Crime

When there is an itch, there are two ways to deal with it. First, you scratch it and keep scratching it, till it bleeds and then agonisingly wait for a week for it to heal. Second, is to apply ointment on it and suffer minor discomfort for a day or two and get rid of it. Both the ways have their own ‘charm’. To be very honest, the latter does sound better. The same is the relation of crime and society. Society is our body and crime is an itch, which keeps disturbing and irritating everyone.
Although the above example is very frivolous, it is important to note that there lays a deeper meaning to it. For years now, crime has plagued our society taking several lives and destroying many homes. Drugs, guns, alcohol, cigarettes, etc are all a part of this plague. They tend to destroy everything society holds dear. Crime has a very vast market and it keeps growing annually with the population. The only thing worse than crime is organised crime. It engulfs not only the citizens, but also manages to infiltrate politics, administration, economy and law. Organised crime is very hard to break as it involves many people who have the power to make decisions and influence them. It is sometimes wondered whether the governments own crime or the crime owns them. Either way, it is very harmful to the society.
The history and evolution of crime is not important. It is not something that we should be proud of. The gangs, wars, drugs and murders are glorified on television and media. Many people work hard through their entire lives to earn and save money. They are part of a system that is corrupt and broken. Still, they work in order to provide for themselves and their family. It is not surprising to see then, that this system fails to protect and serve them.
This brings us to our next question: what is crime? Crime is any activity or set of activities which break the laws and rules of society. People commit crime because they look for alternative sources of income, rather than being a part of the system. Many countries are economically backward and have many unemployed and poor people. Every human has an aspiration to grow and better his/her life. If the country or established system can’t help them in achieving so, they aim to achieve it at the expense of others.
Crime is not only to be blamed on the poor and those who are seen or read about. According to me, it is a greater crime that our present system is failing to curb it. We should re-examine our present setup and alter it in a way that people are not driven by alternate motives which may cause harm to others. Crime is also committed by big corporations and industrialists who are driven solely on maximising profits and cutting costs. They can leave many people unemployed. In the hour of desperation, these unemployed people commit crime and cause harm to the economy. This is a vicious cycle and international governing bodies must check it.
Lastly, let us return to my original point regarding the itch and the ointment. Every society needs to wake up and realise that crime will not go away by police brutality, putting people in jail or hanging them. Violence breeds violence. If we come too hard on them, it will end up harming our time, money and energy. Crime requires patience and effort. We need a method, whereby the government and society work together to educate the young and at the same time, create jobs for them. It is a very slow process, but it is one which guarantees results.
In conclusion, crime is prevalent in almost every society. The most effective and perfect governments face crime in their country. Rather than incarcerating the guilty and further harming the society, the stress should be on education and social development. No society is perfect and neither it should be. But there must be constant effort to try to make it one. Effort itself will result in the citizens wanting a change and demanding safer environment for living.