Disorder and uncertainty in the country have influenced the crime rate to a large extent. The growing rate of crimes in the capital Kabul is one of the most evident examples. According to some statistics by Pajhwok Afghan News, more than 1,000 criminal cases, including robberies and murders have been registered in different police stations in Kabul during the current Solar Year. There may be many other cases that have not been reported due to reasons like fear and lack of trust on law enforcement agencies.
Police, on the other hand, has claimed that they have nabbed at least 192 suspected killers, 409 for injuring others, 393 for robberies, 79 for looting passengers and 379 in connection with immoral acts in the ongoing year. However, a comprehensive strategy to control the crimes and provide justice to those who have been affected is non-existent.
Crimes are basically offences that are considered detrimental for not only the target of the crime and criminal but for the society as a whole. There are myriads of reasons involved behind why a person tends to commit crime. Poverty is one of the basic reasons of crimes. Studies have revealed that poverty compels many people to commit different sorts of crimes that range from minor stealing to the biggest crimes like murder and theft.
Consider the countries that are suffering from poverty; there are many examples wherein people commit crimes as a result of intense destitution. Take the example of our own country Afghanistan; the statistics mentioned above shows how poverty and disorder have influenced the crime rate.
Though poverty is one of the basic reasons of why people commit crimes, it is not the only reason. There may be many other reasons involved behind the crimes that are committed within the society. Whatever may be the reason of the crimes, their effects are very disturbing and have the capacity to bring serious disturbances in the society; therefore, measures must be there to curb them. There are two strategies to control the crime. The first one is the short-term strategy and the other one is the long-term strategy. The short-term strategy is basically carried out by the law-enforcement system in the society that works through the institutions of courts and police.
Law-enforcement system within a society basically works on the principle of identifying the criminals, bringing them to the justice and punishing them. The countries with weaker law-enforcements systems suffer to a large extent in providing justice to the alleged criminals.
Such societies also suffer from lack of providence of timely justice. The system of courts is not very efficient. There are many cases that take many years in courts and yet remain undecided. The people who are influenced by such cases experience a complete change in their lives, which is from bad to worse and by the time they reach to justice, their lives are already destroyed. It has been also observed that the cases that belong to influential people are pursued immediately while the ones that involve the ordinary people are kept in files and they never reach to the courts.
And then there are detention centers that, in fact, do not transform the criminals into useful citizens, which is the basic philosophy of them. They, on the other hand, turn them into bigger criminals and if unfortunately, which mostly happens, there is a person who has been punished wrongfully; such a person becomes a true criminal after leaving the detention center.
Unluckily, Afghanistan is one of the same types of countries that suffer from weak law-enforcement system. Though there has been much development in this regard, serious concerns still prevail and raise questions about the system. The police force in Afghanistan is still in the preliminary stages and it really requires years of attention and support to reach to a truly professional stage. There are many areas in the country where the police do have enough penetration and where they cannot reach to crimes and criminals. Then there are many areas wherein the people still go to traditional courts, which are dominated by religious and tribal leaders instead of going to the courts that are established by the government.
There is a great margin of tireless efforts for the improvement of detention centers as well. The basic facilities that the prisoners get are in no way enough and the environment is not very much healthy. Even within the detention centers the criminals are able to keep their communication with the outside world and are able to lead or to participate in their unlawful activities.
It is really imperative to keep in consideration that the law-enforcement system can provide short-term solution to the crimes. If a society is really interested in controlling them there should be a long-term strategy that must deal with the basic reasons of the crime and try to nip the evil in the bud. There should be efforts to work on efficient administration, better economic condition, political stability, good governance, providence of basic human rights and control of corruption. Justice should reach to all the people of the society alike and the citizens must not feel alienated from the society. Moreover, there should not be discrimination as far as practical implementation of the criminal law is considered. Law should not serve the rich alone as is happening in many societies of the world; rather all should be treated equally in this regard.