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THE
INFLUENCE OF POVERTY ON CRIME
ABSTRACT
The purpose
of the study was to establish the significant relationship between poverty and
crime in Owerri district of Western Province of Nigeria. The objective of the
study was to investigate the influence of poverty on crime amongst the
residents of Owerri District in Western Province. The research design for the
study was survey research design in which 5 point likert scale questionnaire on
poverty and crime was used study to collect data from the respondents. The
sample for the study consisted of 124 persons (Male 90 and Female 34). Data
collected was analyzed using chi-square statistical method. Results indicated
that there was significant relationship between poverty (financial standing,
employment, family structure, social support, level of education and poverty)
and tendency to commit crime among the people of Owerri district. The
recommendation of the study is that improved systems of education and economic
empowerment of the people should be enhanced by the government in order to
reduce crime in the region among the 240,000 inhabitants of Owerri in Western
Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Owerri
District has a population of over 240,000 people, 60% of this population live
below the poverty line of less than 1 US dollar per day leading to poor
standards of living. There is massive population explosion and pressure on the
meagre resources like land, water, health, education, infrastructure,
agriculture and some micro-finance enterprises in the region.
Due to the
vicious cycle of poverty, there is gross violation of human rights as per the
Geneva Convention that every person has the right to life, liberty and
security. Other fundamental human rights violated in Owerri District included
article 2 where men and women are to be treated equally which is not the case,
instead they are subordinates and not allowed in decision making especially on
assets. The area has been a high population growth of youths (70%) who have
neither trained, completed school or dropped out of school due to unemployment
have resulted to violent crimes in the area such as murder, assault, rape,
prostitution, theft, burglary, armed gangsters, banditry, trade in illicit rugs
like bhang, changaa (local beer). Article 5 of the Declaration of Human Rights
the states that no one shall be subjected to torture cruel inhumane or degrading
treatment or punishment, economic or political liberty. The rights of the
inhabitants of Owerri have been highly contested leading them to fall into
traps of violent crimes in the region..
Poverty as a
social phenomenon has affected the entire population in the region, poverty and
inequality often results due to social instability, diseases, environmental
degradation, struggle for natural resources and constraints on the basic needs
in the society. In 1992 it was estimated that 42% of the approximately 525
million people in Sub-Saharan Africa lived below the poverty line of US $ 370
per capita and the number was expected to increase by 50% in the year 2000. It
is noted that women, children, old age, disabled and the orphans are the most
affected with poverty. The unstable micro-economic environment, poor
development policies which yield to low economic growth not consistent with
economic growth, poor infrastructure, dependency ratio in the area is also
high. There is need for proper planning, decision making and economic
empowerment of Owerri people to alleviate poverty in the region. The District
budget allocation should be allocated, reviewed and strategic plans made to
oversee the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Local Government Transfer Fund
(LATF), Women Development Fund, and Youths Fund to help improve the income of
the people for better standards of living. “People must not be allowed to be
come so poor that they offend or are hurtful to the society. It is so much that
misery and plight of the poor but the discomfort and the costs of the community
which is crucial to the view of the poverty. Poverty due to low income creates
problems for those who are not poor”. (Martya 1981)[1]
Crime as an
act of sufficient challenges to the people of Owerri District has created fear
for development and investment in the area which has no industry and processing
services to bring income and employment to the area. Most of the businesses in
the major towns are grocery, and casual labour especially in
Luanda,
Esibuye, Kilingili, Khumusalaba, Mwichio. Most of the occupation of Owerri is
subsistence farming on small holdings mainly done by women to subsidize the
family income. There are many crimes counted in the area such as juvenile
delinquency as crimes counted be of children less than 18 years who make
gangsters/ banditry, rape and murder people in the villages I.e. the Town Down
gangsters of Luanda Town, the 42 brothers, and Musumbiji and others. Acts of
crime, gambling, prostitution, vagrancy, homosexual are notorious to control in
the District and thus referred to as victimless crimes. White collar crimes are
committed by respectable persons through corruption. The purpose of this study
is to investigate and establish the relationship between poverty and crime in Owerri
District and recommend ways on reduction of crime.
