CRIMINOLOGY by Ahmad Zia Ch.

, Civil Judge

LECTURE 1

CRIME (OFFENCE)

Note:

The term Crime is not present in our statues, rather we know this term by
the name offence.

Pakistan Penal Code 1860 (PPC)

40. “Offence.”,………… the word "offence" denotes a thing made

punishable by this Code.

Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 (CrPC)

4 (o) "Offence." "Offence" means any act or omission made punishable by

any law for the time being in force;

ELEMENTS OF CRIME

Barring a few exceptions every crime has following two ingredients

A. Mens Rea (Guilty intention or Knowledge of wrong doing before the

commission of a wrongful act);

B. Actus Reas (the commission of wrongful act)

 Illustration
A had monetary dispute with B, so he wanted to kill him. On day he
picks up his gun, goes to the house of B and shots two bullets at him.
B dies on the spot. A is guilty of homicide (Qatal-i-Amd)

A’s intention of killing B is mens rea and firing upon him is actus reas
 Illustration
A had no intention to kill anyone. One day he was very frustrated, so
he picks up his gun, goes to the window of his house that opens in the
street and (without intention of killing anyone) starts firing on the
public thoroughfare. During the process he kills a passerby.

Here A’s knowledge that his act is dangerous enough to take life of
another person is men rea, while his act of firing on the road that killed
another person is actus rea.

Exceptions: In certain cases an act is called an offence even when the

‘criminal’ had no mens rea, e.g:
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i. Over-speeding: if one is over-speeding, one is guilty of

commission of offence of over-speeding if he did not know his
speed was in access of permissible limits

ii. Settling spurious goods/drugs:

CRIMINOLOGY

1. Criminology is the study of crime, as indicated by the formative Latin

terms crimin (accusation or guilt) and ology (study of). J. Mitchell
Miller (21st Century Criminology)

2. Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social

phenomenon.

 It includes within its scope the processes of

making laws,
breaking laws, and
reacting toward the breaking of laws.

These processes are three aspects of a somewhat unified sequence of

interactions Principles of criminology (1939) by Sutherland)

3. The area of knowledge that deals with the study of crimes is called
criminology.

 Criminology is further branched into many subfields like:

victimology,
criminal justice,
phrenology1,
physiognomy2, and
penology3 (Kamran Adil on Probation and Parole Laws)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

1 Phrenology, also referred to as crainology, is a theory of human behavior based upon the
belief that an individual's character and mental faculties correlate with the shape of their
head.
2 the study of a person’s physical characters- especially his face- to try to determine things

about their personality.

3 a branch of criminology dealing with prison management and the treatment of offenders
 CRIMINOLOGY by Ahmad Zia Ch., Civil Judge

1. Criminal Justice System

 The criminal justice system is the set of laws and principles which

are applied to criminals on their transgressions.

 It is one of the most important ingredients of any society in the world.

 It describes the offences, punishments, procedures and ways to

punish those who violate laws of the society.

 Its basic objective is to provide protection to life and property of

citizens and to ensure order in society.

 It has three main phases; investigation by police, trial by Courts, and

execution by jail authorities.

2. The criminal justice system is responsible for identifying crimes

and the procedures related to detaining, prosecuting and punishing

those who have been convicted of crimes.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

 Criminology focuses on criminals’ psychological and sociological

behaviors and motivations, whereas criminal justice centers around

established procedures and systems.

COMPONENTS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN

(Syllabus Part VII)
Consists of 5 components
1) Police
2) Prosecution
3) Judiciary
 CRIMINOLOGY by Ahmad Zia Ch., Civil Judge

4) Prison
5) Probation and Parole

1. Police
 Premier Law enforcement agency
 Other law enforcement agencies include FIA, NAB, Anti-Corruption
establishment etc
 Main tasks include (i) prevention of crime (ii) investigation of crime

 Commission of crime (offence)

A) Registration of FIR for cognizable4 offences (first information Report

u/s 154 CrPC) Or Registration of Rapt in non-cognizable5 offences u/s
155 CrPC

B) Investigation

 Proceeding to the place of occurrence (crime);

 Collection of material having forensic6 value from the
place of occurrence (empties, blood stained earth, guns
used by criminal in offences etc.);
 Recording statements of persons having any knowledge
about the occurrence (section 161 CrPC);
 Preparation of rough site plan;
 Taking the dead body to morgue for post-mortem
examination and injured to hospital for medical
examination;
 Going through the CCTV recording (if any);
 Search and arrest of the criminal;
 Taking remand (custody) of the accused from the
magistrate/court;
 Recovery (of weapon of offence, looted property etc) from
the accused or on his pointation;

4 Offences in which police can arrest without warrant

5 Offences in which police cannot arrest without warrant
6 relating to or denoting the application of scientific methods and techniques to the

investigation of crime
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 Sending materials collected to Punjab Forensic Science

Agency, Serologist, Forensic Expert, Handwrite/finger
print expert, Chemical Examiner etc.

C. Preparation of repost u/s 173 CrPC and through prosecution sending

to the magistrate or court;

2. Prosecution

The Punjab Prosecution Department works under the “The Punjab Criminal
Prosecution Service (constitution, functions and powers) Act 2006”

 Per Section 9 of the Act the Prosecutors are responsible for

the conduct of prosecution on behalf of the Government.

 Per section 9 (4) of the Act, a police report under section 173
of the Code including a report of cancellation of the first
information report or a request for discharge of a suspect
or an accused shall be submitted to a Court through the
Prosecutor appointed under this Act.

3. Criminal Courts

I. Classes of Criminal Courts

A. Magistrates
a) Magistrate 1st class
b) Magistrate 2 Class;
nd

c) Magistrate 3rd Class;

d) Magistrate Sec 30 (in Punjab) and Assistant Sessions Judge
(other provinces)= Can try any offence not punishable with death,
however he can award sentence upto 7 years imprisonment with
fine
e) Special Judicial Magistrate; appointed for miscellaneous work
under different laws.
B. Sessions Court
a. Additional Sessions Judge
b. Sessions Judge
Both of them have same powers however the Sessions judge has
more administrative responsibilities.
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C. Special Courts

Work under special Laws like:

 Anti-Terrorism Courts,
 Anti-Corruption Courts,
 Accountability Courts,
 Labour Courts etc

II. Working Of Criminal Courts

A magistrate can take cognizance (assume jurisdiction to try an offence) in
three ways:
i. On receipt of Report U/S 173 CrPC by the Police

 If the case is triable by him, he may summon the accused

 If the case is triable by Sessions Court, he will send it for trial to
the Sessions Judge

ii. On Complaint filed directly before him (sec 200 to 204 CrPC)

 If the complaint is triable by him, he may record the evidence

submitted by the complainant and either:
o Dismiss the complaint or
o summon the accused
 If the complaint is triable by Sessions Court, he will send it for
trial to the Sessions Judge

iii. On receipt of information about commission of Offence from own

knowledge/Suspicion (suo moto jurisdiction)