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Vigilante Homicides in Contemporary Ghana
Abstract
This article provides a systematic analysis of vigilante homicides that occurred in Ghana, West Africa, during 1990–2000. Through the use of newspaper accounts, the study identified the socio-demographic characteristics of victims, spatial distribution, modus operandi, and the circumstances of death. The data suggested that young urban males suspected or accused of robbery, larceny, and other forms of theft were most often victims of vigilante killings. Mob attacks were spontaneous and the assaults involved the use of weapons available on the scene, such as stones, sticks, clubs, and personal weapons. Factors contributing to the escalation of vigilantism in the society included an under-resourced police force, poor police-civilian relations, burgeoning crime rate, a slow and overburdened judiciary, heightened public fear of crime, and a breakdown in traditional methods of dispute resolution. The article also reports on a survey that targeted the attitudes of a sample of law enforcement officers towards vigilantism in Ghana.
... Hence the high level of crime is seen as the primary reason that makes people take the law into their own hands ( Barron and Madden, 2004). Similarly, mob justice usually occurs in a context where the mobs allege that an individual has committed acts such as robbery, murder, and witchcraft (Adinkrah, 2005). This is compounded by the failure of the legal system, coupled with the distrust of the police and the ineffectiveness of the criminal justice system. ...
... Although the argument is made in respect of Ghana, the finding can easily be extended to all African countries including South Africa. Because of the public perception of police corruption, thus untrustworthy, the public believes that the police are incapable of carrying out justice (Adinkrah, 2005). This distrust of the police indicates that mob justice is a result of the strained relationship between the police and some members of the public and which stems from the perception of police corruption. ...
... This distrust of the police indicates that mob justice is a result of the strained relationship between the police and some members of the public and which stems from the perception of police corruption. As a result, community members have lost faith in the criminal justice system (Adinkrah, 2005) which is another contributing factor. This paper posits that within the South African context, the ineffectiveness of the justice system (specifically the lower courts) contributes to the bulk mob actions. ...
With the recent surge of mob justice in South Africa, this paper investigates whether recourse to mob justice serves a legitimate purpose and especially whether it serves justice or falls within the conceptual meaning of justice. In so doing, the paper undertook a literature review in view first to identify the possible causes of mob justice and whether or not mob justice serves a legitimate purpose in society. The literature reveals that mob justice aims to ensure security and maintain social order due to state inefficiency to provide security to its citizens. Mob justice becomes a mechanism of social control, policing, and society’s expression that the criminal justice system has failed. However, the paper could not find any related literature on the question whether mob justice falls within the philosophical concept of justice. It finds that the current discourse on mob justice literature focuses on the social and economic aspects of mob justice, delving into the possible reasons behind the attacks, or the legal aspects of mob justice. The paper is therefore relevant as its objective is to determine whether mob justice meets the conceptual meaning of justice and if there is a place for such conduct within a constitutional society. The paper found that mob justice falls short of the philosophical understanding of justice and is no more than injustice. It recommends a policy shift in the form of community involvement in policing.
... 7-8). Trust in the police significantly influenced the decision of a victim to report a crime (Adinkrah 2005;Aning 2002;Appiahene-Gyamfi 2011;Tankebe 2010Tankebe , 2011Tankebe , 2013. Trust and public confidence in the Ghana Police Service are at a record low. ...
... For this reason, high robbery rates over the years have resulted in the emergence of vigilante homicide. For example, Adinkrah (2005) recorded approximately 46 vigilante homicides in Ghana between 1990 and 2000 based on the analysis of newspaper reports. Pejoratively, 13% of these vigilante crimes were recorded in 2000 alone (Adinkrah 2005). ...
... For example, Adinkrah (2005) recorded approximately 46 vigilante homicides in Ghana between 1990 and 2000 based on the analysis of newspaper reports. Pejoratively, 13% of these vigilante crimes were recorded in 2000 alone (Adinkrah 2005). The contemporary conception of crime and punishment in Ghana is reminiscent and a direct consequence of practices in traditional Ghanaian society. ...
This study examines crime rate trends in Ghana in the context of research into the international crime drop. Ghanaian police-recorded crime data are imperfect, but crime rates appear to have increased to the early 2000s then to have declined significantly. However, the national trend for all crime types masks significant variation by crime type and region. The national trends appear, broadly speaking, consistent with long-term crime increases and decreases in high-income countries, but with a lag that may reflect Ghana’s economic development trajectory. This may be consistent with the routine activity perspective if both crime opportunities and economic development increased in parallel, followed by a crime decline that reflected increased security measures or other change. The study raises many questions that require further research, and some suggestions to that end are outlined.
... This includes a detailed external and internal examination of the body and harvesting of evidentiary material [6]. Death is not an inevitable outcome of mob justice attacks, but evidence in one African country, Tanzania, suggests that the majority of these attacks result in fatalities [7]. Herbst et al. [8] concluded that mob justice fatalities create an additional burden on the forensic pathologist or forensic medical officer in terms of autopsy time, additional investigations and the completion of the autopsy examination report. ...
... It should not be mistaken for an act of self-defense, but rather a transgressor acting outside the law to administer justice to another transgressor [10]. Adinkrah [7] indicated that mob justice killings are an outcome of spontaneous action taken by bystanders with intent to apprehend and punish a person accused of community infractions including theft, robbery, pick pocketing, witchcraft, child abduction and child murder. ...
... Killings due to mob justice are a worldwide phenomenon [11][12][13], and constitute a social public health and legal problem [4]. Published literature has reported events of this phenomenon in South Africa [8,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], Tanzania [4,13], Ghana [7,11], Nigeria [13], Ireland [19], Philippines [21], and England [22]. ...
