Global Issues
Do You Know Why Men Are Scarce? -By Victoria Chiwendu Egbuna
The percentage of men incarcerated is relatively high. This has a detrimental effect on the country in many ways because competent people are burdening the government rather than adding to it, especially since the majority of them are still relatively young. Males need to take responsibility for their actions and abstain from criminal activity.
One of the reasons why it seems reasonable men are few is because men occupy 98% of the correctional center(prison).
The administration of criminal justice is the process by which justice is carried out. The criminal justice system’s main objective is to punish offenders. Sentence can be delivered to either ensure incapacitation, prevention, retribution, deterrence, restoration, or rehabilitation. The primary institutions of administering criminal justice consist of the police, courts, correctional centers, and other law enforcement agencies. Sentence can be given to punish the offender and to deter others from engaging in similar offence, rehabilitate the accused to be a better and more productive person in the society, or to prevent individuals and the society from justice.
THE CORRECTIONAL CENTER
Opara (1998) defined prison as a place delimited and declared as such by the law of the state and created to ensure restraint and custody of individuals accused or convicted of violating the criminal laws of the state. On August 15, 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari changed the name of the Nigerian Prisons Service to the Nigerian Correctional Service after signing the Nigerian Correctional Service Act of 2019.
Nigeria has 240 prisons as of 2021, according to statistics. Having visited the correction center in Wukari Local Government, Taraba State, I read through the statistics of the Correctional Center for that day. There were a total of 120 prisoners, consisting of 119 male and one female inmate. On 22nd April, 2024, the Nigerian Correctional Service statistic summary has it that male Inmates were 78,286 [98%] and female Inmates 1,838 [2%] making it a total number of 80,124 inmates.
The percentage of men incarcerated is relatively high. This has a detrimental effect on the country in many ways because competent people are burdening the government rather than adding to it, especially since the majority of them are still relatively young. Males need to take responsibility for their actions and abstain from criminal activity.
Nevertheless, the fact that crimes are unavoidable has been established since the time of the Holy Book. Even though the laws were still very much fresh in their minds when God gave the children of Israel the new commandments, Mr. Achan was still free to go and steal from the battle.
The principle of the maxim “Nullum crimen sine lege” implies that there is no crime without the law, in corroboration with section 36(12) of the constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria 1999 (as repealed), which provides thus; “a person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless that offence is defined and the penalty, therefore is prescribed in a written law….” is very much applicable in the administration of criminal justice.
ABOUT
Education is the antidote to ignorance. Victoria Chiwendu Egbuna is a penultimate Law Student at Federal University Wukari. She is an intern at J. A Abi & Co (Rapha Chamber), and she has completed several virtual internships with various law firms. She was also an Intern at the 6th edition of the Hilton Top Solicitor Female Internship program. She is also an Intern with the Global Education Group (GEG).
REFERENCES
Section 36(12) Constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)
U.D Idem “Sentencing and the administration of Criminal Justice in Nigeria” [2018] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347452115_Sentencing_and_the_Administration_of_Criminal_Justice_in_Nigeria accessed 22 April 2024.
Nigerian Correctional Service “Statistic Summary” April 2024, https://www.corrections.gov.ng/statistics_summary accessed 22 April 2024.
ICPR “World Prison Brief Data” https://www.prisonstudies.org/country/nigeria accessed on 22 April 2022.
National Open University “Correction Of Offenders In Nigeria Summary” (2022) https://www.coursehero.com/file/133853668/CSS351-PRISONS-AND-CORRECTION-OF-OFFENDERS-IN-NIGERIA-SUMMARYpdf/#:~:text=OFFENDERS%20IN%20NIGERIA-,Q.,criminal%20laws%20of%20the%20state accessed 22 April 2024.
