There are a few better measures of the concern a society has for its individual members and its own well being than the way it handles criminals. Yes, the real significance of crime is its being a breach of faith with the community of mankind. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “All crime is a kind of disease and should be treated as such”. According to Bonaparte, “The contagion of crime is like that of the plague. Criminals collected together corrupt each other. They are worse than ever when, at the termination of their punishment, they return to society”.
The point here is that the society is at the receiving end, no matter how criminals function. No wonder crime control has been described as a major ingredient, which oils the wheel of peaceful co-existence and sustainable growth and development of any society. Its absence in the system equates it with lawlessness and chaos leading to not just the insecurity of lives and property but also to economic and political sabotage.
Crime is defined as the intentional commission of an act usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and specifically defined, prohibited, and punishable under criminal law. However, experts often differentiate between crime and criminality where crime refers to an act and criminality refers to the propensity or inclination to engage in criminal or antisocial acts.
Often times, we consider people or their actions as abnormal and by so doing, we define such people, their behaviours and acts as deviating from normal and acceptable behavioural standards in our society. In this way also,
we distinguish between kinds of people and kinds of behaviour. The people or behaviours that conform to the acceptable standards are regarded as normal or non-deviants while the ones that are not, are considered as abnormal and deviants. In this way too, we mean that deviance or deviant behaviour is a quality that inheres in people, in behaviour or in both. We also imply that deviants and deviant behaviours are different from other people or behaviours.
But what actually is deviance? Is it same as crime? In what ways can it be explained? Do deviance and crime have any relationship with hereditary and personality traits? If they do, do the antisocial heritable traits surge by them- selves or are they nurtured? How are deviant behaviours manifested in our society today? How do these manifestations lead to continual rise in crime and terrorism in Nigeria? Why do people commit crime? Are there peculiar crimes in Nigeria or is the nation raided by sundry crimes? What are the efforts of the law enforcement agencies in the curbing, fight and prevention of crime in the country? What is the relationship between the Nigerian society and the law enforcement agencies in their collective efforts and professional duties on security of lives and properties? Are the law enforcement agencies in Nigeria really engaged in the fight against crime and criminality?
Several behavioural scientists and criminolo-gists have over the ages identified some types of crime. These include: Professional crimes, corporate crimes, crimes of felony, cyber or Hi- tech crimes, statute offences, organised crimes, maladjusted crimes, crimes without victims, crimes with willing victims, etc. The method- ologist schools of thought opined that crimes are of various types and may be classified in at least three manners: In substantive manner because of their character or object, in terms of the procedure for their trial and the nature of punishment they attract, and in terms of their territorial character. Yet, both views have com-
mono typologies of crime. Our treatise on crime typology here will be followed accordingly as behavioural scientist’s perspective and methodolo- gist’s perspective. Behavioural Scientists Purview of Crime Typology
Professional Crimes: This type of crime is committed by defiant persons who have taken up criminality as their profession. They execute the acts in specialized manners that outwit their victims and the ravaged human society. Accord- ing to Opara and Nkwocha (2011:23), the major attraction of criminals and trap in the business, is the (right or wrong) conception that stealing is the quickest way of acquiring wealth. They therefore plan, design and conceive ideas capable of enabling them to achieve their aim whenever and however they desire it. This sort of criminals lives with crime commitment as major part of their daily life. They depend on its proceedings for their daily survival and sustenance.
Consequently, Ugwulebo (2011:9) sees such crime specialists as those who not only take up crime as sole means of livelihood but have as well developed corresponding and high-quality skills in the vocation. This specialisation in criminality was what Schaefer (2005:188) looked upon and tagged as career criminality, which is taken up as daily occupation wherein the criminals develop skills and techniques, and enjoy certain degrees of status amidst other criminals. Career criminals are specialized in various crimes, which make criminality professional. The sorts of crimes in this category include: Armed robbery, kidnap- ping, oil pipeline and electricity vandalization, automobile snatching and theft, burglary, pick- pocketing, sea piracy, cargo hijacking, piracy, etc.
Organised Crimes: Organized crime is any crime committed by structured groups, typically involving the distribution of illegal goods and services to others. Whenever people think of organized crime, their minds go to the Mafiosi but the term can refer to any group of individuals that exercises control over large illegal enterprises (such as the drug trade, illegal gambling, prostitution, weapons smuggling, or money laundering).
A key sociological concept in the study of organized crime is that these industries are organized along the same line as legitimate businesses and take on corporate forms. They are typically senior partners who control the business’ profits, workers who manage and work for the business, and clients who buy the goods and services that the organization provides.
To this effect, organised crimes are more centralized and organized professional crimes. They have standard structures, systematized arrangements and centralized regulatory agencies and activities of varied levels. Criminal groups of this sort have very powerful gadgets, organized criminal outfits that outwit their home governments especially in developing countries such
as Nigeria, and are characteristically connected with every many other high-class crime specialists.
They dominate most illegal business all over the world and, in most cases operate as cartels and corporate syndicates. As such, they have various grandeurs: Local, national and inter- national, and often get connected to such notorious groups for perfect execution of sectionalized parts of the crimes in order to ensure success in the business, operational continuity, members’ safety and activities security. Common examples of this sort of crime are: The Al-Queda terrorists group, the Drug Cartels of South America,
Sea Pirates of Somalia, Kidnapping and Boko Haram in Nigeria, advanced fee fraud (419 in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and South Africa), armed robbery, etc.
Corporate Crimes: These sorts of crimes are committed by corporate bodies for certain reasons. Such may for them be a way of lessening the organizational expenditure in the business on board, to increase the quantum of income generated by the body, to frustrate or defame their competitors in same business, etc. It is done as an outcome of researches undertaken in the business field and mainly within the victim’s business and modus operandi. Perfect examples of corporate crimes are: Adulteration and mutilation of products, production of substandard products and services, piracy and varied forms of product simulations, tax under-declaration and evasion, bribery and corruption, advertorial calumnies and propaganda on competitor’s products and services, etcetera.