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Crime in our society

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The task of fighting crime is becoming more complex, and therefore more challenging. Criminals are becoming more organised and sophisticated, operating with little regard for national boundaries.

What is Crime?

Crime has so many faces, and is perpetrated by people at so many different levels of our society that you may ask yourself what exactly it is.

The answer is simple; crime is any activity in conflict with a just law - laws made to protect the citizens of this country and enforced by our Constitution.

The task of fighting crime is becoming more complex, and therefore more challenging. Criminals are becoming more organised and sophisticated, operating with little regard for national boundaries.

As organised crime becomes …show more content…

Crime is not caused by any one event, but is the result of a combination of several factors. In general, the causes of crime fall into six categories:

* Need - caused by poverty and deprivation. In future we might be faced with a special type of crime among the AIDS generation, which feels it is being abandoned by the government and resorts to violent and survival crimes as a way of hitting back at society.

* Greed - usually committed by those who have already made money, but want to become even richer by whatever means at their disposal. Greed makes this type of crime all the more unforgivable as it is prompted by wants rather than needs.

* Power - this can involve financial, personal or political power. Gangsters who have made some money want to become leaders in their communities, even though they may already be rich. Sexual assaults and domestic violence fall into this category.

* Diminished responsibility - committed by those with insufficient control over their actions - most often caused by drugs or drink.

* Ideology - committed in the name of what is sometimes called a 'counter-culture ' where the person 's political or religious ideology differs from that of the country.

* Fun - these crimes are committed by hedonists who enjoy the thrill of exposing themselves to the risk of arrest by virtue of a dare, or a risk-friendly lifestyle.

However, the causes of crime seldom operate in isolation. For

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