Crimes in the world have increased in recent years. Different sorts of crimes including killing, human trafficking, terrorism, cyber crimes and sexual assaults are on the rise in many countries. Murder rates have remarkably increased globally. Thousands of people are being killed and trafficked from one country to another each year. Many are being affected by the rise of terrorism and cyber crimes in the world at present. No doubt, increased crimes, which indicate illegal acts that are punishable and involve harming other people or damaging the property of others, are also causing increased economic, social and other problems in many countries. Consequently, the rise of violent, organized and other criminal acts has raised concern in the world.
But crimes are not increasing in all countries, they are rising in some countries and decreasing in some other countries. But no country is immune to immune to crimes and criminal behaviors. Notably, some criminal acts are considered as crimes worldwide but some of such criminal acts are considered to be globally accepted crimes including killing and human trafficking. Moreover, one of the common features of crime it is usually punishable by the state or a constituted authority. Among the countries, crimes are higher in some countries including Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Afghanistan, Honduras, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, Mexico and El Salvador. Notably, Venezuela is considered one of the countries with the highest crime rate in the world with widespread violent crimes including murder and kidnapping.
It is notable that there is a range of social, economic, political, legal and other causes for the rising crimes in the world in recent years. The availability and accessibility of arms and the presence of gangs are among the main causes of increased crimes in many countries. Arms are easily available in many developed, developing and less developed countries. Moreover, a lack of adequate legal efforts, the presence of de facto impunity or flawed judiciary, government corruption and a lack of strong political commitment to prevent crimes are some other important causes of rising criminal acts in the world. No less important is that there are some underlying causes such as poverty, unemployment and economic meltdown that lead to crimes in many countries.
No doubt, there are legal, policy based other efforts at the national, regional and global levels not only to punish criminals but also to prevent the occurrence of crimes. At the international level, there are several pacts and treaties including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime to prevent transnational crimes including human trafficking and drug trafficking. Moreover, many countries share intelligence for preventing transnational criminal activities. Along with government organizations, non-government organizations are also playing their roles at national and global levels in improving conditions that lead to rising criminal activities in the world. But such efforts are not successful in the prevention of crimes mainly due to inadequate implementation of legal and policy efforts and inadequate emphasis on the prevention.
To prevent criminal acts, multi-sectoral, multi-disciplinary and integrated endeavors are very important. In this respect, the implementation of policies and legal efforts is very important. But arms need to be made less available in the world. Moreover, improved governance and the rule of law are important to fight crimes at the national level. But along with the legal steps such as the punishment of criminals on which current efforts to fight crimes are mostly focused, corrective measures on which emphasis is given less in many countries including countries with higher crimes are imperative. But increased cooperation among relevant government ministries, authorities and departments is important. But strengthened intelligence sharing among countries is imperative for fighting crimes especially transnational ones (such as human and drug trafficking).
But for the prevention of crimes in a successful manner in the world, more emphasis needs to be given to the improvement of underlying economic, social and other conditions that drive many to carry out organized and other criminal activities. In this respect, increased integration of crime prevention into relevant social and economic policies can be helpful. But such an approach is needed more in crime prone developing and less developed countries. Here, increased cooperation among relevant government organizations, the business sector, non-government organizations and other organizations is very important.
