Juvenile Justice in Nigeria

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul-Mumin Sa’ad
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Delinquency ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Juvenile Delinquents ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Young Person ◽  
Mens Rea ◽  
Actus Reus ◽  
Criminal Intent ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
Post Trial

One feature of the crime situation in Nigeria is the involvement of juveniles in some criminal and/or dubious activities, which is referred to as juvenile delinquency. In Nigeria the laws define delinquency in terms of the age of those involved rather than in terms of their offences. In Children and Young Person Law, a distinction is made between a person who is yet 14 years and one who is 14 years but not yet above 16 years. The former is a ‘child’ and the latter a ‘young person’ Therefore any offence committed by a person above 16 is a crime not delinquency. Universally, delinquents are immature and therefore incapable of ‘mens rea’ (criminal intent) and ‘actus reus’ (criminal act). To this effect, regulations (laws) pertaining to treatment of delinquents apart from the adult criminals were enacted and documented, thus setting up separate justice system called juvenile justice, which is the focus of this paper. The enactments of these laws were meant to protect the child from the highly technical, cumbersome and harsh adversatorial nature of procedure characteristics of ordinary courts. They were also meant to protect the welfare of the children in the dispensation of justice. Despite the universal proclamation that juvenile delinquents should be rehabilitated and not to be punished, studies have indicated that some juvenile institutions are essentially custodial rather than treatment oriented .This paper therefore critically assessed the pre-trial, trial and post-trial handling of juvenile delinquents in Nigeria vis-à-vis the requirements of juvenile justice at each of the three stages. The paper concludes with series of educated recommendations for the improvement of juvenile justice in Nigeria.

Juvenile Delinquents’ Use of Consumption as Cultural Resistance: Implications for Juvenile Reform Programs and Public Policy

1998 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie L. Ozanne ◽  
Ronald Paul Hill ◽  
Newell D. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Juvenile Delinquency ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Juvenile Delinquents ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Cultural Resistance ◽  
Current Reform ◽  
Ethnographic Data ◽  
Shed Light

Each year, the juvenile justice system spends billions of dollars to handle approximately 700,000 youths. Yet the rate of recidivism remains high and suggests that this problem and its solutions are not understood fully. The problem of juvenile delinquency exacts a high toll on society in terms of the loss of property, life, and, each year, more disaffected youth. Using ethnographic data as a basis, the authors explore the experiential world of a group of institutionalized, young offenders. By focusing on the meaning of crime and consumption for these youths, the authors hope to shed light on how crime and consumption are used to produce a style of resistance. In the meaning of their possessions, these juvenile delinquents both affirm and disaffirm some of the dominant values in society. The authors use these impulses in the youths’ lives to inform the conduct of current reform programs, as well as public policy.

The Ins and Outs: How Principals Can Smooth Transitions Between School and Juvenile Justice Centres

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (02) ◽  
pp. 158-170
Author(s):  
Sue C. O'Neill ◽  
Therese M. Cumming
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Young Person ◽  
Leadership Teams ◽  
School Students ◽  
Smooth Transitions

Researchers note that the transitions of secondary students with disability in and out of the juvenile justice system are problematic for both the young person and leadership teams of their sending and receiving schools. Much of the literature focuses on barriers to successful transitions; however, there are some accounts of positive transition practices. In this article, we identify these positive practices and outline the steps school principals and executives involved in transitioning secondary school students with disability in and out of juvenile justice settings can take to smooth the way and improve student outcomes for this vulnerable population.

The Crime of Precocious Sexuality: Female Juvenile Delinquency in the Progressive Era

1978 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Schlossman ◽  
Stephanie Wallach
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Juvenile Delinquency ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Progressive Era ◽  
Juvenile Delinquents ◽  
Racial Prejudice ◽  
Minority Children ◽  
Court Records ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Female Delinquents

The juvenile justice system's discrimination against poor and minority children has been well documented, but the system's discrimination on the basis of gender has been less widely recognized. Drawing on neglected court records and secondary sources, Steven Schlossman and Stephanie Wallach show how girls bore a disproportionate share of the burden of juvenile justice in the Progressive era. The authors note that during the Progressive era female juvenile delinquents often received more severe punishments than males, even though boys usually were charged with more serious crimes. Schlossman and Wallach conclude that the discriminatory treatment of female delinquents in the early twentieth century resulted from racial prejudice, new theories of adolescence, and Progressive-era movements to purify society.

The Importance of Evaluation and Monitoring Within the Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) Mandate

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer H. Peck
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Delinquency ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Court ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Disproportionate Minority Contact ◽  
Prevention Act ◽  
Evaluation And Monitoring ◽  
Five Phases

In 2002, the reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974 required that states participating in the Formula Grants Program must put forth a good faith effort at addressing juvenile delinquency and the presence of minority youth at all decision-making points of the juvenile justice system without the use of numerical quotas. The last decade has brought about increases in states’ efforts at identifying and assessing the extent of disproportionate minority contact (DMC) across juvenile court contacts. Many states have already implemented or are currently implementing intervention and prevention efforts at reducing DMC. However, the segments of identification, assessment, and intervention are only three of the five phases of the DMC mandate. In light of the progression of the DMC mandate since its original implementation in 1988, the purpose of this essay is to spark discussion on the future of examining DMC in the juvenile justice system through a researcher’s perspective. Various topics that relate to DMC are presented as ideas for readers to consider, as they progress with their research agendas.

