The first thorough study of the co-existence of crime and democratic processes in Indian politics In India, the world's largest democracy, the symbiotic relationship between crime and politics raises complex questions. For instance, how can free and fair democratic processes exist alongside rampant criminality? Why do political parties recruit candidates with reputations for wrongdoing? Why are one-third of state and national legislators elected--and often re-elected--in spite of criminal charges pending against them? In this eye-opening study, political scientist Milan Vaishnav mines a rich array of sources, including fieldwork on political campaigns and interviews with candidates, party workers, and voters, large surveys, and an original database on politicians' backgrounds to offer the first comprehensive study of an issue that has implications for the study of democracy both within and beyond India's borders.
Criminology and criminal justice is in its infancy in India. This book attempts to examine India's crime problem in detail and document if and how its criminal justice system has responded to emerging challenges and opportunities. The objective is to move beyond mere observations and thoughtful opinions, and make contributions that are the next steps in the development of an empirical (or evidence-based) criminology and criminal justice on this vast and diverse country-by focusing on research that is both balanced and precise. This book brings together a diverse set of 32 academics from India, the US, and the UK who have authored 19 chapters on many aspects of crime and justice in India. The organizational components or sectors of the criminal justice system are the police, the courts, and corrections. The studies collected here provide balanced coverage of the entire criminal justice system and not just one component of it. The first section of this book consists of overviews of several major issues that affect the entire criminal justice system. Section Two considers topics related to the gateway of the criminal justice system, policing. Section Three takes up the operational problems of criminal law and courts and Section Four deals with the difficult question of punishment and correction, the last part of the criminal justice system.
This book offers a sociological exploration of street children in India and what pulls and pushes them into delinquency, at a time when the government of India is contemplating strengthening its juvenile justice system. It draws on in-depth, qualitative research carried out by an NGO which included unstructured and structured interviews with over 600 children as well as stakeholders. Through the stories of Indian children, this book examines the major factors which together play a crucial role in their engagement in deviant behaviour as they grow up. However, the authors argue that they should not be viewed not as a dangerous threat but as the country’s most valuable resource. The authors conclude that a punitive strategy may not be the best option, advocating instead for a focus on restorative justice which has been found to be effective and beneficial alongside other strategies which help strengthen families and enhance parenting skills.
"How do you see India? Fuelled by a surge of migration to cities, the country's growth appears to be defined by urbanisation and by its growing, prosperous middle class. It is also defined by progressive and liberal young Indians, who vote beyond the constraints of identity, and paradoxically, by an unchecked population explosion and rising crimes against women. Is it, though? In 2020, the annual population growth was down to under 1 per cent. Only thirty-one of hundred Indians live in a city today and just 5 per cent live outside the city of their birth. As recently as 2016, only 4 per cent of young, married respondents in a survey said their spouse belonged to a different caste group. Over 45 per cent of voters said in a pre-2014 election survey that it was important to them that a candidate of their own caste wins elections in their constituency. A large share of reported sexual assaults across India are actually consensual relationships criminalised by parents. And staggeringly, spending more than Rs 8,500 a month puts you in the top 5 per cent of urban India. Data-journalism pioneer Rukmini S. draws on nearly two decades of on-ground reporting experience to piece together a picture that looks nothing like the one you might expect. There is a mountain of data available on India, but it remains opaque, hard to access and harder yet to read, and it does not inform public conversation. Rukmini marshals this information - some of it never before reported - alongside probing interviews with experts and ordinary citizens, to see what the numbers can tell us about India. As she interrogates how data works, and how the push and pull of social and political forces affect it, she creates a blueprint to understand the changes of the last few years and the ones to come - a toolkit for India."-- dust jacket.
Female crime in India traces the emerging importance of the problem of female crime. It contains and their characteristics. It examines criminals the nature and trends of female crime and attemts to provide some theoretical perspectives of female criminality. It is significant work in social science and it makes a contribution to the knowledge of criminology, Sociology, Psychology, Social Work and Law. The book will provide valuable information to researchers, government functionaries and NGOs. It also serves as a resource in addressing crimes by women and will be of interest to a multidisciplinary academics as well as policy-makers and activists.
This volume provides an overview of cyber economic crime in India, analyzing fifteen years of data and specific case studies from Mumbai to add to the limited research in cyber economic crime detection. Centering around an integrated victim-centered approach to investigating a global crime on the local level, the book examines the criminal justice system response to cyber economic crime and proposes new methods of detection and prevention. It considers the threat from a national security perspective, a cybercrime perspective, and as a technical threat to business and technology installations. Among the topics discussed: Changing landscape of crime in cyberspace Cybercrime typology Legal framework for cyber economic crime in India Cyber security mechanisms in India A valuable resource for law enforcement and police working on the local, national, and global level in the detection and prevention of cybercrime, Cyber Economic Crime in India will also be of interest to researchers and practitioners working in financial crimes and white collar crime.
