Crimes in Contemporary Society

Abstract

The word crime refers to an act of offense. It is a violation of approved behavior that negatively impacts one or more members of any society. Every society exercises control over its members. Approved behavior is inculcated through socialization. This mechanism helps to regulate deviancies and serves as a check against crime. In any society, crimes are not tolerated. Every crime invites punishment tantamount to the severity of harm it contributes to. In modern society, institutional mechanisms have been established for registering crime, judging, and sentencing. Such for example are law, judiciary, and prison. Whereas the law is handled by enforcing agencies, the judiciary is concerned with establishing ownership of the crime, and prisons are asylums that serve terms of sentences to detain the freedom of the individual from mainstream society. They are meant to be reformatory agencies that aim at modifying behavior so that there is no recurrence of crime. The intricacies of crimes in modern society impute huge demand from the enforcement agency to detect, investigate, verify, cross-check, and place proof or evidence in front of the judiciary for a fair sentence. The sentence may vary according to the intention, and consequences from capital punishment to rigorous imprisonment for various periods or sometimes even simple imprisonment. The opportunity to stay back in society for short spells is also contemplated. Present-day crimes are more sophisticated with the advent of technology, impersonation, and lure for a luxurious life and making a quick buck. The tendency to repeat crimes points to behavior disorders namely criminal mentality. This study attempts to consolidate the wide variety of crimes into two main categories namely conventional and modern keeping in view the overlappings and differences while at the same time substantiating the implications of each.