Control of Crime in India Charles Richmond Henderson
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Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 4 | Issue 3 Article 5 1913 Control of Crime in India Charles Richmond Henderson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Criminology Commons, and the Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons Recommended Citation Charles Richmond Henderson, Control of Crime in India, 4 J. Am. Inst. Crim. L. & Criminology 378 (May 1913 to March 1914) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. CONTROL OF CRIME IN INDIA CHARLES RICHMTOND HENDERSON' This article is based on observations made in visits to prisons in Ceylon, India, Burmah, Singapore and Hongkong in the year 1912-1913; on interviews with the superintendents of these prisons, as courteous and intelligent a set of men as one can meet anywhere; and on readings of important works of travelers and officials and government reports. The sources are indicated in the bibliographical note which makes no pre- tentions to completeness. I. CRIMINALS. Number.-There are said to be about 2,000,000 persons, out of a population of 315,000,000, who are annually arraigned for trial before criminal tribunals (W. S. Lilly, India and its Problems, p. 180, 1902). In India, as in other countries, there is a variety of crimes and crim- inals. H. L. Adam (Oriental Crime) gives curious descriptions and stories of prisonets, forgers, confidence tricksters, robbers (dacoits), insti- gators of riots, keepers and habitu6s of opium dens, fomenters of sedition, persons guilty of infanticide. It is a general belief of the European officers that the prisoners do not differ in type from the ordinary natives of their class and status. Possibly this may be because a minute anthropological investigation has not yet been made. Of the insane prisoners separate mention will be made. One interesting generalization of the prison superintendents, several times repeated, may be set down here: that convicts do not suffer shame or loss of social respect by the fact of having been in jail. When they return to their villages they retain the respect formerly shown them. Here also there is room for further investigation and, in case the gen- eralization is correct, for a study of the causes. Why is it that an ex-convict will even recommend himself to an employer by saying that he had learned his trade in prison? Is it because there is a general feel- ing that it is no shame to violate laws made by foreigners and enforced by alien authority? Or is there something in the Indian modes of 'Head of department of Ecclesiastical Sociology, University of Chicago, U. S. representative on the International Prison Commission; President, International Prison Congress, 1910; member of the Societ Ginirale des Prisons; President, United Charities of Chicago. Author of Introduction to Study of Dependent, Defective and Delinquent Classes, 1901; Modern Prison System, 1903; Modern Methods of Charity, 1904; Industrial Insurance in the United States, 1907; Education in Relation to Sex, .1909, etc. CONTROL OF CRIME IN INDIA thought and speculation which blurs the ethical vision of right and wrong? Is crime thought of as a fatal and unavoidable result of sins committed in a previous state of existence? These problems of inter- pretation might well be studied in the field of direct observation. "Dacoity" is a term which comes down from times when organized robbery was a part of the ordinary social system. Dacoity is gang rob- bery, in which at least five persons conspire. Each member of the gang is a "dacoit." The word has changed its meaning with the more effective administration of justice, but is retained to describe a common form of crime. Criminal tribes.1 There are several tribes whose real calling is robbery, "cattle-lifting," burglary with violence, docoity, and other serious offenses. When these practices are connected with the sacred rules of a caste, they are not regarded as criminal and do not injure the reputation of the offender. The extension of the railways has facilitated the operation of these tribes and spread it over a wider territory. In some districts the younger members of such tribes have been induced to take interest in agriculture and industry and have been turned away from living by depredation. On the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief, some of these men have been made useful as night watchmen and they are said to be faithful to their salt and become skilful detectives. The Salvation Army, aided by subsidies from the government, has undertaken work for these undesirable citizens, and has received grants of land in the United Provinces and in the Punjab. II. POLICE. Numbers.-In 1901 there were about 145,000 regular policemen, usually armed only with a truncheon; and local village watchmen num- bered about 700,000. Character.-Thehigher officials, both English and Indian, are men of integrity. Subordinate officials are often corrupt. (W. S. Lilly, o. c., p. 181.) The village headmen are not generally very reliable aids to the police; but some witnesses declare that often they are very useful in detecting offenders and in bringing them to justice. Origin.-In the ancient village community, which was industrially complete in itself, with all the primitive trades represented, the legislative and judicial functions met in the headmen and councils of elders, while a watchman served for surveillance. The village policemen have been 'Sir E. C. Cox: Police and Crime in India, p. 229, ff. "Indian Empire," Vol. IV, p. 393. Dnyanodya, Bombay, 6 June, 1912. 379 CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON recognized and paid in some provinces by the British Government (H. S. laine, Village Communities, p. 125). Sir E. C. Cox (o. c. p. 37) says that the police are of two kinds: the regular police, paid by the imperial government, and the -village watchmen, subsidiary to the regular force and paid by the villages. To Sir Charles Napier-who was familiar with Sir Robert Peel's "bobbies"--is due one of the most impoftant measures for organizing the modern police force of India. In 1843 he'conquered Sind, along the Indus, and formed a corps of natives to destroy bands of robbers and maintain order. The separation of the police from the army was a factor in the new plan. It was Napier who turned to account the Indian senti- ment of communal responsibility in his endeavor to prevent men from murdering their wives. When he found it impossible to secure evidence, he preached the people a sermon on the wickedness of wife murder and then threatened to impose a heavy fine on the whole village when a woman was found murdered. H. L. Adam (Oriental Crime, p. 56), gives the salaries of the police officials (about 1903) as follows: Assistant Superintendent, 250 to 500 rupees per month. District Superintendent, 600 to 1,000 rupees per month. Deputy Inspector General, 1,200 to 1,400 rupees per month. Commissioner, 1,500 rupees per month. Inspector General, 2,500 rupees per month. He declares that the superior officers (Europeans) are well paid and fine men; that the lower police are natives, illiterate, poorly paid, do dangerous work, have no hope of promotion and are constantly under pressure to accept or extort bribes (p. 126, Adam describes a detective or "tracker"). Identiflcation.-There is a strong belief in India that a "man who is once a thief is always a thief," and recidivism is expected. It is necessary to have a system of distinguishing the members of a class whom the police are set to watch and control. The finger-print sys- -tem is not entirely modern in India, but an elaborate method was first suggested by an Indian magistrate, Sir W. Herschell, and worked out by Sir Edward R. Henry, X.C.V.O., when he was Inspector-General of Police in Bengal. Each province has a central identification bureau. Preventive action.-A register of. known habitual offenders is kept at each police station, as well as of suspected characters and released convict, and their movements are watched by the village guardians of the peace. Prisoners who are out on "good time" are closely watched. 380 CONTROL OF CRIME IN INDIA The parole system is not developed, and this espionage is no part of an organized system of reformation. An important and experienced prison official of Ceylon said that the ticket-of-leave men there were hounded by the police and reform was made extremely difficult. Only by provid- ing an alert but friendly control by parole officers can society be pro- tected and the offender have a chance to reform. So long as a man is aware that he is hounded by detectives he will lose hope and courage. The Central Criminal Intelligence- office, under the Home Depart- ment, collects and.communicates information regarding organized crime planned by criminal tribes, wandering gangs, forgers,, coiners and others who pass from province to orovince. This central office cooper- ates with the police authorities of various districts and of the native states. Eliciting testimony by torture or threats.-The "third degree" is said to be familiar in India. "Wherever I went in India I heard the same complaint of the unscrupulousness and corruption of the police" (Nevinson, p. 120). The wages of the native policemen are very low, only 8 to 10 shillings a month, and the temptation to extortion and bribery is very great. It is difficult to secure the aid of the people of a village in arresting a person charged with an offense, and to elicit evidence for conviction.