AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE APPLICABILITY OF BECKER’S MODEL OF CRIME: A CASE STUDY OF RAPE, TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS AND CORRUPTION IN INDIA
-Chinmayee Hegde and Anuradha S Pai
ABSTRACT
The basis of the entire legal system, since time immemorial, is shrouded in the ideals of justice. Crime attracts Punishment. When a wrongdoer or a criminal is punished, the balance of society is restored. Justice prevails and society reverts to the civil course of functioning. This is the major principle that criminal law is based on.
Different jurists have proposed multiple theories of punishment in Jurisprudence. Most societies across the world today follow a punishment model that is a mixture of reformative theory and deterrent theory. The reformative model includes rehabilitation and community service. These activities help the wrongdoer in analysing their mistakes and becoming a better person. While, imprisonment, the death penalty and penalties or fines imposed on the wrongdoer deter them from committing the crime again and also deter other members of society from committing such an act. In some cases, the guilty are sentenced to a particular prison time and also asked to pay penalties or fines to the court or compensation to the victim. This is where the economic approach to particular crime factors in.
This paper is divided into three parts. The first part deals with theories of punishments and how specific punishments are decided for specific crimes. The second part discusses the economic perspectives of penalties, fines, and compensations by applying Becker’s economic model to certain crimes like rape and traffic violations in India. In furtherance, the third part of this paper analyses the data available on white-collar crimes in India, applying Becker’s economic model to corruption data in India in particular, and how monetary deterrents can be used to contain the crimes. As per the analysis, Becker’s economic model of crime applies to traffic violations but not rape and white-collar crimes.
Keywords: Economics of crime, Punishment, Deterrence, White-Collar Crime
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