Mob justice fatalities are a gross violation of human rights as they represent extra-legal punishment. There is a paucity of research relating to the demographics of at-risk groups, nature of injuries and the impact to the Forensic Pathology Service at national and provincial levels. This was a retrospective study over 10 years (1 April 2006 to 31 March 2016) at Germiston Forensic Pathology Service Medico-legal Mortuary. The objectives were to describe the demographics of the victims of fatal mob justice, describe the trends of the number of fatalities and causes of death over time, assess hospitalization frequency, describe the nature and location of injuries sustained, and to report on ancillary investigations performed. A total of 354 cases were analyzed. All victims were Black (100%), with 99.4% of the sample group being male. The largest proportion was aged between 21–30 years (49.2%) with the majority having South African citizenship (68.9%). The majority of deaths were due to blunt force injuries (92.4%) with blunt force head injury being the most prevalent (79.9%). Half of the victims died on the scene (50.6%; n = 175). Hospitalization occurred in 49.4% (n = 175) of cases, of which, 56.3% died within 24 h of hospital admittance. Ancillary tests were ordered in 22.6% of cases. Adequate resources should be distributed to appropriate departments to engage with and monitor communities in high incidence areas to curb these killings.
... Research suggests that people resort to vigilantism as a means to attain justice (Adinkrah 2005;Tankebe 2009) or to restrain criminal activities in society (Gross 2016;Harnishchfeger 2003). In Nigeria, earlier ethnographic studies attributed the rise of vigilante groups, such as the Bakassi Boys, to the incapability of state institutions to deal with violent crimes, prompting the need to engage in self-help (for example , Harnischfeger 2003;Meagher 2007). ...
... Victims of vigilantism often suffer significant bodily harm and, in many cases, even death (Adinkrah 2005). For victims who may be fortunate to survive vigilante violence, the long-term psychological consequences associated with the traumatic experience can be enormous and multifaceted. ...
... Moreover, vigilante violence impinges on the rights of victims to fair trial and justice. As noted by Adinkrah (2005): 'in most vigilante episodes, the accused is denied the opportunity to contest the charges. In the frenzied atmosphere of an enraged mob, brutal and excessive violence is visited upon the culprit, with death commonly the result' (p.415). ...
Vigilantism is gaining popularity in Africa as a means of self‐defence, enacting justice, policing morality, and sanctioning (perceived) wrongdoings. Drawing on content analysis of 172 media reports from 2001 to 2018, this study examined the trends and patterns of vigilantism, characteristics of victims, and reported reasons for recourse to vigilantism within the Ghanaian context. Results showed a considerable increase in reported cases of vigilantism within the 18‐year period, with most of the cases reported in urban settings. Theft and robbery emerged as the most frequently suspected crimes for which victims were attacked and, in many cases, killed. The study underscores the implications of vigilantism in terms of disdaining human life and dignity. It calls for the need to revisit the justice administration systems and punishment procedures, as well as resourcing and empowering law enforcers to fight crime, including vigilantism.
... Prior studies of vigilante violence have provided valuable contributions by describing its forms, intensity, motivating sources, and purposes (Abrahams, 1987(Abrahams, , 2003Adinkrah, 2005;Brown, 1975;Harnischfeger, 2003;Johnston, 1996;Karmen, 2016;Rosenbaum and Sederberg, 1974;Senechal de la Roche, 1996). Abrahams (2003: 26) defines vigilantism as 'an organized attempt by a group of "ordinary citizens" to enforce norms and maintain law and order on behalf of their communities, often by resort to violence'. ...
... Abrahams (2003: 26) defines vigilantism as 'an organized attempt by a group of "ordinary citizens" to enforce norms and maintain law and order on behalf of their communities, often by resort to violence'. Vigilante violence is also referred to as instant justice (Harnischfeger, 2003), spontaneous action (Adinkrah, 2005;Karmen, 2016), popular justice (Senechal de la Roche, 1996: 98), or self-help (Black, 1983;Tankebe, 2009), by voluntary private citizens (Johnston, 1996) enforcing local norms (Kloos, 2014;Baker, 2002), preserving social stability (Sederberg, 1978), and attaining social control (Black, 1983;Senechal de la Roche, 1996), by implying relevant cultural templates (Pratten and Sen, 2007). ...
... The first condition that shapes the likelihood for vigilante rituals to develop concerns legal legitimacy. A tradition of research demonstrates that when people perceive authorities as illegitimate, they can pose a challenge to the legal system by resorting to an alternate system of redress and grievances, that is, self-help, which can take the form of vigilante violence (Abrahams, 1998;Adinkrah, 2005;Baker;Goldstein, 2003;Silke, 2001;Tankebe, 2009). Thus, the relationship between vigilante violence and legal legitimacy has been studied in various countries including Nigeria (Baker, 2002;Harnischfeger, 2003;Smith, 2004), Ghana (Adinkrah, 2005;Tankebe, 2009), Pakistan (Tankebe and Asif, 2016), Bolivia (Goldstein, 2003), the Netherlands (Haas et al., 2014), Brazil (Benevidez andFerreira, 1991), South Africa (Buur and Jensen, 2004), Tanzania (Abrahams, 1987), Guatemala (Handy, 2004), the United Kingdom (Silke, 2001), Israel (Weisburd, 1988), Indonesia (Colombijn, 2002(Colombijn, , 2018Kloos, 2014), Latin America (Nivette, 2016), and the United States (Garland, 2005;Hill, 2010;Kil et al., 2009;Tucker, 1985). ...
This contribution offers a new theory of vigilante violence: vigilante rituals theory. We argue that vigilante violence originates from fear, righteous anger, and retaliatory punitive desire that stems from violations of moral imperatives, which are Durkheimian sacred values. We argue that morally outraged people transform their fear and anger into violent action through mobilization and bodily alignment in vigilante rituals. These rituals can restore the integrity of moral imperatives and generate the unity of the in-group. Further, we propose the following variable socio-legal conditions that affect the likelihood for vigilante rituals to occur: legal legitimacy, an exposure to violence, and authorities’ encouragement of (violent) self-help. We conclude by noting how the theory advances prevailing explanations and how it can be used in future empirical research.
