CRIME AND ITS DYNAMICS OF CONTROL

CRIME AND ITS DYNAMICS OF CONTROL

Although there is no generally accepted definition of crime that is of universal application, but an attempt would be made to examine the meaning of crime in various contexts to suit our own purpose.

Crime could be defined as something, which threatens serious injury to the or something generally believe to be capable of doing so, or something committed with evil intent. It could also be seen as something which offends the mobility of society or something which violates the divine law.

In legal terms; a crime is an act of human behavior prohibited by the criminal law and punishable by fine, imprisonment or even death.

In analyzing criminal behavior, we search for the causes of crimes in an attempt to understand why individuals or groups commit crimes.

The type of causes one locates is of great importance in deciding what to do about crime it helps the government to channel its resources properly, and in more effective ways in order to reduce crime problems in a society.

Crime statistics gives the image of crime in Nigeria by showing the various types of crimes committed in the country. Such crime includes armed robbery, murder, fraud, corruption, drug trafficking and abuse etc.

The environment in which we exist has for so long been accused of creating the right conditions for criminal behavior.

Researchers have attributed factor factors such as poverty, unemployment, literacy greed its cause a state of haring a lot of money and inequality in society, urbanization and a host of others responsible for crimes in the society. In the developing world like Nigeria, social instability is often seen as a result of political instability, which breeds no got, order control a situation that encourages lawlessness and disorder others see crime as a consequences of revote against what appears to be injustice in the society whereby the rich people continue to exploit the poor ones and it is the resistance against such exploitation that results in criminal behavior.

ARMED ROBBERY

Armed robbery can be defined as the forceful way of taking another person's property from his or her presence while armed with offensive weapon, using force or intimation.

In order to control armed robbery in the country both military and civilian regime have been promulgating decree and laws in order to curb the act.

During the military regimes the punishment for armed robbery has always been life imprisonment and death sentence where weapons and violence were involved while in the civilian regime trails are not done by military tributes bout regular courts and accused persons had the right to appeal.

Decree was directed at controlling abuse within Nigeria. The penalty became server with the introduction of the death penalty for planting, cultivating, importing and selling of Indian hemp;

However, in 1986 the special tribunal decree abolished the death penalty, after three convicted traffickers were executed and substituted it with life imprisonment for the importation, manufacturing, production, processing, planting or growing of cocaine, heroin or similar drugs.

CORRUPTION

A public official is corrupt, according to McMillan (1961:183), if the accepts money or money's worth for doing something, which he is under a duty to do, it is corruption for a public official to also accept payment in cash or kind not to do what he is supposed to do, or to exercise a legitimate discretion for improper reasons.

Manning and Refinder (1977) see corruption being a departure from correct procedures exchange for goods, services or money.

If the above descriptions are taken into consideration, from all indications, corruption has been part of us since time immemorial and has eaten deep into all spheres of life. Corruption practices are openly seen everywhere in Nigeria either in the public service or in the market square. The situation is so pathetic that before a civil servant does his legitimate duty he has to be bribed

Many measures have been taken to have the menace controlled but there has never been success in doing that.

In fact, corruption seems to have been legalized in Nigeria because the judges practice it. The medical doctors do it, the teachers in the higher institutions of learning teach it, is the order of the day in our worship centers. No wonder that we are living in a dwindling economy. No wonder that we have both political and economic crises everywhere.