In many ways, Tamil Nadu is a unique state. It is known for its high literacy, communal harmony, and good maintenance of law and order. In recent years, however, there have been growing concerns about the rising crime rate in the State. The crime rate is the number of registered crimes for every 1,00,000 people. The numbers released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) have revealed an increase in the number of crimes reported in TN. A quick Internet search would throw up several alarming articles to support the NCRB data. Some may even portray TN as more dangerous than Bihar or Jharkhand! Are these reports accurate? Is there a higher incidence of crime in TN than in most other states?
According to NCRB data, TN tops the list of states with the most IPC cases. The number of cases filed in the State under the IPC was 3.23 lakh in 2021, 8.91 lakh in 2020, and 1.68 lakh in 2019. The steep rise of TN’s crime graph by 430% in 2020 may seem alarming, but scrutiny of the data would reveal that a bulk of the cases pertain to violation of Covid-19 norms. Similarly, NCRB data for 2021 show that the murder cases have declined in TN, but the State topped in murder cases involving the elderly.
A total of 191 murder cases were registered, in which 202 people aged above 60 were killed. This accounted for 11.3% of the 1,686 murder cases registered. This could be attributed to the fact that TN has a higher percentage of the elderly population. According to the report on Elderly in India 2021, released by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the percentage of elderly population in TN is projected to be 13.6%, the second highest in India after Kerala at 16.5%. But data can distort facts; for example, when viewed from a percentage perspective, Kerala has the highest percentage of elderly murders at 17.2% of total murders.
Further, TN was ranked second in India for the number of suicides reported in 2021, as per NCRB data, with the State recording 18,925 suicides (behind Maharashtra with 22,207), which account for 11.5% of the total number of suicides registered in the country. Similarly, the State stood second in ‘deaths due to road accidents’, with 15,384 casualties in 2021, behind Uttar Pradesh, which registered 21,792. Suicides have individual and socio-economic causes. Many western countries have decriminalised suicide. Accident cases are treated as civil and criminal because, in 99% of the cases, there is no criminal intent to cause an accident. They happen, but police can prevent and reduce accidents by taking criminal action for lapses such as drunken driving, non-wearing helmets, over-speeding etc. Better enforcement inflates the State’s crime rate due to increased registration of cases.
TN may be one of the states with a high crime rate, but people here feel safer and more secure than in other parts of the country. A high crime rate does not necessarily mean the State is crime-ridden. It could mean free registration of cases and, consequently, higher public trust in police. TN has a high literacy rate. Education empowers, creates awareness and spurs the populace to approach the police to seek intervention in issues that would never get reported in less developed states.
Therefore a high crime rate is not something to be concerned about as it indicates the effectiveness of the police and the trust people have in them. Most of the safest countries in the world have the highest crime rates — Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the UK. The crime rates of Sweden and Denmark are over 6,000 crimes per lakh of the population while countries like Somalia, Iraq, Nigeria and Haiti have crime rates of less than five. So, relying only the crime rate can often be misleading. As British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”
Footnote is a weekly column that discusses issues relating to Tamil Nadu
Misleading
Most of the safest countries like Sweden and Denmark have the highest crime rates. The crime rates of Sweden and Denmark are over 6,000 crimes per lakh of the population while Somalia, Iraq, Nigeria and Haiti have crime rates of less than five. So, relying only the crime rate can often be misleading