Concept and Theories of Criminal Justice Administration

The Constitution of India confers a number of fundamental rights upon citizens. The Indian State is also a signatory to various international instruments of human rights, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that: No one shall be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment. Also important is the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states in part: All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. Therefore, both under national as well as international human rights law, the state is obliged to uphold and ensure observances of basic human rights. One of the best tenets of human rights law is that human rights are inalienable and under no circumstances can any authority take away a persons basic human rights. The fact that this tenet is not sometimes made applicable to prisoners is well documented. There are innumerable judgements of Supreme Court and High Courts, showing how prisoners rights are violated. The judgement highlighted the highly unsatisfactory conditions prevailing inside the prisons and the failure of the prison authorities to provide an environment which is conducive to the maintenance of prisoners rights, partly rooted in the belief that the prisoners do not deserve all the rights and the protections that the constitution provides to all citizens. Besides being morally wrong and legally invalid, this belief does not show adequate recognition of some basic facts about the prison population. Out of the total population of 2, 26, 158 in the country on 1.1.1997.1, 63, 092 were undertrials. Thus 72 % of the prison population is not even convicted of any crime. Secondly, even those who are convicts, a large number of them are first time offenders involved in technical or minor violations of law. Very few are recidivists or hardened criminals. Also, as was observed by the Mulla Committee, a majority of the inmates come from the underprivileged sections of the society, as persons with the means and influence generally manage to remain beyond the reach of law even if they are involved in violation of law.