Analysis of Changes in Patterns and Composition of Crimes
5.8 Crimes against Property
5.8.3 Theft
crime belong to the age group of most productive group of people , eg. in 2012 out of the total 485 arrested persons, 84.53 per cent belonged to the age group of 18-45 years.
However ,it may be noted that dacoity in the state has been a crime dominated by male and there is no arrested female dacoit.
Places of occurrence:
By places of occurrence, a similar picture like that of burglary and robbery emerges. Here also one can see a shift away from residential premises to commercial establishments and others which include banks, railways, boats and ship etc. This shift may be the result of the factors like increased commercialization due to growth of liberal economy leading to growth of establishment of market and shopping places, preference for going in for home security measures, and increased police presence. However, one can see that the highway robbery incidents also have come down, though marginally. This reduction may be attributed to the increased vigilance in the highway though one could have expected such crimes to increase with the extension of highway networks etc.
Table 5.20
Percentage share of Dacoity by place of occurrence
Year Residential
Premises Highway Commercial
Establishments Others
2012 46.2 2.6 10.5 40.6
1990 78.9 6.4 1.8 13
Source : Author‘s calculation on NCRB data
Movable property is defined in Section 22, IPC as including ‗corporeal property of every description, except land and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything which is attached to the earth‘.
The movable property which is subject of theft must be in the possession of the prosecutor. The police in India register cases of theft under the IPC sections from 378 to 382. Intention is the most important component of the offence. To determine whether an offence is a theft or not one must analyse the intention part of the crime.The intention to take dishonestly exists, when the taker intends to cause, ‗wrongful gain‘ to one person and
‗wrongful loss‘ to another.
The high incidence of theft has shown a declining trend. From 11168 in the year 1974 to 7057 in 1985 with intermittent increases in between and it reached 5633 in 2000 though there have been fluctuations before that.
The descriptive statistics have been calculated for the entire period 1974-2012 and further it has been sub divided into smaller periods to have a better understanding of these statistics.
Table 5.21
Descriptive statistics of Theft
Period 1974-1990 1991-2000 2001-2012 1974-2012
Mean 9314 7503 6134 7871
Max 11168 8736 9394 11168
Min 7057 5633 955 955
St Deviation 1265 803 2658 2189
Source : Author‘s calculation on NCRB data
Average for the entire period 1974 to 2012 is 7871. This higher mean is mainly because of the high number of cases in the first period namely 1974 to 1990 for which mean is 9315 against the comparative mean values of 7503 (1991-2000) and 6134 (2001- 2012).
Share of theft in the crime against property has been remaining constant in the time period under discussion. This has been in the range of 59 to 64 per cent. However, there was sudden decline in the years 2005 and 2006 to the tune of 24 per cent and 27 per cent respectively. There is no known cause to explain these declines. Otherwise this crime is
keeping almost a fix percentage in the share of property crime. The absolute numbers of theft incidents have been showing some fluctuating trend on year to year bases in the entire period.
Figure 5.18
Crime rate of Theft per 100,000 population
Source : Author‘s calculation on NCRB data
There has been a marked decline in the rates of theft measured per 100,000population as can be seen from the graph above.
Charge sheet and conviction rates:
As in other crimes the experience of Assam in terms of charge sheeting theft cases has not been up to satisfactory level. The all India C.S percentage has been significantly higher than that of Assam. For example, the rates of filing charge sheets in Assam for the years 2010, and 2012 had been 34.8 and , 32.7 percentage respectively while that of all India rates for the respective years had been 37.7, and 34 per centage. It is interesting to note that the percentage in regards to C.S rates has not been improving in last decade too even though this is the period when the terrorist violence has been waning due to surrender of a number of members from different militant groups.
The picture in conviction rate is worse than that of C.S rates when one compares this with the all India picture. For example, in 2012, conviction rate in Assam theft
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0
Crime rate per 100000 Population
Year
Theft
cases was 14.8, while in all India rate was 33.3. In comparison to other states Assam‘s record in case of CS rates is poor, eg. in 2012, the conviction rate for theft cases in Tamil Nadu (56.9), UP (60.4), Haryana (42.9). However, Assam has done better than some states like Karnataka (8.9), Odisha (9.3), West Bengal (4.3).
All these indicate that these is a need to improve the quality of investigation of such cases so that these result in conviction. It is seen that number of persons arrested has come down even the number of cases registered has been more. For example, in 2010 &
2012 the number of persons arrested in theft cases were 9079 and 9073 as against the total numbers of theft cases registered in the state, viz 7860 and 9394 respectively. It is worthwhile to note that as in incidences of robbery, majority of the persons arrested in this crime belong to the age group of most productive group of people , eg. in 2012 out of the total 9073 arrested persons, 82.82 per cent belonged to the age group of 18-45 years. A substantial number of persons (486) were under 18 years of age. However, it may be noted that theft in the state has been a crime dominated by male, there are a few arrested females involved in theft cases.
Figure 5.19
Share of Theft in crimes against Property
Source : Author‘s calculation on NCRB data 05
1015 2025 3035 4045 5055 6065 7075 8085 9095 100
Percentage
Y ear
Theft
Places of occurrence:
While discussing theft by places of occurrence, one can see a shift away from residential premises to commercial establishments and others which include banks, railways, boats and ship etc. This shift may be the result of the factors like increased commercialization.
Table 5.22
Percentage share of Theft by place of occurrence
Year Residential
Premises Highway Commercial
Establishments Others
2012 31 0.4 11.1 57.5
1990 77.5 0.7 3.1 18.7
Source : Author‘s calculation on NCRB data