A Criminologist's Diary-45

A Criminologist’s Diary-45

Account Criminology and Criminal Ju...

THREE CRIMES: Politicization- Criminalization- Communalization

This is a time of ‘…lizations’ which has got a high correlation to crimes and criminality. ‘…lization’ is not a word in English Dictionaries although social scientists, namely political scientists, criminologists, psychologists and so on- make use of it by suffixing ‘…lization’ to a word to give a particularly specific or specifically particular meaning. In simple terms, it is nothing but a “process by which a particularly specific or specifically particular phenomenon or behavioural pattern come in to being and develop”

Politicalization in Dictionary means ‘causing to be political; colouring with political’ [Random House Dictionary] Politicalization is not politicization.

Criminalization means ‘making punishable as a crime; making a criminal of’. If criminalization is a process by which a person is made a criminal, then the expression is true as the criminologists too mean the same thing.

Communalization means ‘making communal’.

Now listen to what is heard in India often! After a crime has been reported to police or reported by the media, immediately comments are made as under-

“ The criminal does not belong to our party’- say the politicians of major political parties. If they want to colour the criminal with politics, then it is politicalization. They do it and thus it becomes a process by which politicization takes place and thus the political parties make many party-men. Making party-men via politicalization is to be treated as a crime as politicization is not a desirable act. This is CRIME No. I in India today.

“So and so has been arrested because he belonged to our party”- say the politicians and “ so and so was arrested because he belonged to our religion”-say thus by the so- named or so -called’ religious leaders’. They cannot see the crime and the criminal beyond their political party or ‘religious affiliations’. This sort of an approach is an incentive- a real incentive- for many to commit crimes as they know that they have god-fathers to own or support them. Of course, they get party-men or members for their religion as the case may be. Resultantly criminalization takes place. This sort of an approach is to be made a crime as it is not advisable to develop such a feeling in criminals. Hence, this is CRIME No.II in India.

“This is an attack against… such and such religion/ community” and it can be a major religion, scheduled caste, a scheduled tribe or a suppressed community or even a religious group. This is called’ communalization’-i.e., making everything communal so that they make more and more religion- centered or community centered party-men, fanatic religious- men. This again gives greater strength and added confidence in criminals to commit crimes as they think that they will be supported by the communal forces in society. This is called communalization and is bad and hence CRIME No.III in India.

Look at the candidates found out for elections in the Country and the type of the people’s representatives to the Legislatures/Parliament. Some of them have real communal background while others have really true criminal backgrounds. Both of them flourish in their career and develop quite comfortably via politicization, criminalization and communalization-three major crimes in India today.