Different stages of crime Intention

A crime occurs when someone commits an act that is prohibited by law or when they neglect to carry out an act that is mandated by law. Put another way, breaking the law is one definition of crime. Another important aspect of crime is that it affects the public interest rather than an individual's rights, which are the purview of civil law. Both substantive and procedural law govern the administration of criminal justice in India. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.) is a procedural law, whereas the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (the Code) is a substantive law. These laws explicitly and through some incidents indicate that there are four steps involved in committing a crime.

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This Story also Contains

1. What is Crime
2. Elements of a Crime
3. Types of Crime
4. Stages of Crime
5. Stages at Which Liability Arises
6. Conclusion

What is Crime

Crime is the willful commission of an explicitly forbidden, illegal, and penalized act that is deemed detrimental to society by the criminal law. A code's definitions of particular offences must be examined in light of numerous other ideas, some of which may not be covered by the code itself. Most crimes are categorized according to how serious the deed or behaviour was. The type or duration of the penalty provided in the statute usually determines how serious the offence is. Any crime that entails a sentence of more than a year in prison or the death penalty is classified as a felony. Major offences include kidnapping, murder, rape, insider trading, armed robbery, embezzlement, racketeering, and fraud.

Elements of a Crime

Every offence must meet all standards for it to be found guilty. When someone's behaviour meets all the criteria for an offence, it is considered a crime that they have committed. The same criminal statute describes the offence and its components. Every crime generally consists of three parts:

• The conduct or mannerisms

• The individual's mental state at that particular time

• The causal connection between the impact and the action

In a criminal prosecution, the government is required to present evidence to establish each element of the offence beyond a reasonable doubt. The burden of proof is with the government.

Types of Crime

Crime Related to a person

Under criminal laws, violent crimes and crimes against people are aggressively prosecuted. Law enforcement works to apply the harshest sentences feasible for these actions. Every criminal court case has a victim advocate assigned to it, who will provide the victim and their family with information and support throughout the legal system. The prosecution of all adult serious felonies against persons falls under the purview of the Adult Prosecution Division. The Juvenile Division or the Gang Unit will handle the case if the defendant is under the age of majority or is known to be a member of a gang. Crimes against persons include kidnapping, robbery, manslaughter, child abuse, murder, assault and battery, and sexual assault.

Crimes Related to Property

Interfering with another person's property is typically considered a crime against property. They can harm a person physically or mentally in addition to frequently suspending their capacity to utilize or enjoy property. The severity of the punishment for crimes against property depends on the kind of crime, the value of the property, and, if any, the offender's prior criminal history. The charges and penalties may also vary depending on the kind of property. Crimes against property include theft, grand theft, car theft, property destruction, shoplifting, and arson.

Crimes affecting Morality

Crimes against morality, often known as victimless crimes, are offences that don't include causing damage to a person or item of property. Because they broke the law, they could be subject to monetary fines, jail time, or other penalties specified by laws. The punishment, which can include fines or years in jail, will depend on how serious the offence was. Crimes against morality include prostitution, bigamy, indecent exposure, illicit drug use, and gambling.

Statutory Crimes

All criminal offences are legally considered to be statutory crimes as they are all prohibited by law. Statutory crimes are, in this sense, those acts that are forbidden for reasons of public safety and advancement. One such way to define statutory crimes is as moral offences. Statutory crimes include but are not limited to, public intoxication, moving infractions, reckless driving, selling alcohol to minors, drug manufacture, and hit-and-run incidents.

Hate Crimes

Hate crimes are defined as offences driven by discrimination against people or property because of the victim's colour, gender, gender identity, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. The nationwide rate of hate crimes has stayed largely stable over time, notwithstanding certain occurrences that have led to an increase in these crimes.

White Collar Crimes

White-collar crimes are defined as crimes committed by financially secure people inside the confines of their particular field of employment. Ethical behaviour by white-collar criminals is motivated by self-interest or company profit in cases of embezzlement or corporate price-fixing. White-collar crime affects the economy, customers, employers, and the environment. In general, people are less concerned with white-collar crimes than other types of crime, even though they cause society even more harm overall. White-collar crimes include violations of election laws, corporate fraud, healthcare fraud, forgeries, insider trading, investment fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion.

State Crimes

Street crimes are defined as offences against people or property that occur in public areas. These offences often have an instant effect on the community and have the capacity to cause injury or annoyance to people or establishments in public spaces. Law enforcement agencies typically concentrate on looking into and stopping these offences to safeguard the general population. A disproportionately large percentage of arrests for street offences involve members of ethnic minorities. Car theft, stealing, rape, robbery, assault, vandalism, and graffiti are examples of street crimes.

Cyber Crimes

Cybercrime is the word for utilizing a computer to commit crimes like identity theft, fraud, trafficking in child pornography, theft of intellectual property, and invasion of privacy. Since computers have become essential to government, entertainment, and the economy, there has been a rise in the number of cybercrime cases, especially those using the Internet. The primary financial impact of cybercrime. Cybercrime encompasses several financially motivated illegal behaviours, including ransomware attacks, identity theft, online and email fraud, and attempts to steal bank accounts, credit cards, or other payment card-related data.

