Neutrosophic Sets and Systems (Mar 2021)
The Importance of Indeterminate and Unknown Factors in Nourishing Crime: A Case Study of South Africa Using Neutrosophy
Abstract
There is no doubt regarding the notion that crime is deteriorating the socio-economic structure of society. Crime poses a serious threat to human values and existence. Therefore this menace should be stopped as early as possible otherwise it would lead to unavoidable circumstances. Whenever policies are formed there are some certain factors that are always taken into consideration to stop the crime. These measures were effective but with the passage of time there seems to be a constant situation and crime seems to be at its peak. This situation has forced us to think that there may be other factors that are leading to criminal behaviour in humans. These factors may be uncertain, unknown or indeterminate. Though previous researches in this regard have taken into consideration all the known factors, the present work takes into account both known and unknown factors together with the relationship among them. Taking into account all the factors which nourish crime either directly or indirectly, here we try to model the situation mathematically using Neutrosophic Cognitive Map since it provides us with a methodology of representing known and unknown factors together. The work is carried out using graphical methods and concepts together with linear algebra. The present work takes into account the crimes which are occurring in South Africa and models this situation taking into considerations all the certain and uncertain factors. The study reveals that relative poverty & inadequate housing, limited social and cognitive abilities, exclusion from school, family violence, culture conflict, colonialism, unemployment, income inequality, violent expressions of masculinity and use of violence to ‘resolve’ are directly related to crime in the country. The other factors such as Adherence to social norms, the multi-racial character of the society, Racial discrimination, apartheid policy, political transition, restructuring of the criminal justice system, gathering of people, intimate partner violence & femicide and use of ‘tik’ (crystal meth/ methamphetamine) which were not supposed to have a direct influence on crime in the country by previous researches are also having a significant effect on crime. The present work contributes effectively in identifying the factors leading to criminal behaviour among people. This would in turn help policymakers to take necessary steps at ground level to curb the crime in the country. The work also shows the modelling of the situation using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps just to represent the effectiveness of Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps over them.
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