According to criminologists, crime is ‘normal’
in all societies. It serves certain functions and may even help to keep a
society orderly. They also established that there are different types of
criminals in every society. With this in mind,
attempt will be made to diagnose and classify crime in the society in various
categories. A working vocabulary of the types of criminals is a necessary part
of sociological intellectual equipment and it is of paramount importance when
discussing the issues of crime problems.
The dimension of the typologies would be examined through (i) the legal
classifications of crimes, (ii) the organized and unorganized crimes, (iii)
white-collar and blue-collar crimes (iv) professional and non- professional
crimes and (v) juvenile delinquencies
The Organised and Unorganised Crimes
Criminologists make a distinction between a
crime that is organized and a crime that is carried out in an individual basis
or small group bases even though committed by professional criminals.
Unorganised crimes include much of the type of deviant acts, as does organized
crime; i.e. both organized and unorganized crimes activities seem to operate in
the same level. The differences
emanates from the fact that the
unorganized crime is done by individual or group of
members who do not work together for prolong criminal activities.
Examples are some activities like pick pockets and theft which cannot be
organized on an elaborate scale and they remain largely on the province or
domain of unorganized crimes. The types of crime which are most common in
carrying in an organized scale include Gambling, Doping trafficking,
Racketeering, etc.
An organised crime is so important as to deserve
some elaboration at this point. The most
important feature of organized crime is the Feudal pattern of organization. This type of organization is
characterised by a clear-cut
hierarchy of power. Each person in a lower level gives undivided
loyalty and service to the person in the immediate power position above him.
The organization is held together by powerful
leaders who use coercive techniques including physical violence to enforce an
under-world code of conducts.
Individuals who engage in an
organized crime bind themselves together in distinct type of social groups.
(1) An Organised Criminal Gang is
an association of youths or adult who are bind together by intimate types of
friendship and loyalty. Youth Gangs
differ from Criminal Gangs in the
important respect that the latter is organized especially for crime. The Youth
gangs may indulge in violence and other types of criminal activities but
sometimes they are motivated by adventure and thrills rather than profits. All
Gangs are characterised by strict discipline
with each member having to
subordinate his personal interest to the group’s interest. Those who threaten
the success and safety of the groups
are violently treated.
Examples of Gangs activities are: (a) hijacking
(b) armed robbery on a large scale, such as robbery of banks and
armoured-vehicles, automobile theft including the systematic stealing and
disposal of auto-parts, and (c) Kidnapping (holding someone for ransom).
(2) A second type of group, which
engages in an organized crime, is the
criminal syndicate. The operation in a syndicate is a sharp contrast to
that of the Gangs. The latter is mobile, violent and engages in sensational
crimes (forgery in
a
large scale). But the syndicate is best characterized as the stable business
organization whose only violence is likely to be directed from or against the
competitors, e.g. mafia group, smugglers, etc. Syndicates still control
gambling and narcotics.
Certain characteristics distinguish the
syndicate from other groups in organized crime. First, a criminal syndicate is
definitely and primarily a Business
organization. Second, it depends on an apathetic public which not only permit
the deviant behaviour but implicitly demand the services. Thus, the
syndicate developed through ruthless
competition which may involve the
destruction of other competitors. For instance, in 2006, it
was alleged that a syndicate paid some amount of money to the press to publish
false news that the “INDOMIE
INSTANT NOODLES” (a fast food) – is poisonous and had killed many people.
In swept reaction, the NAFDAC (Food and Drug Control Agency of Nigeria)
shut down the company and its products. Though, after thorough investigations,
it was found to be false.
The third type of organized crime is known as
Racketeering. This indicates an organized scheme whose aim is to extort money
illegally by (a) threats or (b) intimidation. In contrast to Gangs and
Syndicates, the Racketeers neither steal nor offer a service, rather they
induce individuals to make periodic payment
for nothing tangible than an
alleged protection. Although legitimate Businesses
are by no means exempted; Racketeering frequently takes the form of
control in Labour Union. The Labour
Union operates as those in control rather than the membership. The more
powerful among the Racketeer
organizations, may control a
whole Industry or several Industries in the city.
The fourth type of organized crime is the political
graft or corruption. Many elective and
appointive officers of various levels of government are associated
with the expenditure of large sums of money and with various degree of
authoritative power. Political corruption takes many forms, e.g. riggings
of Election, misuse of public fund, the
performance of free-services for fees, contract kick-backs, etc. It is extremely difficult to control this type
of organized crime because “the hands of
the law are the hands of the corrupt”
(Ferdinand, 1966). In other words, it
means that the makers and the executors of the law are themselves corrupt.
White-Collar and Blue-Collar Crime
(a) White
collar crime
A white-collar crime is a non-violent crime
usually involving cheating, or dishonesty in commercial matters. Examples are
fraud, embezzlement, bribery and insider trading. The analysis of white-collar
crime in the American culture is associated with Professor Edwin A. Sutherland,
who regarded white-collar crime as acts committed by persons in the upper socio-economic
level. An American paradigm in accordance with their normal business practices.