... Prior studies of vigilante violence have provided valuable contributions by describing its forms, intensity, motivating sources, and purposes (Abrahams, 1987(Abrahams, , 2003Adinkrah, 2005;Brown, 1975;Harnischfeger, 2003;Johnston, 1996;Karmen, 2016;Rosenbaum and Sederberg, 1974;Senechal de la Roche, 1996). Abrahams (2003: 26) defines vigilantism as 'an organized attempt by a group of "ordinary citizens" to enforce norms and maintain law and order on behalf of their communities, often by resort to violence'. ...
... Abrahams (2003: 26) defines vigilantism as 'an organized attempt by a group of "ordinary citizens" to enforce norms and maintain law and order on behalf of their communities, often by resort to violence'. Vigilante violence is also referred to as instant justice (Harnischfeger, 2003), spontaneous action (Adinkrah, 2005;Karmen, 2016), popular justice (Senechal de la Roche, 1996: 98), or self-help (Black, 1983;Tankebe, 2009), by voluntary private citizens (Johnston, 1996) enforcing local norms (Kloos, 2014;Baker, 2002), preserving social stability (Sederberg, 1978), and attaining social control (Black, 1983;Senechal de la Roche, 1996), by implying relevant cultural templates (Pratten and Sen, 2007). ...
... The first condition that shapes the likelihood for vigilante rituals to develop concerns legal legitimacy. A tradition of research demonstrates that when people perceive authorities as illegitimate, they can pose a challenge to the legal system by resorting to an alternate system of redress and grievances, that is, self-help, which can take the form of vigilante violence (Abrahams, 1998;Adinkrah, 2005;Baker;Goldstein, 2003;Silke, 2001;Tankebe, 2009). Thus, the relationship between vigilante violence and legal legitimacy has been studied in various countries including Nigeria (Baker, 2002;Harnischfeger, 2003;Smith, 2004), Ghana (Adinkrah, 2005;Tankebe, 2009), Pakistan (Tankebe and Asif, 2016), Bolivia (Goldstein, 2003), the Netherlands (Haas et al., 2014), Brazil (Benevidez andFerreira, 1991), South Africa (Buur and Jensen, 2004), Tanzania (Abrahams, 1987), Guatemala (Handy, 2004), the United Kingdom (Silke, 2001), Israel (Weisburd, 1988), Indonesia (Colombijn, 2002(Colombijn, , 2018Kloos, 2014), Latin America (Nivette, 2016), and the United States (Garland, 2005;Hill, 2010;Kil et al., 2009;Tucker, 1985). ...
This contribution offers a new theory of vigilante violence: vigilante rituals theory. We argue that vigilante violence originates from fear, righteous anger, and retaliatory punitive desire that stems from violations of moral imperatives, which are Durkheimian sacred values. We argue that morally outraged people transform their fear and anger into violent action through mobilization and bodily alignment in vigilante rituals. These rituals can restore the integrity of moral imperatives and generate the unity of the in-group. Further, we propose the following variable socio-legal conditions that affect the likelihood for vigilante rituals to occur: legal legitimacy, an exposure to violence, and authorities’ encouragement of (violent) self-help. We conclude by noting how the theory advances prevailing explanations and how it can be used in future empirical research.
... In fact, very few authors have contested this element of Johnston's classic definition. For example, Huggins et al. (1991) and Adinkrah (2005) strongly argue that, even though most vigilante groups are well organised and plan before they act, some of them are relatively spontaneous and clandestine. ...
... Furthermore, the use or threatened use of force is a necessary element of vigilantism according to Johnston's (1996) definition. This element appears to be the most widely accepted and has received huge endorsement by many scholars including Dumsday (2009), Kowalewski (1982, Adinkrah (2005), Haas, Keijser, and Bruinsma (2012), and Rosenbaum and Sederberg (1974) among many others. ...
... In the case of Ghana, empirical studies conducted on vigilantism have mainly focused on police and public attitudes towards it (Adinkrah 2005;Tankebe 2010;Tankebe 2011;Tankebe 2009), and the impact of political party vigilantism on Ghana's democracy (Gyampo, Graham, and Asare 2018;Paalo 2017;Bob-Milliar 2014). ...
This is the Literature Review session of a Research Proposal I am currently working on.
... [10] The reasons for the mob attack were stealing/theft (42.86%); quarrel (23.81%); alleged sexual assault/molestation (14.28%); extortion (9.52%) and alleged murder (9.52%). In agreement with findings in Tanzania [14,15] , the most common reason for a mob to take the law into their own hands in the present study was theft/robbery. This may be attributed to harsh economic climate, rising unemployment rate, ineffective law enforcement, lack of education and failure of successful poverty eradication programmes. ...
... This observation agrees with other studies. [13,14] The majority of victims i.e., 95.23% in the current study sustained multiple injuries. This observation is comparable with other studies. ...
... This observation is comparable with other studies. [13,14] The head/neck and musculoskeletal regions were commonly affected. Regarding internal organ injuries, head injury was seen in 66.67% cases; chest injuries in 9.52% cases; head and chest injuries in 14.28% cases; extremities in 9.52% cases. ...
Mob justice or instant justice occurs when a mob, usually several dozens or several hundreds of people take the law into their hands to injure, maim and kill a person or persons accused of wrongdoing. Mob justice constitutes a medico-legal, social and public health problem in our setting. This study was undertaken to find out the incidence and circumstances leading to mob violence in Imphal. A retrospective study was done from the post mortem records from 2005 to 2014 and various parameters responsible for mob violence were analyzed. During the 10 year study period from 2005 to 2014, out of 4203 autopsies done at a teaching hospital in Imphal, 21 cases were deaths due to mob violence. The young adult men in their economically productive age-group are mostly affected. Robbery or theft were the most common reason. Blunt force injury was the commonest cause of death. Weak public administrative systems propel people to take the laws into their own hands to engage in mob action or instant justice. Eliminating mob justice requires a concerted effort on behalf of the government, civil society organizations, and individual citizens.