In Indigenous America, human rights and justice take on added significance. The special legal status of Native Americans and the highly complex jurisdictional issues resulting from colonial ideologies have become deeply embedded into federal law and policy. Nevertheless, Indigenous people in the United States are often invisible in discussions of criminal and social justice. Crime and Social Justice in Indian Country calls to attention the need for culturally appropriate research protocols and critical discussions of social and criminal justice in Indian Country. The contributors come from the growing wave of Native American as well as non-Indigenous scholars who employ these methods. They reflect on issues in three key areas: crime, social justice, and community responses to crime and justice issues. Topics include stalking, involuntary sterilization of Indigenous women, border-town violence, Indian gaming, child welfare, and juvenile justice. These issues are all rooted in colonization; however, the contributors demonstrate how Indigenous communities are finding their own solutions for social justice, sovereignty, and self-determination. Thanks to its focus on community responses that exemplify Indigenous resilience, persistence, and innovation, this volume will be valuable to those on the ground working with Indigenous communities in public and legal arenas, as well as scholars and students. Crime and Social Justice in Indian Country shows the way forward for meaningful inclusions of Indigenous peoples in their own justice initiatives. Contributors Alisse Ali-Joseph William G. Archambeault Cheryl Redhorse Bennett Danielle V. Hiraldo Lomayumptewa K. Ishii Karen Jarratt-Snider Eileen Luna-Firebaugh Anne Luna-Gordinier Marianne O. Nielsen Linda M. Robyn
Criminalization of politics is one of the major problems facing India. There has been an increase in the number of politicians with criminal backgrounds who have been elected as legislative representatives in the past few decades. This raises the question as to why Indians elect criminal politicians. The causes of crime in India are classified into social, economic, political, geographic, mental and psychological, and biological. Criminalization of politics in India takes many forms, and include electoral fraud, political candidates with criminal backgrounds contesting elections, use of muscle power in mobilizing voters, political scams, bureaucratic scams, and politicians protecting criminal gangs. Some of the causes of criminalization of politics in India include political control of the police, state money, corruption, weak laws and abuse of discretion, lack of intraparty democracy transparency, lack of ethics or values, vote bank politics, and loopholes in the functioning of the Election Commission. Ignorance due to illiteracy is prevalent as approximately 25% of the population are illiterate. Ethnic identity is the most important factor in Indian politics. Ethnic identity includes caste, religion, and language. Competition over local dominance among various social groups is one of the major factors that makes Indian voters elect politicians with a criminal history. Most of the media houses have their political affiliations, and they continue to indulge in perception mapping of public. Indian voters elect criminals due to the perceived benefits they would receive from them since the politicians would have huge discretionary powers over the implementation of policies that facilitate the distribution of benefits to the public. Indian voters also vote for politicians with a criminal record due to being coerced. Candidates with criminal links provide the electorate with a form of social insurance. The ability of candidates with criminal links to provide platforms that facilitate dispute resolutions is also one of the factors that make Indian voters choose politicians with criminal links. Having a weak rule of law in India is the major factor that has led to the thriving of the alternative forms of dispute resolution. The election of candidates with a criminal record has several impacts. It leads to an increase in the level of political control of the police. The criminal politicians can use the police to achieve their personal goals. The governance delivered by the criminal politicians may contradict the prevailing principles of good governance in a democratic system. For instance, they may engage in practices that favor certain groups within the society to the detriment of other groups. Politicians with a criminal background create negative economic impacts. These politicians can use their discretionary powers in the allocation of public resources to the state-controlled corporations to engage in corrupt activities that enrich them or their benefactors. Therefore, they may embezzle public resources or allocate the public resources to private parties for their refinement or development, which would have a negative impact on the welfare of the residents of the region. Criminal politicians can also treat public resources as their personal assets and use them to engage in various criminal activities. It would lead to the breakdown of the rule of law since the politicians would support criminal activities conducted by their cronies. This may lead to the proliferation of criminal organization, which would be a threat to peace and security and also lead to the loss of public faith in the credibility of the judiciary. The situation is alarming and needs to be controlled before it goes out of hand and threatens the future social economic development of the country. These are the major issues that are discussed in this book.
This book investigates perceptions against the people of north-east India, and why such prejudicial attitude exists. It subsequently quantifies and develops measures to counter such stereotypes and affiliated violence. This research examines the north-east Indian population’s and the general Indian population’s understanding of hate crime against the north-eastern population in metropolitan cities of India, both in concept and in perpetration. Further, it evaluates the existing constitutional and statutory provisions in India to determine if the proposed legislation and provisions are sufficient with regards to hate crime against north-eastern people of India. Drawing on empirical research addressing racial hate crimes in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, this book’s case studies provide a qualitative dive to the problem and offer experiential analysis in order to curate preventive measures. This book is ideal for scholars, researchers, teachers and students interested in hate crime, racial violence, minority struggles, victimology, and law.
