A
Criminological Perspective on the Pandemic
By: Rommel
K Manwong | LEAPS
Academy
For
PG Diploma in Applied Criminology
As
commonly understood, graft is a form of political corruption, being the
unscrupulous use of a politician's authority for personal gain. Likewise,
political graft occurs when funds intended for public services, tasks and functions
are intentionally misdirected in order to maximize the benefits to individual
interests.
The
Routine Activity Theory or RAT is hereby applied to explain political graft during
the COVID-19 crisis by considering the convergence of a criminally motivated
politician, the attractive presence of a health emergency fund (plus contributions
and donations), and the absence of a guardian capable of stopping or deterring the
graft. The absence of situational sensitivity
due to lack of ethics; personal greed that leads to a strong desire for
money and power, with no regard whatsoever to moral boundaries; the failure to condemn
corrupt behavior; presence of inefficient control mechanisms; and bigger opportunities
as against economic burden facilitate an environment so conducive to graft and
corruption during the COVID-19 crisis.
The
release of the P275 billion emergency fund for COVID-19 pursuant to Republic
Act No. 11469, otherwise known as the “Bayanihan to Heal as One Act" has provided
a huge opportunity for graft and corruption among those who are in power. Although
plans on how it will be allocated and spent, such emergency fund was entirely directed
for pandemic responses and the various departments which have realigned their
released budgets, could then be, in some ways, vulnerable for political graft.
According
to the RAT, crime occurs when three conditions are present - a motivated
offender, an attractive target, and the absence of a guardian. It explains that
being able to commit a crime is not enough, a motivated offender must also be
willing to do so. The opportunity is boundless, suitable targets are attractive
and vulnerable. Guardians are persons or objects that block or deter crimes. Examples
of guardians include a perpetrator’s handler or a target’s protector. Furthermore,
super guardians regulate guardians, and they can include external parties. In
the case of political graft, guardians and super guardians include advisers and
political consultants.
During
the 70s, Felson and Cohen formed the Routine Activity Theory to explain crime
rate changes in the United States between 1947 and 1974. The theory assumes
that crime is unaffected by social conditions like poverty, inequality, and
unemployment. Accordingly, prosperity creates more opportunity for crimes to
occur, explaining why crime arose after World War II, when Western economies
and welfare states were developing. In other words, crime is a function of
opportunity that does not require dangerous or evil people. If a target is
unprotected and worth the reward, crime will occur (Elliot, 2020).
Routine
Activity Theory studies crime in relation to its surroundings, avoiding
speculation about offender motivation, unlike other criminological theories. RAT
seeks to explain that most crimes are routine, trivial, and unreported. This
makes it useful for explaining and, therefore, for deterring influential crimes
like graft and corruption that involve planning and risk assessment, as opposed
to expressive crimes involving emotion. The goal of RAT is to enable
situational crime prevention, so that measures to manage, design, or manipulate
the environment to reduce the opportunity for crime is provided, thereby making
riskier and less rewarding.
According
to the RAT, political graft is inevitable and mostly undetected. There will
always be politicians who take advantage to generate income and maintain savings
through graft. Brought about by the pandemic, the availability of a huge emergency
fund plus the likely unaccounted donations are inherently attractive targets among
politicians. As said, a target’s vulnerability depends on guardian capability. In
the current state of the pandemic where inadequacy of audit and soft
enforcement functions are seen, the target is seriously vulnerable and thus graft
is highly likely to occur.
***
Suggested
Reading – To Defeat the Coronavirus, Stop Corruption
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