Date:26/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/26/stories/2008072661170300.htm

New Delhi

Correcting criminals Law & order

Criminals are not born overnight. Petty offences like street fights, pick-pocketing and theft introduce most of them to the murky world of crime and then they slowly graduate to become serious offenders in the eyes of the law. Once they land up in jail, they get branded as anti-social elements and this often pitches them on the path of no return.

Time and again the police come up with data showing how a small-time miscreant turned into a dreaded gangster over time. The prime suspect in the recent shooting incidents in South Delhi also has a similar background with police records showing that he had previously been booked in over 20 cases.

In the case of first-timers, police officers have found that once put behind bars, most of them get to meet hardened criminals, make them their role models, build up contacts with them, learn the tricks of the trade and come out to commit more serious offences.

Mental health expert Rajat Mitra feels the police can play a major role in ensuring that people, particularly adolescents, with violent tendencies do not take to crime. “Most young offenders are found to be school dropouts and they come from families with high levels of violence and dysfunctionality like alcoholism. They are rebellious in nature and use violence as a means to address all problems. While social work organisations can organise intervention programmes to provide education to them and resolve their other problems, the police can also do their bit through community policing to ensure that they grow up to become better citizens,” says Dr. Mitra.

Dr. Mitra says the police can build up bridges of communication with young men, especially those living in areas prone to violence, by dealing with them using peer bonding. An authoritarian approach would do no good. The need is not to exercise control but to bond with them, understand them and become a better role model for them. If criminal tendencies start taking shape in a person at a young age, it would be better to treat the “illness” at that stage through various means. A humane approach towards maintenance of law and order can bring about a positive change, but it would require a sincere effort.

Devesh K. Pandey