Rehabilitation within a Punitive Framework: Responsibilization and Disciplinary Utopia in the French Juvenile Justice System

Youth Justice ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Sallée
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Delinquency ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
New Model ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
French Case ◽  
Justice Systems

In most Western countries, juvenile justice systems are confronted with a punitive framing of the problem of juvenile delinquency, which challenges the rehabilitative philosophy behind the first laws for minors passed in the first half of the 20th century. Through a sociohistorical study that focuses on the French case, I decrypt the emergence of a new model of ‘rehabilitation under constraint’, symbolized by the opening of new closed educational centers in 2002, followed by new supposedly rehabilitative prisons in 2007. Based on the neoliberal search for a responsibilization of youths, this model revives an old disciplinary utopia that calls our attention to the presumed need for a ‘return of authority’.

Actus Reus

Criminology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Foster
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Mens Rea ◽  
Contractual Obligation ◽  
The Third ◽  
Actus Reus ◽  
Criminal Intent ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Affirmative Defense ◽  
Do So

Actus reus is an area of substantive criminal law and is an act by an individual that is deemed to be improper by societal laws. It is one of the elements of a crime and works in connection with mens rea or criminal intent. Illegal or immoral thoughts cannot be legally punished, but once those thoughts are put into action, there is a concurrence between the two elements. There are three types of actus reus, which include a voluntary act, possession, and omission. Within actus reus voluntariness is presumed on the part of the actor. If an accused party wishes to claim an action was involuntary, then an excuse defense would be necessary in criminal court. Possession is also a type of actus reus when an individual is in the possession of or has the possession of an item that is known by the individual to be illegal under the law. As an example, if a person is wearing a jacket that contains a bag of marijuana in the pocket and the person knows that the substance is illegal, then even if the marijuana is not the wearer’s marijuana, the action of possession is fulfilled due to the marijuana being an illegal substance. Omission is the third type of criminal act. Omission is satisfied when a person does not act when that person is required under law to do so. A person would be required to act when there is a contractual obligation to act or a duty to act, such as would be the case of a parent and a child. The parent has a duty to act to protect the child from harm. A defense to possession or omission is possible. Defenses include an alibi or an affirmative defense. A justification defense is one type of an affirmative defense where the accused party claims the action was not criminal given the circumstances of the situation such as duress, etc. An excuse defense is the second type of an affirmative defense in which the accused claims they should not be held accountable for the improper conduct for a reason such as age, intoxication, or insanity. Incomplete offenses, known as inchoate crimes, have their own section within criminal law but are treated similarly to completed offenses.

scholarly journals Juvenile Delinquency, Its Causes and Justice System in Bangladesh: A Critical Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-120
Author(s):  
Kudrat E Khuda
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Delinquency ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Violent Crimes ◽  
Low Income Families

Juvenile delinquency and crime are legal definitions rather than specific behavioural or psychiatric syndromes. Since common law is based on theological law, society has historically responded to juvenile delinquency and crime based on moral and religious beliefs regarding the age at which juveniles are criminally responsible rather than from scientific knowledge. Research shows, there is a high percentage of offending among all teenagers, the majority of offences which violate the law are one time occurrences and most often non-violent. Only about 5-10% of adolescents commit violent crimes. This article aims to show how juvenile delinquency is normally belongs to the illiterate and sometimes with low-income families in Bangladesh and how it is impacting negatively on their frequently engage in juvenile crimes. The article also focuses on the juvenile justice system of Bangladesh and provides few recommendations to prevent the juvenile delinquency from society and to more develop its justice system.

From Punishment to Control: Assessing Juvenile Diversion in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 372-397
Author(s):  
Enshen Li ◽  
Mingyue Su
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Juvenile Offenders ◽  
Juvenile Justice ◽  
Juvenile Delinquents ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Juvenile Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Juvenile Diversion ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
Juvenile Justice Policy

China’s juvenile justice system has grown and changed substantially since the 1980s. While considerable research focuses on institutional treatment of juvenile delinquents, little attention has been paid to the diversion processes and measures that allow troubled juveniles to be directed away from the formal justice system. Through a comparison with juvenile justice in the United States, this article aims to investigate the development of the juvenile diversion framework in China. We argue that despite their similar efforts to divert juvenile delinquents from traditional court proceedings, in practice China’s diversionary arrangements diverge from those of their US counterparts. Unlike in the United States, Chinese juvenile diversion does not operate according to welfarist or restorative models. Rather, juvenile diversion in China is a managerialism-driven scheme that rests on two key pillars: institutional diversion, which imposes punishment and control on juvenile offenders pursuant to their level of offending and dangerousness, and noninstitutional diversion, which revolves around risk-based management and correction through community-level interventions. We conclude that China’s distinctive sociolegal culture and political priorities have shaped a practice that appears to be at odds with the officially advertised narratives of the state’s juvenile justice policy.

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