Causes of street crimes

"Society prepares the crime, the criminal commits it " - Henry Thomas Buckle By the twenty-first century criminologists looked to a wide range of factors to explain why a person would commit crimes. There are certain factors in our societies, cultures (family values), system (educational, political, law-enforcement...), economy, and so on that endorse thepotential of criminal activities of an individual. Usually a combination of these factors is behind aperson who commits a crime.Reasons for committing a crime include greed, anger, jealously, revenge, or pride. Somepeople decide to commit a crime and carefully plan everything in advance to increase gain anddecrease risk. These people are making choices about their behavior; some even consider a life of crime better than a regular job believing crime brings in greater rewards, admiration, andexcitement at least until they are caught. Others get an adrenaline rush when successfully carrying out a dangerous crime. Others commit crimes on impulse, out of rage or fear.In this article I will discuss few root social causes of committing a crime and somemethods of discouraging the choice of crime. I have chosen only social causes, because from my point of view people are good by default, only the social factors create the criminals.

Root causes of committing a street crime

1.Poor parenting skills;
Children who are neglected or abused are more likely to commit crimes later in life thanothers. Similarly, sexual abuse in childhood often leads these victims to become sexual predatorsas adults.Fatherlessness is also one of underestimated cause of crime

2.Peer influence;
A person's peer group strongly influences a decision to commit crime. For example, young boys and girls who do not fit into expected standards of academic achievement can sometimes become lost in the competition. Children of families who cannot afford adequate clothing or schoolsupplies can also fall into the same trap. Researchers believe these youth may abandonschoolmates in favor of criminal gangs, since membership in a gang earns respect and status in adifferent manner. In gangs, antisocial behavior and criminal activity earns respect and streetcredibility.Like society in general, criminal gange are usually focused on material gain. Gangs, however,resort to extortion, fraud, and theft as a means of achieving it.

3.poverty;
Povertys effects on crime can be explained through a variety of reasons. There is a higher rate of mental illness in the poor than in the rich (Brill 40). Poverty can lead to high levels of stress that in turn may lead individuals to commit theft, robbery, or other violent acts. Moreover, poverty may lead to an actual or perceived inferior education, which would cause youth to count on less access to

quality schools, jobs, and role models, decreasing the opportunity costs of crime and increasing the probability of youth spending time on the street associating with gangs, etc

4.unemployment;
Higher unemployment would certainly increase poverty and at the same time lead to more crime due to depression associated with being unemployed. Personal income per capita, which is inversely correlated with the poverty level, still may increase crime since greater wealth means greater benefits to thieves and robbers. Furthermore, because of social class gaps, personal income per capita rates may not affect poverty to a great extent (the income may be concentrated in a small percentage of the population). It might even accentuate the difference between the upper and lower classes, thereby inducing more crime.

5. Drugs and alcohol;

Some social factors pose an especially strong influence over a person's ability to makechoices. Drug and alcohol abuse is one such factor. The urge to commit crime to support a drughabit definitely influences the decision process. Both drugs and alcohol impair judgment andreduce inhibitions (socially defined rules of behavior), giving a person greater courage to commit acrime. Deterrents such as long prison sentences have little meaning when a person is high ordrunk.

6. Income and education;

Many prisoners could not read or write above elementary school levels, if at all. The mostcommon crimes committed by these inmates were robbery, burglary, automobile theft, drugtrafficking, and shoplifting. Because of their poor educational background,their employmentthistories consiste of many low wage jobs with frequent preiods of unemployment people must tmake a choice between long-term low income and the prospect of profitable crime. Gaining furthereducation, of course, is another option, but classes can be expensive and time consuming. Whileeducation can provide the chance to get a better job, it does not always overcome the effects of abuse, poverty, or other limiting factors.

Why street crime rate increasing in pakistan???

