor, or exert some constraint are called "handlers," and they can be parents, siblings, friends, bosses, or teachers. Management in place. Guardians can be tools used for surveillance or people who watch over potential targets. Programs concentrating on the inner triangle to remove targets or increase guardianship or those focusing on the outer triangle to strengthen attachment between offenders and handlers and reduce crime victimisation are just a few crime prevention strategies that have emerged from this notion (Sutton et. al., 2008).

Approaches/ Typologies to crime prevention:

Sutton et al. (2008) and Gilling (2007) both categorise interventions as primary, secondary, and tertiary. The main interventions concentrate their efforts on the general populace, while the secondary and tertiary interventions concentrate their efforts on at-risk populations (including both potential offenders and victims). These are separated by Gilling (2007) into victim- and offender-focused categories. The next degree of differentiation, according to Sutton et al. (2008), is between environmental methods and social approaches. Environmental techniques, also known as situational crime prevention, concentrate on altering the physical environment, such as installing CCTVs, enhancing security through neighbourhood watch programmes, or enhancing street lighting. On the other hand, social crime prevention focuses on the causes of crime through any programme that has the power to change behaviour. Social crime prevention utilises initiatives like bettering education to target the future offender. They might involve efforts to increase community cohesion and reduce crime through community development. The major target of these programmes is youth, followed by economically vulnerable populations, but they can be sufficiently broad to cover education, employment policy, housing, and health initiatives (Gilling, 2008).

Essential readings

Bakshi P. M. (2013). The Constitution of India (12th ed.), Universal Law Publishing Co. New Delhi
Davies P., Francis P and Jupp V. (2003). Victimology, Victimisation and Public Policy. In Davies et al. Victimisation: Theory, research and Policy (ed). Palgrave Macmillan
Galtung J. (1969). Violence, Peace and Peace Research. Journal of Peace Research, Vol 6. No. 3 pp. 167-191
Gilling D., (1997), Crime Prevention: Theory, Policy, and Politics, Psychology Press.
Governement of India (2013). Report of the Committee on Amendments to Criminal Law.
Government of India (2003). Report of Committee on Reforms of Criminal Justice System.
Hentig H. (1948). The Criminal & His Victim: Studies in the Sociobiology of Crime. Yale University Press