Crimes of Fraud

The intentional use of dishonesty to obtain value most often money is referred to as fraud. Fraud charges usually involve false claims, misrepresentations, or dishonest actions intended to mislead or deceive. Examples of fraud include tax fraud, benefit fraud, and money laundering from illicit activities. To combat fraud, the state will-

• putting more of an emphasis on financial investigations and offering fundamental police training

• Taking control of illegally acquired property and money laundering

• Improving the Capacity of the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD-ECD) to Perform Financial Inquiries

Domestic Crimes

Domestic violence is prohibited under both criminal and civil laws. A pattern of abuse referred to as "domestic abuse" happens when one partner manipulates the other intimate partner to take control of the relationship or keep it that way. In addition to physical assault, coercive, threatening, or domineering behaviour can also be considered a form of domestic abuse. The abuser may be subject to jail time, monetary fines, and legal expenses if found guilty. If the abuser has been charged with domestic violence once or more in the past, the new accusation will be escalated to a felony. If found guilty of a felony, the abuser may get a penalty that includes time in state prison, fines, and court expenses.

You may also read

• Mens Reus and Actus Reus

• Criminal Misappropriation of Property

• Theft, Robbery and Dcoity under IPC

Stages of Crime

Intention

The first stage of criminal activity is the intention, during which the accused develops the mens rea, or mental state, necessary to conduct a specific offence. It entails making the deliberate choice or wanting to do the crime without acting on it physically. The aim may be specific or general, depending on the kind of offense.

In the Indian legal system, criminal intent is considered to be the first step towards committing a crime. It's important to keep in mind that having negative intentions or thoughts is not punishable by the law. Before a crime is committed with that aim, criminal intent alone cannot be punished. When assessing an accused person's guilt and determining the proper charges and penalties, the idea of criminal intent is essential.

Mens Rea

Mens rea is the Latin for "guilty mind." This essentially suggests that the criminal is aware of the consequences of their acts and is acting with the awareness that carrying them out will constitute a crime. To put it simply, the criminal must have malicious intent when committing a crime. Mens rea can also be divided into four groups according to the degree of purpose to do the crime. These four levels are made up of:

• Negligence

• Recklessness

• Knowledge

• Intent

Actus Reus

The phrase "actus reus" refers to an individual's behaviour or omission that culminates in a physical crime. It is crucial to remember that crimes are occasionally committed by both deeds and omissions. For instance, failing to pay taxes or maintenance is illegal.

Preparation

"Preparation" is setting up every procedure needed to complete the planned illegal action. Preparation in and of itself is not criminal, although it can be difficult to prove that all essential preparations were done before the crime being committed. But in certain extraordinary cases, preparation alone is also penalized.

Preparation When Punishable

Section 122 IPC- Warfare Preparation Against the Government

Section 233- 235, 255 and 257 IPC- Preparation of Coins or Stamps for the offence of Counterfeiting

Section 242, 243 259,266- Possession of Counterfeit Money, Fraud Documents, fake Weights and Measurements

Section 399 IPC- Planning to Commit Dacoity

Attempt

"Attempt" is the third phase of a criminal act and carries consequences. It is now recognized that the crime of attempting is a preliminary offence.

The word "attempt" is not defined under Section 511 of the IPC, however, attempting to commit an offence is punishable by law. Once the required arrangements are in place, an attempt is characterized as a move directly toward committing a crime.

When someone plans to conduct a crime, they first decide what they want to do, then they get ready, and finally they take action. If he accomplishes his objective, he commits a full offence; if not, he only commits an attempt.

It should be emphasized that whether an act counts as an effort to commit a specific crime depends on the nature of the crime and the steps required to commit it. A coordinated action with a specific outcome is called an attempt.

Sections on Attempt are divided into three Parts-

• Sections that address both the commission of an offence and its conduct in one section. wherein the offence and the attempt carry the same penalty. Sedition, dacoity, assaulting the president or governor to limit or force the exercise of lawful power, and waging or attempting to wage war against the Indian government are examples of offences against the state.

• those crimes for which there is prosecution for both the actual crime and the attempt to commit the crime. Still, unique and unconventional penalties have been suggested for the project. For instance, trying to carry out a crime like murder or robbery that has a death or life sentence.

• Suicide attempts are expressly addressed in Section 309 of the IPC.

Accomplishment or Commission

When a crime is successfully attempted and carried out, it is considered accomplished. Every individual is accountable for the deed, offence, or crime that they carry out or execute. The Code's sections outline particular penalties for a range of national crimes. A crime may be punished under the relevant sections of the IPC or other applicable laws, depending on the details of the offense. For example, stealing is forbidden by Section 378 of the IPC, which states that theft carries a maximum term of three years in prison, a fine, or both.

Stages at Which Liability Arises

The aforementioned explanation demonstrates how an accused person's criminal responsibility is determined by these four phases of criminal action. Criminal responsibility will certainly become apparent at the attainment level of an individual. But as the explanation above shows, accountability can develop even in the attempt and, in certain cases, even in the planning stage. These situations typically involve extremely significant crimes that endanger society. Because of this, the primary goal of determining culpability at these levels is to dissuade individuals from doing such horrible acts.

Conclusion

A Crime is a Commission of an unlawful act which affects the peace and prosperity of the society as a whole. This article talks about the stages of a crime. Which includes Intention, Preparation, attempt and accomplishment. These stages of a crime are given utmost importance by the court while proving a crime and in the proceedings related to a crime. This statement in a crime helps the court in finding out the mens rea and actus reus of a crime. The mens rea and actus reus are two essential elements of a crime to deal with the proceedings of a crime.