Bernes and Tecters help us to distinguish between crimes and white-collar
crimes. If a banker shoots his wife’s
lover, that is culpable homicide, not a white-collar crime. If he violates the
law in connection with his business, he is liable for a white-collar crime.
If a person, who possesses some degree of a good
reputation, sells shoddy goods, he/she commits a white-collar crime. But if a
group of persons, unknown to the victims, sell the some type of shoddy goods,
the group commits a crime, not white-collar crime. This latter example is one
of a bogus stock operation by criminal
syndicates in get-rich schemes. White-Collar crimes are unethical
business practices amongst the respectable groups. Such crimes follow
the social stratification pattern to a large extent; they are committed by
those in the middle or upper social class. They are the groups who explore
their occupation or professions for property, who occupy
high-level positions and who have the access to the criminal opportunities that
are available to most workers. For
example, among corporate executives, white-collar crimes
sometimes take the form of embezzlement, fraud; the key accountants who by reason of their privileged positions keep
track of and control a firm’s finances may be able to transfer funds from their
company into their own accounts, and to conceal
these transactions for a long time.
This type of crime is not regarded as a criminal
activity in the technical sense because no statute has been violated. This is why white-collar crimes
committed by the more affluent members
of the society are not reflected in the crime Reports. Thus, it presents its
own peculiar problems of detection, and treatment. Two important types of
white-collar crime may be identified:
Fraudulent
activities including such things as false advertisements, short weights,
inferior materials and systematic over-charging.
Violation of local and federal laws such as
patent infringement, illegal labour practices such as using unskilled personnel
to do the work of professionals, price
fixing during shortage period.
Blue-collar
crimes
A Blue-Collar crime is so designated because it
also occurs in connection to occupational pursuit although at the common or
lower level of the labour. Here, it is
not usually the customer or client who is always
the victim but the employee. For example, the policeman who demands for a
bribe at the check-point. In the ministry, you would be told to offer a bribe
for an application form which is supposed to be free. It is a warped attitude
of the society, resulting from the empirical applicability of the unstructured
economic of our society, i.e. the wider social conditions or social structures
of the political economy.
Professional and Non-Professional Crimes
There is a general agreement amongst the
criminologists that some criminals are professional. This class is broad and
includes big-time criminals as well as petty criminals, confidence men, armed
robbers, pick-pockets, smugglers, car-thieves, merchandise thieves (at Seaports
and Airports), and those who receive and dispose of stolen property. All
professional criminals have one common characteristic.
They do not engage in crime by chance or as a result of emotional stress
but as a deliberate and rational way to create
wealth and good life. That is, they are full- time criminals and they depend on
it for their livelihood.
Professional criminals are the least likely to get caught because
they plan their activities very carefully. Very often they present a false
model of themselves by pretending to be
engaged in one of the
conventional pursuits such as buying, selling and exporting which is only an
insignificant portion of their activities. Most time, they have
made previous arrangement to protect themselves in such a way that they
receive minimum punishment if caught. They seldom engage in act of violence.
When convicted, they often regarded as model prisoners and usually paroled in
the shortest possible time because of their connections, that they are more or
less friendly with the police.
The outlook of the professional criminals was
likened to that of the professional soldiers, they take risks. They enjoy high
status in the criminal underworld as “tough guys” or “hard nuts” who never
wanted to associate with any amateur and always very caution not to associate
deeply with women and non-members of the criminal underworld for fear of
betrayal and loss of the source of their livelihood. They are likely to be
mobile because of their activities. Wherever
location they find themselves,
their first contacts are members of the criminal underworld.
The non-professional offenders are offenders who
have not developed their criminal roles
to high degree. Examples include (1) occasional property offenders.
(2) The Habitual offenders who continually
commit crimes. They are predisposed to
crime due to poor education, trauma from poverty, the school and the immunity
at an early age. They commit such offences as driving, shop-lifting, disorderly
conduct, etc. (3) The situational criminals who commit crimes under a pressure
of other circumstances but who otherwise have no
criminal inclination. Example is a murder committed by husband or wife who catches their
respective spouses in a compromising situation or nature, due to pressure on
their marriage and home.
REFERENCES
Carrabine, Eamonn, et al (2004). Criminology: A Sociological Introduction.
London: Routledge.
Ferdinand, Theodore N. (1966). Typologies of Delinquency: A Critical Analysis.
New York: Random House.
McGuire, Mike, et al, eds. (2002). The Oxford Handbook of Criminology. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Neubeck, Kenneth J. and Davita S. Glasberg (2005). Sociology: Diversity, Conflict, and Change. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Williams, Hall J. E. (1984). Criminology and Criminal Justice. London: Butterworths.
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