While researching for this blog, I was only vaguely aware of the crime rates in Nigeria. Upon needing to find pictures to include, I was shocked to find an abundance of pictures both horrific and shocking, ones I chose not to include in this blog. Some included images of mass graves, murdered people in the streets, and even one of what looked to be over 200 burned corpses. It was then that I realized just how bad it was. A few facts according to DK World Reports: Nigeria has one of the highest crime rates in the world; murder frequently accompanies even minor burglaries; and police in some states have the power to legally shoot violent criminals on sight. Tunde Ogunesan of the Tribune claims that “the security situation is giving everybody sleepless nights” and that the threat is rising from simple robberies to recent bombings.
In addition to the high crime rate, there is also severe corruption within the government and community, making Nigeria’s criminal justice system a complete failure in some states. In 2008, Aster van Kregten, Amnesty International’s Nigerian researcher claimed that the problems in the criminal justice system were “so blatant and egregious that the Nigerian government has had no choice but to recognize them- and has pledged many times that it will reform the system.” As of 2011, that’s what they’ve taken big steps to do. At a two day seminar held at the University of Ibadan (the first institution in both Nigeria and Africa to introduce a Masters degree course in legal criminology and security psychology, including various specialization courses regarding many aspects of the criminal justice system), a resolution was made by a collaboration of the University’s Department of Psychology and several global participants. As stated in Gbooza!, an online Nigerian social news network, “For Nigeria to have a breakthrough in security, legal, criminological and security psychology, the country’s law enforcement agencies must recognize the need to apply sociological and psychological methodologies in the judicial system.” Many of the topics presented at the workshop included bringing together experts from all areas of the law to draw up a plan; making it “imperative” to bring in psychologists before cross-examinations; and implementing forensic and criminal psychology in order to be more knowledgeable about the types of crimes and criminals they would be dealing with in the future.
The topic of victim compensation was also discussed. Dr. Rasheed Okunola said that “the Nigerian criminal justice system has failed to adequately compensate criminal victims” and that the punishments that are dealt do not always “erase” the psychological trauma, such as with rape victims. Because of the fear that many criminals end up walking the streets freely, many rape victims choose to live with the trauma over dealing with embarrassment or even ending up dead. Unlike other countries, the United States in particular, Nigeria doesn’t have victim associations and support groups to help deal with the coping process. Introducing this tool in particular would help greatly in that victims would feel comfort in knowing that they aren’t alone and that they are protected, resulting in more admissions, raising the chances of arrest.
However, Nigeria’s prison system has also been deemed “utterly failing” and “appalling” by Amnesty International. Not only are human rights being greatly violated, but a large amount of those incarcerated have not even been convicted. Torture has been said to be a tactic for getting “confessions” and the condition of the prisons themselves are ghastly- both “seriously damaging the mental and physical health of thousands.” Unfortunately for a country such as Nigeria, the prison system and corruption within won’t be improving overnight. So I, much like the participants in this year’s workshop, feel that we must improve what happens on the outside of prison walls by bringing in as many sources such as aforementioned criminologists, psychologists (criminal and forensic), and sociologists to break down the crime of the country and learn to deal with it in a way that makes the people again feel confident and secure in their own state. By implementing law enforcement and psychological strategies used all over the world, Nigerians will hopefully one day be able to sleep soundly once again.
References:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/nigeria-criminal-justice-system-utterly-failing-nigerian-people-majority
http://www.ft.com/dkreports/nigeria2
http://www.gbooza.com/group/nigeriapolitics/forum/topics/justice-system-experts-advocate-involvement-of-psychologists-crim#axzz1gWjY72bJ
http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/features/31018-when-experts-gathered-to-proffer-solution-to-criminal-justice-system-in-nigeria
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