NCJ Number
88570
Journal
Revue internationale de criminologie et de police technique Volume: 35 Issue: 4 Dated: (October-December 1982) Pages: 339-352
Date Published
1982
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Nigeria is faced with the need to create a workable criminal policy by integrating the superimposed Anglican legal system with the indigenous cultural values.
Abstract
Although two different criminal codes govern the northern and the southern States of the federation, they are both derived from the English common law and share the fundamental concepts of criminal responsibility, crime as an infraction against the law, and trial procedures for administering justice. However, the legal system inherited from their former colonizers embodies foreign values and does not reflect the mores, ethics, and social structures of the Nigerian people; thus, it is an inadequate vehicle of justice. The native culture should be providing the basic measures for behavior that is either reasonable or deviant, legal or illegal. This conflict between the foreign law and the social reality is particularly destructive when it implicates such issues as the influence of the supernatural in criminal motivation and polygamous family lifestyles. While courts find malicious acts of sorcery with grave resultant damages not criminally punishable, men who uphold the centuries-old, respectable practice of having more than one wife are penalized. The purpose of criminal codes is to deal with antisocial behavior, which is not the case with English codes in Africa. A total of 73 footnotes are provided.