... From an instrumental perspective, high crime rates necessitate a strong, punitive response to control and deter future crimes. Evidence for this mechanism can be found in the vigilantism literature (Adinkrah, 2005;Baker, 2002;Godoy, 2004;Weisburd, 1988). Baker (2002: 242) proposed that the logic of the Bakassi Boys' violent vigilantism in Nigeria is largely instrumental: "[C]ounterforce deters and the more severe the counterforce, the less lawlessness there will be." ...
... Baker (2002: 242) proposed that the logic of the Bakassi Boys' violent vigilantism in Nigeria is largely instrumental: "[C]ounterforce deters and the more severe the counterforce, the less lawlessness there will be." In a survey of media reports on vigilante homicides in Ghana, Adinkrah (2005) reported that lethal vigilantism occurred more frequently in regions with higher crime rates and public anxiety about victimization. ...
... Statelessness also is measured objectively on an aggregate level. Although prior research has suggested that support for vigilantism, and particularly lethal punishment, stems from exposure to high levels of violence (Adinkrah, 2005;Baker, 2002;Baumer, Messner, and Rosenfeld, 2003;Holland, 2013;Van Cott, 2006), no study on vigilantism has statistically assessed this relationship. To measure the contextual effects of violent crime on support for violence, this study uses provincial-or department-level homicide rates (n = 323). ...
Why do individuals or groups support vigilantism as a means of conflict resolution? Most researchers tend to agree that support for and participation in vigilantism occurs in “stateless locations,” that is, when formal justice institutions are weak or absent. Despite this general consensus, quantitative evidence of this relationship is limited to a handful of country-specific studies that used only subjective survey-based measures of institutional weakness. This study seeks to extend research on vigilantism by assessing the relationship between subjective and objective conditions of formal justice institutions and public support for vigilantism across 323 provinces in 18 Latin American countries by using the 2012 AmericasBarometer Survey. Specifically, this study uses multilevel logistic regression techniques to examine the variability of public support for lethal vigilantism within and across Latin American countries. When controlling for a wide range of potential confounds, the results show that the most robust predictors of support for violent vigilantism are subjective indicators of institutional illegitimacy, personal victimization, and punitive attitudes. Evidence also exists that objective insecurity, as measured by province-level homicide rates, fosters public support for violent vigilantism in certain situations.
... Vigilantism is commonly said to occur when citizens, from whom authorities are supposed to derive their legitimacy, believe that the criminal justice system is inadequate (Abrahams 2002;Adinkrah 2005;Baker 2001;Benesh and Howell 2001;Goldstein 2003;Robinson and Darley 1995). Vigilantism can be seen as the result of a so-called injustice gap: a discrepancy between the desired and actual outcome (Exline et al. 2003). ...
... The perceived goal of vigilantes also differs widely, such as defending an established sociopolitical order (Rosenbaum and Sederberg 1974), imposing law in a lawless setting (Alvarez and Bachman 2007), community social control (Weisburd 1998) and the apprehension and punishment of (alleged) criminals (Ayyildiz 1995;Shotland 1976;Weisburd 1998;Zimring 2003). Similarly, some claim that vigilantism is always a premeditated or organized act (Brown 1975;Dumsday 2009;Johnston 1996), while others also recognize more spontaneous forms (Adinkrah 2005;Huggins 1991;Shotland and Goodstein 1984). ...
... Given that situational factors were found to be important determinants of support for vigilantism in our study, they may also help to explain the occurrence of vigilantism. This topic has received comparatively little attention in the empirical literature, even though some authors have identified a number of conditions that may induce vigilantism (Adinkrah 2005;Shotland 1976;Weisburd 1998). We would argue that vigilantes, just like those supporting vigilantism, are probably motivated by situational aspects in addition to a possible lack (or low level) of confidence in the criminal justice system. ...
Objectives
To empirically examine the absolute and relative impact of situational characteristics and confidence in the criminal justice system on public support for vigilantism.
Methods
In an experimental study with a between-subjects design, members of a Dutch household panel (n = 1,930) responded to vignettes about vigilantism that were varied across two experimental factors: (1) type of precipitating crime and (2) type of formal sentence for the precipitating offender. In the measurement of support, we distinguished between outrage at vigilantism, empathy with the vigilante, and desired punishment for the vigilante. Confidence was assessed 1 month later.
Results
Our findings show that situational characteristics have a substantial and independent influence on support for vigilantism, in addition to the role of confidence. This means that when citizens express support for those who take the law into their own hands, this is not necessarily rooted in a lack of confidence in the criminal justice system. Furthermore, all three measures of support were affected more by the situational characteristics than by confidence.
Conclusions
Citizens are nuanced in their judgment of vigilantism and sensitive to contextual information, which is in line with other recent findings regarding public punitiveness. Future studies should assess whether the findings can be generalized to other settings where citizens cannot rely (as much) on the state to deal with crime.
... We show that lynchings comprise a ritualized bodily emotional process that creates the conditions under which participants develop a desire for communal violent vengeance, a process that can only be properly understood in its broader political context. The prevailing criminological approach perceives vigilante violence as instrumental, namely, as an attempt by ordinary citizens to take the law into their own hands when the state fails to maintain moral order and safety (Abrahams 2003;Goldstein 2003;Adinkrah 2005). It has been shown that when people perceive the criminal justice system to be ineffective, corrupt or illegitimate, they tend to deliver for themselves the services that the latter is supposed to provide, including security, order and justice (Tankebe 2009;Nivette 2016;Tankebe and Asif 2016). ...
... The incident began when a milk supplier shouted that he had been robbed (f). As Colombijn (2002) and Adinkrah (2005) noted, yelling catchwords such as 'thief, thief ' is a common way to mobilize people in countries where judicial self-help is prevalent. As one interviewee remarked, 'Most likely, you have read about our Pashtun society, if someone yells in the market that there is a thief, people will come and punish him without verifying' (1). ...
