Fear of crime: A critical analysis of the situation in Southeast Nigeria
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Abstract
While several studies that examine fear of crime are largely of foreign origin, the problem is under-researched in Nigeria, despite its prevalence. This research contributes to the relatively few existing scholarships on fear of crime in Nigeria. Answers provided to the three critical questions raised reinforced the predictions of existential theory to further guide the analysis. The paper is basically theoretical, relying primarily on library research and review of related literature to obtain required data. From the review, it was found that fear of crime is on the increase in Nigeria, occasioned by heightened insecurity, moral and social panic linked to palpable fear of the unknown gun-menand ‘sit-at-home’ orders by the Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB). People fear criminal victimization when and where law enforcement agents are selective and reactive instead of unselective and proactive. These have encumbered economic development, social life and human security, as people seldom go for their routine activities to avoid being attacked. These have serious implications for the criminal justice system, particularly, law enforcement administration, which calls for inter-security agency collaborations to effectively address the problem. All levels of government should constantly partner critical social control actors in crime and security management for better outcomes.
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