Crime - Meaning, Categories, Stages

The term 'Crime' denotes an unlawful act and this unlawful act is punishable by a state. Crime as a concept is so broad that there is no single, universally accepted definition to it. But, for the sake of convenience, several countries provide statuary definitions of various kinds of unlawful activities, which can be identified as crimes.

A common principle about Criminal Law is that, unless an activity is prohibited by law, it does not qualify as a crime. Incidents of crime hurt not only the individual, but also the state. Therefore, such acts are forbidden and punishable by law. The body of laws which deals with imposing punishments on crimes is known as Criminal Law.

Categories of Crime

Crimes against Persons: Crimes against persons (also called personal crimes) include murder, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery.

Crimes against Property: Property crimes involve theft of property without bodily harm, such as burglary, larceny, auto theft and arson.

Crimes against Morality: There are several crimes where there is no bodily harm or any kind of harm to the property as well. Yet, these Crimes are deemed as immoral activities and hence are unacceptable. Prostitution, illegal gambling, and illegal drug use are all examples of such crimes. Also, Crimes against morality are also called victimless crimes because more than often there is no complainant or victim and it is generally the State which takes suo motu cognizance of these offences.

White-Collar Crime: White-collar crimes are generally economic offences that are committed by people of high social status. They commit these crimes in their respective occupations. Examples are embezzling (stealing money from one's employer), insider trading, and tax evasion and other violations of income tax laws. Instance of corruption, bribery and large-scale scams fall in the category of white collar crimes.

Organized Crime: Organized crime is crime committed by structured groups typically involving the distribution of illegal goods and services to others.

Organized crime is just not restricted to Mafias, as is shown in various movies and television series, but the term can refer to any group that exercises control over large illegal enterprises (such as the drug trade, illegal gambling, prostitution, weapons smuggling, or money laundering). Betting on sports, illegal sale of firearms and hawala transactions are all examples of Organized Crime.

Stages of Crime

Any Crime has a few key stages to it:

  1. Intention
  2. Preparation
  3. Attempt
  4. Commission

Ordinarily, the first two stages (intention and preparation) do not give rise to any form of criminal liability. This implies that merely having an intention to commit a criminal act is not punishable, nor is making preparation for the same. Liability in criminal law arises when one goes beyond the stage of preparation and attempts to do the forbidden act.

What constitutes attempt is again a tricky and complicated question which is an area of intense study. However, it can be stated that save in some exceptional circumstances, criminal liability arises only when the crime has reached the stage which is gone beyond preparation and has entered into the domain of attempt.

Elements of Crime: Guilty Act and Guilty Mind

To be classified as a crime, the act of doing something bad (actus reus) must be usually accompanied by the intention to do something bad (mens rea). A crime is said to exist usually when both these elements are present. The principle of actus reus and mens rea are embedded in a Latin maxim, which is:

"actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea"

This latin maxim means that an act does not make one guilty unless the mind is also legally blameworthy.

In other words, for a physical act to be termed a crime, it must be accompanied by the necessary mental element. Unless this mental element is present, no act is usually criminal in nature. So, all crimes have a physical element and a mental element, usually called actus reus and mens rea respectively.

What is actus reus?

The word actus connotes a 'deed' which is a physical result of human conduct.

The word reus means 'forbidden by law.

actus reus in common parlance means a 'guilty act'. It is made up of three constituent parts:

  1. An action or a conduct
  2. The result of that action or conduct
  3. Such act/conduct being prohibited by law

Therefore, one can say that actus reus is an act which is bad or prohibited, blameworthy or culpable. Now, there are certain unique situations when the act in itself may appear to be a criminal act, yet it cannot be termed as actus reus.

Illustrations:

An executioner's job is to hang (no actus reus)

An army man kills as a part of his duty (no actus reus)

Does an act in actus reus include omissions?

An omission is nothing but inaction or not doing something. Section 32 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) clarifies that acts which may be considered as Crime include "illegal omissions". But mere moral omissions of not doing something would not complete the requirement of actus reus.

Illustration: A man is sinking in the swimming pool of a resort. A boy who is beside the pool does not make any attempt to save this man. This is a moral omission of not saving someone's life. The boy cannot be held criminally liable for such an omission. But in the same scenario, if there is a lifeguard on duty at this resort, and if he does not make any attempt to save the man sinking in the pool, then he can be held criminally liable for such omission.

Mens Rea: guilty mind/ intent

mens rea generally means 'ill intention'. The constituents of mens rea are:

  1. There must be a mind at fault/intention to constitute a crime.
  2. The act becomes criminal when the actor does it with a guilty mind.

Causing injury to an assailant in self-defense is not a crime, but the moment injury is caused with intent to take revenge, the act becomes criminal.

Therefore for any crime to exist, the physical element of crime needs to be complemented by the mental element. The concept of mens rea evolved in England during the 17th Century. During this period, the judges began to hold that an act alone could not create criminal liability unless it was accompanied by a guilty state of mind.

In India, the word mens rea, as such, is not defined in the IPC, but its essence is reflected in almost all the provisions of the Code. For framing a charge for an offence under the IPC, the traditional rule of existence of mens rea is to be followed. This rule has been reiterated by the Supreme Court of India in State of Maharashtra v. Mayor Hans George, AIR 1965 SC 722. It was held in this case that, "Mens rea by necessary implication can be excluded from a statute only where it is absolutely clear that the implementation of the object of a statute would otherwise be defeated and its exclusion enables those put under strict liability by their act or omission to assist the promotion of the law."

Further, in Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab, 1994 (3) SCC 569, the Supreme Court held that the element of mens rea must be read into a statutory penal provision unless a statute either expressly or by necessary implication rules it out.

Strict Liability

There are some exceptions to the thumb rule of mens rea to be present for an act to be considered as crime. These are generally the offences which arise due to a 'strict liability'. These offences are also termed vicarious or deemed liability offences. 

Examples of such offences can be found in Special Acts such as the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the Customs Act, 1962, and the Information Technology Act, 2000, which provide for deemed offences by directors / responsible officers of a company, if a company has committed a contravention / offence. Such deemed liability disregards whether there was actually any mens rea or not on the part of the person concerned.

Distinction Between Intention and Motive

Intention or mental element is one of the foremost requirements in order to make someone liable for a crime. But a common misconception is that motive and intention are the same concepts when it comes to Crime. Thus, it is important to understand the fine distinction between these two terms.

In Re Sreerangayee case (1973) 1 MLJ 231, the woman in sheer destitution and impoverishment attempted to kill herself after failing in all the ways to arrange for food for her starving children, but since she knowingly (mens rea) did a prohibitive act of attempting suicide (actus reus), she was held guilty by the court.

The meaning of doing an act intentionally in criminal law means something that is done wilfully and not accidentally or mistakenly. The person doing the act is well aware of the consequences or the outcomes of his action or omission. That is all what is required for affixing criminal liability. It does not matter, as we say in ordinary language, whether an act was done with good intent or bad intent. If the act which is prohibited (actus reus) is done wilfully, knowingly or with awareness of the resulting consequences then the same will cause liability in criminal law.

Motive, on the other hand, is the ulterior objective behind doing an act. It is the driving force behind intention or commission of an act. The criminal law does not take into account motive in affixing criminal liability or in determining criminal culpability. This is the reason why the criminal law does not care whether one has stolen a loaf of bread to fed a starving person or stolen medicine to save someone's life, as long as it is a prohibited act, done knowingly.