Based on case studies of seven (attempted) lynchings in Pakistan, we argue that they can be considered lynching rituals, which are instrumental in a context of political strife. 'Shrpsnd anasr' (agi-tators) play an important role as ritual engineers; they assemble crowds by spreading rumours and vocalizing accusations, use rhythmic chanting and slogan repetition to generate a shared vengeful mood and focus the crowd's attention on the (fabricated) encroachment of a moral imperative (notably blasphemy). We conclude that the vengeful effervescence generated in lynching rituals strengthens the clientelistic interdependency networks of religious-political leaders. The contribution of our study lies in demonstrating the importance of bodily practices in lynching rituals and their instrumental political value for both masses and political leaders.
... Much of the early literature on Ghana's democratic transition has not focused on political party militia or vigilante groups as the main sources of this violence. Rather, the primary comparative works explain why there is an incessant use of intemperate language (Danso & Edu-Afful 2012); vigilante homicides in contemporary Ghana (Adinkrah 2005); the aggressive behaviour of party foot soldiers (Frimpong 2010;; essential constituents of the youth Asante 2006); party youth activists and low-intensity electoral violence (Bob-Milliar 2013); and election-related violence in relation to patronage politics ), among many other themes. ...
... Various literature demonstrates that vigilantism exists in varying degrees all around the world. It is usually characterized by violence, instant mob justice, and attempts to supplant the powers of formal police and justice systems (Adinkrah 2005). While some groups may have begun as community watchdog groups, they often metamorphose into violent, aggressive or even criminal gangs that unleash fear and terror into constituents of the population who may be perceived as opponents, rivals or enemies. ...
Since the return to Constitutional rule in 1992, Ghana has made encouraging progress towards the entrenchment of multiparty democracy in an atmosphere of relative stability and political maturity. However, these democratic gains have come about with myriad threats. For instance, incidences of localized electoral violence continues to be the single most critical threat to democratic consolidation in Ghana. Although, the country has not witnessed the wide-scale and atrocious levels of election-related violence and conflicts as happened in other places on the African continent, Ghana’s democracy remains fragile. As Ghanaians prepare for the seventh presidential and parliamentary elections in December 2016, this book, Managing Election-Related Conflict and Violence for Democratic Stability in Ghana II, interrogates the anomaly of increasing the acceptance and encouragement of violence by political actors and its functional utility in Ghana’s democracy from varied perspectives. The various chapters in this volume have shown that, the democratic process in Ghana, particularly the electoral process is not devoid of challenges. It has increasingly become securitized as opposed to accepted practice of people exercising their democratic rights in an atmosphere devoid of fear. The processes leading up to this important political exercise have become associated with apprehension, fear and uncertainty due to the likelihood of election-related violence in Ghana. Violence is most likely to erupt in situations where there are already underlying or ‘root causes’ of conflict. Such causes include the deliberate exclusion of specific groups from the developmental agenda; a history of ethnic and religious tensions; exuberant and idle youth and political vigilante groups ready to be used to fester trouble. This timely book has sought to address some of the conceptual as well as practical challenges confronting the electoral process in Ghana. It’s novelty lies in the ability of the authors to use both empirical data and existing literature to throw more light on both old and emerging security threats as well as general challenges to the electoral process in Ghana. As a result, it provides national stakeholders and policy makers with analyses for reference in formulating strategic responses to the issues raised to ensure a peaceful and credible electioneering period in 2016 and beyond.
... The challenge of using official crime statistics has been well documented (see Adinkrah, 2005;Tankebe, 2013). First, police crime statistics are known to capture only a fraction of actual volumes of crime. ...
... First, police crime statistics are known to capture only a fraction of actual volumes of crime. Second, for various reasons, some victims choose not to report their victimization to the police but, sometimes, choose to take the law into their own hands (Adinkrah, 2005;Tankebe, 2009). Consequently, using such data tends to under-estimate the actual volume of crimes and therefore raise doubts among some readers regarding the worthiness of the analysis (Tankebe, 2013). ...
Geographies of Crime and Collective Efficacy in Urban Ghana. Territory, Politics, Governance. The quest to understand how urban neighbourhood characteristics impact on crime has become an important theoretical and policy-relevant component of contemporary criminology thinking and a potential gauge for the relative value of informal and formal mechanisms of social control. This renewed interest and vigour stems, in great part, from recent works which use social disorganization theory as a spring board to examine the mediating effects of collective efficacy on crime-growth rates. The recent preeminence notwithstanding, the situation in less-developed countries remains under-researched and poorly understood, a situation partly attributable to the dearth of official disaggregated data at the community level. This paper addresses this gap in knowledge by drawing on our empirical study in Accra, Ghana. Our analytical results reveal that crime opportunities are neither uniformly nor randomly organized in space and time, and provide consistent support for lower levels of violent crime in neighbourhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy. While raising concerns about a rigid dichotomy between ‘safer’ and ‘incubator’ crime communities, we also caution that such practices can mislead policy-makers and preclude attempts at devising practical preventive interventions.
... Notwithstanding, areas and communities within the African sub region have not systematically investigated violence occurring from within the community (Kobusingye et al., 2010). The phenomenon of mob violence is sometimes referred to as community vigilantism (Adinkrah, 2005;Harris, 2001). ...
... The concept of mob justice has adequately been explained by Johnston (1996) to mean the use of force in reaction to crime and social deviance for personal and collective security. The variable of security has been reiterated by Adinkrah, (2005) who noted that most violent acts in Ghana are perpetrated by male community members protecting their neighborhood against social deviants. This is to say that predominantly, males are more active in mob violence than females who occasionally would join the act. ...
