NCJ Number
117380
Journal
The British Journal of Criminology Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1989) Pages: 21-34
Date Published
1989
Length
13 pages
Annotation
Data gathered from interviews and questionnaires administered to 340 convicted armed robbers in five Nigerian prisons, supplemented with information from official records were analysed to understand the armed robbers and the forces which drive them to commit robbery despite the death penalty.
Abstract
The study concentrated on 9 densely populated urban States in the south. The interviews and questionnaires were administered with the help of prison welfare officers from five randomly selected prisons. Questions covered both social, economic and demographic characteristics, as well as causes, motives and techniques of criminal behavior. Analysis of the results showed that the armed robbers in Nigeria were mostly poor youths who turned to crime as society provided them with no alternative means to realize their aspirations. The study also confirmed that the corrupt privileged class, which emphasized the acquisition of wealth by any means, created and perpetuated a system that fostered armed robbery. The study concluded that the death penalty had failed in Nigerian cities, because it did not address underlying social factors. The solution therefore lay in the creation of a humane society which de-emphasized materialism and provided a productive life for its disadvantaged youth. Tables and 25 references. (Author abstract modified).