Of crime and punishment

A fair, efficient and effective administration of criminal justice constitutes the most meaningful goal of any organised society. So the constituents must function in full harmony and cooperation to accomplish the common objective. Regular meetings of the agencies should be held to discuss mutual problems, if any, and assess progress of work in each district. Though this is nothing new but the units seem to be performing their jobs in isolation, a false prestige crisis over bossing and subordination seems to have been prevailing to confound issue. The required check and balance is not there to make the whole gamut of the law and justice machinery function efficiently. It is high time the grips were tightened by activating the institutional norms.

Crime today has crossed the national boundaries and criminal syndicates are now operating transnational. Again crime attended with violence has assumed an alarming scale to the extent that it has brought about a threat to our social security and is adversely affecting the quality of life. Illegal drug trafficking, money laundering and smuggling of fire arms in huge quantity are all inter connected. These unethical tradings are thriving under the very nose of all those showing anxiety perhaps with crocodile tears! Some are professing in favour of peace through spreading democracy of the type of their own liking using force and encouraging and patronising the spread of the phenomenon of arms race to break the peace and destroy human rights they often feign to talk about.

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The United Nations is expressing concern more than ever before and discussed the crime problems of the member countries in its successive congress with a view to finding out ways and means to combat the same. In its Milan congress it has suggested for taking a few positive steps to help controlling the situation through encouraging action oriented programmes of a new economic order by giving moral and material support to its various regional and inter-regional organisations which are engaged in research and counseling in the matter of prevention of crime and treatment of offenders.

Prevention of crime and treatment of offenders are, however, becoming more and more complicated in the context of economic development, political instability and changes of socio-cultural values. Although the family, educational institutions like schools and colleges are expected to play a significant role in moral development of the youths who form a vital part of any society but with increase of population, push and pull of the rural and urban societies, growth of unemployment, increasing urbanisation, less commensurate growth of industries to absorb the migrated people, are all adding to new dimensions in criminality. The society, therefore, questions the efficacy of traditional efforts to contain crime and its impact.

Developing countries, Bangladesh being one, today face a disruptive crime problem. A new and positive approach to prevent and control crime to alleviate the sufferings of the society is called for. Crime prevention, therefore, demands the attention of the whole community so that innovative and more effective measures can be prescribed with its total approval.

In the past crime-prevention has always meant an emphasis on deterrence and individual treatment and on rehabilitation to a limited scale. It has been realised that more innovative approaches need be developed primarily to reduce opportunity of crime by providing diversions with rehabilitative attitude of the community. The steps so far taken can hardly be considered sufficient in the face of the enormity of the problem. The export of manpower to some labour importing countries has become the only lucrative pursuit but this can provide only a limited solution to the problem. Therefore, employment in the industrial sector remains the main answer. The industrial sector, however, is near collapse. Jute and cotton mills are closing one after another. The privatisation of the sick units and placing them to inexperienced hands amount to almost passing the lame baby to a surrogate mother.

Again, shutting down some of these enterprises, particularly in the jute sector by adopting the policy of golden handshake without making alternative arrangement for employment of a much greater number connected with these industries has brought about serious depression in the economy. This has to have a cumulative effect on the socio-economic life as well.

The primary role of any government is to provide security of life and employment. The employment provided in the few EPZ campuses has not been able to fill up the gap created by the closure of the main industries. We often refer to our earning from garment industry, if we may call this an industry at all. Whatever little employment is generated here materialises on motive of maximisation of profit which should not be taken as primary goal of industrialisation, particularly of state sponsored enterprises, where the objective should be to provide employment, even by maintaining a break-even.

The policy of golden handshake was not really economically sound and to the best interest of the country in the ultimate analysis. Whatever little money the jobless workers received as compensation was actually of no use to them, as they must have spent the amount in no time and the volume of unemployment in various sectors centering round a particular industry cannot be calculated so easily and its social cost is unfathomable and cannot be economically measured. A close survey on the state of the present condition of the labour declared redundant due to closure of the industries will enable us to find out the actual position. The policy was sparked off from ill management, specifically for employing personnel in excess of requirement, most often under various pressures from outside although the industry could hardly afford it. Furthermore, the persons who were entrusted to manage these enterprises abandoned by the previous owners did not have any commitment nor did they have the necessary skill or acumen. One cannot but wonder why the authorities could not shed off the excessive load to protect the existence of the industry to the benefit of the bulk of the labour and the economy of the country.

From a recent report dispatched from Vietnam it could be learnt that at least three jute mills have been set up recently in that country and required raw jute is going from Bangladesh via a third country which is reaping the benefit of the export trade. The question appears if jute has become that useless how come a country like Vietnam can undertake a fresh venture and that too on imported raw materials?

In Bangladesh, however, circumstances, causing forced unemployment without making commensurate alternative arrangement, helped creating, among other ills, certain criminogenic factors which the society is at its wit's end to grapple with. Harsh law or cruel enforcement of anti-crime measures, whatever cheap public ovation it may draw for the time being, will not cut the ice in the long run. In spite of some actions being taken against known anti-socials and criminals, the number of anonymous telephone calls, holding out threats to life and seeking ransom are being received by many. In most cases police response to distress calls are not as prompt as would be required to prevent an occurrence. There are reports of quite a few incidents in the daily newspapers of blood baths in broad day light in various parts of the city despite heavy policing by an increased number of police units, and hence the panic.

One may recall that late lamented AK Fazlul Haque once said, "Police and rainbows are alike, they both appear after the storm!" The universally accepted principle of crime control by involving members of the society and police befriending the public and creating mutual trust and confidence to obtain their cooperation for realising the social objective seems to have taken a back seat while armoured vehicles are in the advance for summery disposal of crime and criminals or people taking law in their own hands. Such dubious and questionable methods have been impelled to by the scenario of corruption in criminal justice administration.

Public confidence in police and judiciary has visibly eroded. The decisions of and sentencing to multiple hangings in a single criminal case are not proving any deterrence either. Appeals are preferred in every case and many of the convicts are absconding. It has to be remembered that crime control will never be possible without public participation. But unfortunately we find the opposite to it. The public will gradually be alienated and the civilised way of getting justice will disappear ushering in an era of mobocracy and a police state!

AR Khandaker is a former Inspector General of Police and a former Member of the UN Crime Prevention and Control Committee.