Abstract
Public administration exists primarily to enforce laws and the extent to which this mandate is carried out
espouses trust among citizenry in the entire political system. The study aimed at assessing the relationship
between institutional effectiveness and civil disobedience in Ghana using the specific case of how perception of
unresponsive police and legal systems do contribute to mob justice. The study adopted the case of Nima
Community in Greater Accra Region. The study sampled 140 respondents involving 40 police officials and 100
community members using the simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Semi-structured
questionnaire was the main research instrument. Findings of the study revealed that mob justice is prevalent in
the Nima community not that the people are lawless per se but it is an action to put ‘the fear of God’ or to deter
potential criminals in the community. More importantly, mob action is perpetrated to ensure justice is given to
individuals for their actions. The study revealed that whilst respondents view the action as barbaric and affront to
human rights and the law, they are compelled to do so because the alternative is probabilistic. The study found
out that, the absence or insufficient law enforcement agents, and the perceived unsatisfactory performance of the
security agents as well as legal system greatly influence mob violence. The study concludes that people perceive
the police system and law courts to be too slow in reacting to issues of stealing, crime, robbery and murder
which to the people demand quick interventions; this suggests that the ability of the law enforcement officials
and agencies to work conscientiously to the satisfaction of the populace does have a greater implication on how
people obey the law and trust the legal regime. Put differently, if the police and law courts work effectively,
professionally, and impartially, it will inspire confidence and trust among community members to report crime
suspects on daily basis without recourse to mob justice. The study makes four main recommendations to help
curb the phenomenon of mob justice.
Keywords: Mob justice, Civil disobedience, Instant justice, Institutions, Developing countries, Ghana
... Even if it is granted that there is no significant gap between people's normative expectations of the police and the legally mandated functions, widespread media reports suggest that the police interpret and apply the law in very parochial terms and that the police fail to meet even minimal requirements of formal procedural correctness. Most Ghanaians view the police as corrupt (Adinkrah 2005;Ghana Integrity Initiative 2005). Data on citizens' complaints against the police are notoriously difficult to access and, where available, are unreliable. ...
... The difficulties are multiplied in Ghana due to poor record keeping and the fact that policing is mainly an urban affair, with most disputes in rural areas and small towns being resolved mainly through indigenous mechanisms (Nukunya 1992;Abotchie 1997). Further, there is a general perception that the police are not trustworthy; people therefore sometimes choose to "take the law into their own hands" in the form of vigilante violence rather than reporting victimization to the police (Adinkrah 2005;Tankebe 2009b). Consequently, the crime statistics I examine here may not reflect the actual volume of crime in Ghana. ...
Ghana is widely considered as “a beacon of hope for democracy in Africa” (Gyimah‐Boadi 2010, 137). Yet substantive democratic transformations of policing have stagnated mainly because the police continue to act as a handmaiden of the state and powerful elites. Consequently, the reliance on performance in crime control and order maintenance as the bedrock of colonial police legitimacy (as judged by colonial administrators) has survived unscathed. Anxieties about violent crime, mainly in urban areas, have accompanied the pursuit of neoliberal economics and politics. Having staked their legitimacy on performance, the police view these anxieties and doubts about their effectiveness as potentially de‐legitimating. They have responded in a highly dramatic but violent fashion, including the extrajudicial killing of suspected violent offenders believed to be the cause of feelings of insecurity. This article examines the nature of this pathway to legitimacy.
... Known in literature as vigilantism, this phenomenon includes the formation of neighborhood watch groups (Hine, 1998) and paramilitary groups (Pedahzur & Perliger, 2003). The modus operandi of the vigilante groups largely gravitates towards the use of violence and impudence, use of brute force, the illegitimate appropriation of the functions of state security agencies, among others (Pedahzur & Perliger, 2003;Adinkrah, 2005; Adigwe, 2013). Generally, the activities of vigilante groups on a political landscape have led to increases in crime and disturbance of peace (Alidu, 2020;Hine, 1998;Baker, 2002). ...
The paper contributes to the burgeoning argument that there exists a relationship between peace and development, and that this relationship is relevant for both political and economic governance. The pursuit of stability, peace, and security is paramount for sovereign states as they are foundational for a nation's well-being, development, and the prosperity of its citizens. Political economy of peace examines the intricate connections between economic and political factors and institutions, and the attainment of these essential objectives. Building on this conceptualisation, authors problematised peace, and hypothesised that there exists a relationship between peace, economy and politics. The paper examined this phenomenon, drawing on theoretical, conceptual and empirical perspectives. Employing exploratory study design, the paper combined in-depth interviews involving 10 participants with secondary data for the analysis. The analysis revealed that peace has become a major concern due to economic, political and ethical dilemmas in most sovereignty states, and that peace is a function of economic and political considerations.
... For this reason, Sankara understands vigilance and selfcriticism as concomitant principles in postcolonial republicanism, such that one principle cannot be effective without the other. Vigilance without selfcriticism could transform the CDRs into instruments that inflict extrajudicial violence and punishment toward other citizens, consequently degenerating revolutionary vigilance into forms of vigilantism that are well documented in the empirical work on contemporary African politics (Abrahams 1987;Adinkrah 2005;Anderson 2002;Buur and Jensen 2004;Heald 2006;Oomen 2004;Pratten 2006;Smith 2019;Tankebe 2009). Self-criticism without vigilance is likely to spiral into internecine wars that stray from protecting the goals of the revolution. ...
The notion that popular vigilance is central to safe-guarding democratic freedoms is a key pillar of republican political thought. Yet, this conception does not translate well to postcolonial contexts without some reconceptualization. In this article, I take up the ways in which two African statesmen and political theorists, Julius Nyerere and Thomas Sankara, reconceptualize the practice of vigilance in the postcolonial context. Both theorists demonstrate that the collective exercise of vigilance is a qualitatively different political practice in the postcolonial context because citizens must simultaneously target internal domination from elites and external domination from international institutions and former colonial powers. Furthermore, they underscore that a shared political vision in the form of a national ethic is crucial for generating and guiding mass practices of vigilance. Doing so, Nyerere and Sankara articulate a distinct tradition of postcolonial republicanism that better conceptualizes the challenges of stabilizing state–society relations in postcolonial Africa.