The purpose
the study was to establish the relationship between poverty and crime and make
recommendations of helping the Abanyole people of Owerri and the government to
alleviate poverty and crime in the area of study. The research is to generate
ways of solving poverty through proper planning on investments, implementation
of government projects solve unemployment, land tenure problems and enact a
good policy legal framework to curb crime in the area.
Information
from this study will be used by Governmental Departments i.e. Constituency
Development Fund (CDF), Youth Fund, District Budgetary allocations, Education
Offices, Provincial Administration and Non-Governmental Organizations to make
right decisions to empower the economic status of the area to alleviate poverty
and violent crimes as well as gross violation of human rights. The Ministry of
Planning and National Development, Ministry of finance, The Office of the
President and Provincial Administration to promote food security, health and
sanitation services, investment and cur b violent crimes in the region. The
study will be useful in investigating and establishing factors leading to
poverty and how to curb them through the recommendations of the study in
accordance to Malthusian’s population Theory on Fundamental Human rights and
conflicting theory on crime issues. The findings of this study will enable to
put down factors leading to poverty and come up with strategic plans to help
reduce it engage the entire population towards positive economic development of
the area.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Poverty has
a great influence on the crime rate in Owerri district of western Nigeria.
Poverty can be in state of absolute where there is lack of the basic resources
needed to maintain minimum of the physical health, normally calculated in
calories, while relative poverty has quantitative dimensions which refer to
general standard f living in different societies due to cultural sensitivity
and variations between and within societies over time. Poverty is due to
massive inequality due to poor allocation of investment, education, planning
and policy implementation, inadequate health facilities, human rights
violations such as economic empowerment, right for protection, security,
children’s rights, and right to life.
Owerri area
with a population of over 240,000 suffers from poverty and crime due to
underdevelopment and expansive population which constraints the meagre
available natural resources. There are no investments in the area apart from
some small micro-finance investment Nigeria Women Finance Trust (KWFT) which
are created to help women start small business holds. The Constituency
Development Fund (CDF) is also geared towards enhancing small microfinance
projects in education, infrastructure, youths, markets, farming in the area to
alleviate poverty. There are conflicts over the scarce resources like land
ownership, safe drinking water, streams, food, education, health which results
into conflicts and criminal activities and offences due to poverty. Crime and
violent conflicts is growing due to disparities in wealth, increasing
unemployment among the youths, population press he on land and resources
leading to environmental degradation which provokes social discontent,
polarization leading to social strife in the region. According to vigorous
approach theory societal conditions of deep spread and deep poverty is
essentially deprivation suffered by a large segment of some important
essentials for sustenance such as sufficient income to provide housing,
clothing, food and education, health facilities adequate opportunities for
production employment which leads to societal stress. Stress leads to
increasing the anger and frustration of the poor suffering who are then
exploited by violence promoting war bent demagoguery. Indeed scarcities of the
basic needs amongst the population causes social segmentation, group formation
and strengthen groups identity which creates violent collective action which takes
forms from rime war, terrorism, riots, civil insurgencies, political
repressions to its ultimate forms.
Most of the
inhabitants of Owerri live on subsistence farming on small holdings of less
than Mi an acre and with poor farming methods, lack of farm inputs and
technical agricultural know-how have lessen the yield to sustain the family
needs. The are no income generating investments as factories, plantations (cash
crops) to employ the youths and e working population in the areas leading to
severe unemployment and crime in the region. In 1991 the United Nations crime
prevention journals stipulated that crime has accelerated far beyond the
current reach of international community. Crime is particularly serious
impediment to harmonious development. It dissipates or misdirects the gains of
economic growth and impairs the quality of life; crime threatens safety well
being a d personal integrity of us all. (United Nations: 1991) Some other
criminal offences conducted in the region is chang’aa brewing (local illicit
brew)., substance abuse like bhang, cocaine, processor and trafficking of drugs
in towns like Luanda, Kima, Ekwanda, Esibuye, Kilingili, Khumusalaba, and
Esirulo has granted more crime impediment to investment in the region leading
to absolute poverty. The study seeks to address the influence of poverty on
crime, the consequences to the population in Owerri District and hence
recommends ways to curb the menace.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose
the study was to establish the relationship between poverty and crime and make
recommendations of helping the Abanyole people of Owerri and the government to
alleviate poverty and crime in the area of study. The research is to generate
ways of solving poverty through proper planning on investments, implementation
of government projects solve unemployment, land tenure problems and enact a
good policy legal framework to curb crime in the area.