Pakistan has one of the highest crime rates in the world. Over the past four years since the economy took a steep dive, crime, especially petty crimes, have skyrocketed. There has been an enormous rise in domestic burglaries violent and street crimes in the recent years. The criminals snatch from the people mobile sets, handbags, watches, ornaments, cash or whatever they find sale worthy. Robbers are depriving people of millions of rupees and valuables. What shocks people is not just the high level of crime but the wanton violence that usually accompanies it; gangs often kill people just for their mobile phones. The murder rate, kidnapping and sexual offences have also been escalated. Everyone knows there is more crime in economically depressed Societies. Today nobody is safe from these petty thieves and robbers, as many used to be ever law abiding people before the lousy economy pushed them into becoming thieves and robbers. Obviously if a community is prosperous, crime rates in that society goes down, and if income levels decline, crime rates go up. These new econ robbers are

perhaps more likely to come back on right track from the crimes they commit if opportunity is provided to them because since they are formerly hard working people just like the rest of us who obeyed the law. The reason for high crime rate in the country is a topic of anguished debate. Economic downfall, unemployment, constant energy and petrolium price hikes, increasing tariff rates and food price increase are just some of the major problems that Pakistan is facing nowadays. Economic crunch, price spiral, gaping social inequality, high increase in unemployment and poverty and the use of drugs have fuelled the rise in crime. Frustration and aggression among youth is also becoming the cause of crime in our society youth could change the future of country but in Pakistan youth are not given any rights nor there is security of their futures almost every Pakistani is in dept. These signs show unrest and anarchy in the society, force the undirected youth to develop evil habits. It also symbolizes the unequal distribution of wealth in the society as load-shedding, shortage of fuel and inflation has already made life of poor people very hard. It is true that one dont have to be poor to commit crimes. Now higher income businesses, politicians and high ranking people are also filled with crime. Extortion, bribery, insurance fraud, business scams, embezzlement, identity theft, theft, employee discrimination, tax evasion, money laundering, forgery etc include these sort of crimes. The only difference is that the poor commit crimes in a desperate attempt to meet his immediate needs, while the rich commit crimes to get richer. Businesses within the country are vulnerable to encountering all types of crime including robbery and fraud. Due to the horrific scenario that Pakistan is facing, many businesses fear to enter the country, thereby preventing FDI coming in the country. The high crime rate in the country is due to income inequality and reduced barriers in crime especially since the new Pakistani democracy formed in 2008. The Govt has removed subsidy on electricity tariffs and increased the tariff is not only a source of worry to the masses but also amount to a conspiracy to inflict pains on the citizens. The govts decision to remove the energy subsidy and giving unprecedented price increase is ill-timed and wronglyconceived. Apart from the problem of poor electricity supply, the corrupt staffs of Power distribution companies are forcing innocent consumers to pay exorbitant bills. The people have become unable to meet their utility bills what to say food, health and children education. It is also one of the reasons of escalating crime rate. Yet, another reason of rising crime rate is shortage of police personnel, inductions in the department in violation of merit and lack of training and latest weapons. The maximum number of police officers and officials has been deputed with VIPs, govt officials, and foreigners, while the remaining force remains busy protecting their own high-ups and their offices. Different gangs with the help of their associates in police are busy looting and brutally killing the citizens. Dacoits, gangsters have bypassed all security measures in making the lives of the citizens a living hell. Until and unless postings, appointments, and transfers in the police are done on merit, there is no hope for improvement in the situation. Rampant corruption in police department, political interference and links of criminal elements with the police officers and in some cases direct involvement of police officials in robbery and other crimes is further deteriorating the situation. Few cases are reported in the police stations, but most of the people who despite being robbed of their valuables do not bother to register cases to secure themselves from the subsequent hassle and repeated visits to the police stations. The victims of street crime think they will be wasting time by going to police station to lodge a complaint. Even those few people remain unable to get any fruits of their complaint.

Pakistani nation is absolutely disappointed because the govt is not providing safety and security to its citizens and their property. lawlessness, fundamentalism, backwardness and double standards are prevailing in the society. The present regime has put the people in danger of starvation and unimaginable suffering. The Govt should improve efficiency of police, ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity and gas to run the industry and resultantly curtailing unemployment, curb the corruption, reduce the tariff rates, and explore other sectors such as agriculture, mining, tourism etc in order to create new employment opportunities. The unemployment situation in Pakistan is very discomforting to the citizens. With dedication, commitment and sincerity of purpose of those at the helm of the countrys affairs, the unemployment challenge can be surmounted which will be helpful lowering crime rate in the country. It is the high time to act is now.