... Thus, vigilantism is a way for the victim of the offense to reduce the perceived gap and restore a sense of justice. This phenomenon occurs when citizens, from whom the authorities are supposed to derive their legitimacy, do not want the involvement of the law enforcement authorities, when these authorities fail to provide the service, or when the authorities are involved but not to the satisfaction of these citizens (Adinkrah, 2005). However, are distributive justice and the results that people experience the only elements that explain their engagement in vigilantism? ...
What role do the perceptions of clients about the procedural justice that street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) use when implementing policy play in prompting citizens to engage in vigilante actions? Using qualitative methods we examine the unintended effects of SLBs’ implementation of policy on citizens' vigilantism. We contribute to the literature by showing that procedural justice on the street level is in fact an important factor in citizens' decisions to act as vigilantes. Our findings identified three significant factors in these decisions: the citizens’ ability to voice their complaint, the sense that they were treated respectfully and their trust that the police officers would do what they could to deal with their complaint. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that citizens and SLBs do not share the same perceptions of the role of the police as service providers, and that this gap increases citizens' motivations to act independently.
... The vigilante phenomenon is not new and is not limited to Michoac an as it has been documented and studied throughout different regions and countries, such as South Africa, 11 Nigeria, 12 Tanzania, 13 Ghana, 14 Kenya, 15 India, 16 Indonesia, 17 Palestine, 18 Latin America 19 and more recently cyber vigilantism on the web. 20 A number of studies have examined vigilantism in different contexts, however, no study has analyzed the empirical effects of vigilante emergence and removal in an area with a drug cartel presence over a long period of time. ...
When the Knights Templar cartel targeted the people of Michoacan,
vigilantes formed for protection. This study uses a paired sample
t-test to investigate the effect that the emergence and subsequent
removal of the vigilantes and their confrontational approach against
the Knights Templar had on cartel-related crimes. Initially, homicides
increased in vigilante areas, while kidnappings and extortions
decreased. After vigilantes were removed, homicides and kidnap-
pings increased, while extortions decreased. Government removal of
vigilantes allowed for a power vacuum to ensue, allowing violence
to increase. Therefore, violence initially increases with vigilante
presence, then decreases, while increasing again once the group
is removed.
... Scholarly discussions of this rather negative phenomenon have not been dominant in Ghana except in a few instances [8,9,10,5]. Instead, a chunk of discussions of vigilantism in Ghana has taken the form of media commentaries. ...
The chapter explored the extent to which relative deprivation can make young people to take the law into their hands in the name of political party politics in Ghana.
... For example, research on national and regional variation in levels of impunity-the proportion of perpetrators who are not held accountable because the crime is not recorded or because the police cannot identify the suspect-can help to draw attention to major failings in the ability of state to impose punishment through the rule of law. If sizable proportions of homicide perpetrators are not held accountable through legal means, vigilante violence and private retaliation may become a likely form of private justice (Adinkrah, 2005). ...
The likelihood that homicides lead to arrest, conviction, and incarceration of the perpetrators varies widely across world regions. To date, we lack a comprehensive framework that can explain the differences in how homicide cases are processed in different jurisdictions, and how this knowledge can be used to hold perpetrators to account, to advance the rule of law, and to promote equal access to justice. This Special Issue seeks to advance the cross-national and comparative analysis of homicide case flows, from suspicious death to imprisonment. In this Introduction, we outline some analytic priorities that may help in moving the field forward.
... Historical and modern examples illustrate how this situation can become intractable and continue long past the period of conflict. Extreme social disparities in income, wealth, and employment [4] , as well as inadequate policing resources and a general lack of investigative capacity [5] exacerbate the breakdown in trust between communities and police officials [6] . ...
Background:
The phenomenon of extrajudicial "mob justice" and community assault (CA) has been documented in news reports and anecdotes from a number of low- and middle-income countries, but there is little literature on its burden on trauma systems. This study reviews a single center's management of CA victims and compares the spectrum of injuries seen following mob assault with those sustained via other forms of interpersonal violence (IPV).
Methods:
Clinical data, injury details, and mortality among injured patients (age≥18) hospitalized in a South African tertiary referral center from 2012-2018 were abstracted. Patients with penetrating injury or missing ISS were excluded. CA was determined at time of admission by either self-designation or by patients' escorts. Univariate analyses compared the presentation and outcomes for CAs and non-CAs.
Results:
Overall, CA constituted 5% of total trauma admissions and 8% of IPV-related admissions during the study period. Of 1,323 incidents of blunt injury following IPV, 239 (18%) were CAs. One in two CA victims (n=119, 50%) were struck by an identifiable weapon. Patients injured in CA were more frequently male (97% vs 85%), presented with ISS>15 (28% vs 21%), and had a shock index>0.9 (25% vs 19%) compared to non-CA (all p<0.001). Rates of operative intervention, ICU admission, and mortality did not differ (all p>0.05). CAs were more likely to be complicated by acute kidney injury (9% vs 1%, p<0.001) but less likely to involve neurologic complications (3% vs 10%. P<0.001) compared to non-CAs. Acute kidney injury in CA showed a pattern of significant musculocutaneous injury with rhabdomyolysis.
Conclusion:
CA contributes considerably to the high rates of IPV in a single South African center. Victims of such assaults sustain more severe injury with unique mechanisms and subsequent complications. This evidence supports the need to strengthen local governance and improve law enforcement efforts to prevent such violence.
... Scholarly discussions of this rather negative phenomenon have not been dominant in Ghana except in a few instances [8,9,10,5]. Instead, a chunk of discussions of vigilantism in Ghana has taken the form of media commentaries. ...