1.4 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The major
objective of the study was to investigate the influence of poverty on crime
amongst the residents of Owerri District in Western Province.
The specific
objectives of the study will be:
1) To determine economic
factors that lead to a vicious cycle of poverty in Owerri District
2) To investigate how poverty
causes crime in the area of Owerri District.
3) To establish development
plans to alleviate poverty in the region.
4) To assess types of criminal
offences and when committed in the region and how they are solved.
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Study was
guided by the following questions:-
1.
What
is the relationship between financial standing of the respondents and crime
among the Abanyole in Owerri District in western Nigeria?
2.
What
is the relationship between employment of the respondents and crime among the
Abanyole in Owerri District in western Nigeria?
3.
What
is the relationship between the family structure and crime of the respondents
among the Abanyole of Owerri District in western Nigeria?
4.
What
is relationship between the family support among the respondents and crime
among Abanyole of Owerri District in western Nigeria?
5.
What
is the relationship the level of education and crime of the respondents among
the Abanyole of Owerri District in western Nigeria?
6.
What
is the relationship between possession of property and crime of the respondents
in Owerri region
1.6. NULL HYPOTHESIS
1.
There
is no relationship between financial standing and crime among the Abanyole in
Owerri District.
2.
There
is no relationship between employment and crime among the Abanyole in Owerri
District.
3.
There
is no relationship between family structure and crime among the Abanyole of
Owerri District.
4.
There
is no relationship between family support and crime among the Abanyole of
Owerri District.
5.
There
is no relationship between the level of education and crime among the Abanyole
of Owerri District.
6.
There
is no relationship between possession of property and crime among the Abanyole
of Owerri District.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study
covered Owerri District of Western Nigeria which is one of the most poverty
stricken areas resulting to violent crime, crimes against humanity and gross
violation.
The study
was limited to assess or establish the relationship between poverty and crime
amongst
240,0 inhabitants of Owerri and its
implication on the economic development within the region.
The study
bases its guidelines on Malthusian theory of population to state the rationale
on scarce resources leading to youth bulge and violence and conflict theory to
explain crime and its effects in the study area. Since it was a wide area the
findings were sampled from two major Divisions Owerri and Luanda.
1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Information
from this study will be used by Governmental Departments i.e. Constituency
Development Fund (CDF), Youth Fund, District Budgetary allocations, Education
Offices, Provincial Administration and Non-Governmental Organizations to make
right decisions to empower the economic status of the area to alleviate poverty
and violent crimes as well as gross violation of human rights. The Ministry of
Planning and National Development, Ministry of finance, The Office of the
President and Provincial Administration to promote food security, health and
sanitation services, investment and cur b violent crimes in the region. The
study will be useful in investigating and establishing factors leading to
poverty and how to curb them through the recommendations of the study in
accordance to Malthusian’s population Theory on Fundamental Human rights and
conflicting theory on crime issues. The findings of this study will enable to
put down factors leading to poverty and come up with strategic plans to help
reduce it engage the entire population towards positive economic development of
the area.
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Poverty: The
vicious cycle of poverty has been defined as the phenomenon where poor families
become trapped in poverty for at least three generations. The families have
either limited resources or no resources. The concept of the vicious cycle of
poverty holds that low productivity leads to low income, low income leads to
low savings and low savings leads to low investment and low investment to low
productivity.
Crime- A
crime is a violation of criminal statutory law and a specific punishment
applied by some government authority generally accompanies the violation.
Criminal activities and crime rates vary in different legal jurisdictions which
accompany differences in rates of enforcement.
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