... Scholarly discussions of this rather negative phenomenon have not been dominant in Ghana except in a few instances [8,9,10,5]. Instead, a chunk of discussions of vigilantism in Ghana has taken the form of media commentaries. ...
Political party vigilantism in Ghana has consistently been on the ascendency since the return to Constitutional rule in 1993. Their activities have usually been during and after elections across the country. By-elections in Atiwa, Akwatia, Chereponi, Talensi, Amenfi West and more recently Ayawaso West Wuogon, have all been marred by acts of violence. Ghana in 2017 recorded for the first time political party vigilante groups storming a courtroom in Kumasi and freeing some of their members standing trial after assaulting a regional security coordinator in the second largest region in the country – Ashanti region. The paper seeks to highlight the dangers inherent in this rather negative development which could reverse the gains Ghana has made in consolidating its democracy. The author relied on secondary data including relevant media publications and statements from civil society organizations, political parties and religious bodies on vigilantism in Ghana. Findings show that the seed of vigilantism has been sowed and allowed to be nurtured to the extent that the parties have taken uncompromising positions in ending the cancer because it borders on political power. A law has been passed but indications are that nothing much is changing. The National Peace Council has intervened yet there is no sign of lasting solution to the problem. The paper concludes that all stakeholders especially the civil society organizations and the religious bodies ought to be objective and bold to openly name and shame political parties whose members engage in negative acts of vigilantism and urge the masses to vote against such parties or else the phenomenon will persist and its ramifications will be disastrous.
... Furthermore, the use or threatened use of force is a necessary element of vigilantism according to Johnston's (1996) definition. This element appears to be the most widely accepted and has received huge endorsement by many scholars including Dumsday (2009), Kowalewski (1982), Adinkrah (2005), Haas, Keijser, and Bruinsma (2012), and Rosenbaum and Sederberg (1974) among many others. ...
This research aims to analyse Ghana's case of Political Vigilantism from a socio-legal perspective. It will focus on how political party executives at the constituency level legitimise the association of their political parties with vigilante groups.
... For instance, The Daily Graphic of June 21, 2001 report of increase abuse of drugs particularly marijuana among students as reiterated by Ghana's Narcotic control board (Amankwa, 2014). In another development, the Ghanaian Times of September 2001 as cited in Adinkrah (2005) also reported that student violence these days involved the use of guns. Another significant revelation about students' indiscipline was in the Daily Graphic, Saturday, June 6, 2016 captioned "Adolescent Pregnancy on the Rise". ...
Indiscipline in schools has attracted the attention of many people and has eventually become the focus of discussions on many platforms. The purpose of the study was to find out the perceptions of teachers and students at the Abuakwa South Municipality of Ghana on student indiscipline behaviours. The study employed the descriptive survey and the approach was concurrent mixed method, involving both quantitative and qualitative paradigms. Purposive and simple random sampling methods were used to obtain a sample size of five hundred and thirty (530) respondents. The main instruments used for the study were questionnaire and a semi-structured interview guide. Data was analysed using inferential statistics and content analysis. Findings from the study revealed that; there was no perceptual difference between students and teachers views on acts that constitute disciplinary behaviours. Additional, there were differences in the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the influences of peer pressure on students’ disciplinary behaviours. It was recommended among others that peer counselling sessions should be organized periodically among students for them to be aware of acceptable behaviours in the school system and how they can maintain desirable behaviours.
... If this reasoning has some merits, then we can attribute the prevalence of vigilante behavior that has riffed the African continent for decades to the distrust Africans have in the court. Throughout Africa, there are countless cases of instances where people have offered street-level justice-known variously as mob justice and vigilantism-to those who they perceived had wronged society (see Adinkrah, 2005;Buur & Jensen, 2004;Seleye-Fubar, Etebu, & Athanasius, 2011;Yeboah-Assiamah & Kyeremeh, 2014). People's overreliance on vigilantism to solve social problems is a clear sign that the formal system such as the court is not capable-both legally and morally-to render justice. ...
The current study’s primary goal was to assess the extent to which specific macro-level conditions cause variation in citizens’ levels of trust in courts across 33 African countries. Using an advanced analytical technique, results revealed that a country’s levels of democracy has a significant and positive relationship with citizens’ trust in the court. However, institutional corruption and crime (homicide rate) had significant and negative relationship with citizens’ trust in the court. Moreover, findings observed indicate that the relationship between macro-level factors and trust in the court is mediated by region of the country. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.
... As a result, the populace retains a continued skepticism towards the criminal justice system (Afrobarometer 2013). 20 Where courts are seen as expensive, slow, and potentially corrupt (Adinkrah 2005;Tankebe 2009), social mobilization outside of courts or the use of customary authority figures may provide alternatives that are seen as more accessible and legitimate (Mokogoro 1996;Crook 2004;Kane et al. 2005;Ubink 2007). ...
In this dissertation, I investigate the relationship between human rights participation and political subjectivity in Ghana. Specifically, I address two primary questions: 1) does participation in human rights-based activities have an impact on individual beliefs about democracy and the state? And, 2) if so, how do these altered beliefs manifest themselves in behavioral changes, including the way that individuals advance claims, settle disputes, and talk about the responsibilities of the state? To answer these questions, I conducted 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in two low-income communities in Accra, Ghana. I argue that participating in human rights activities has had a long-lasting impact on the way that activists settle disputes, the frequency with which they contact government officials, and the way that they speak about corruption and the responsibilities of the state. Although many scholars have argued that the human rights system may be depoliticizing as it universalizes participants and contains their resistance within controllable state channels, I argue for a nuanced understanding of how social and historical contexts may affect the way that citizens encounter human rights and take on rights-bearing subjectivities. In the communities in which I worked, legacies of colonial urban planning and social exclusion have combined to produce a post-colonial environment where residents continue to feel excluded from the governmental processes that regulate their lives. Therefore, for activists living within these communities, even representing oneself in front of the government as an acceptable political subject may feel like a radical act and may have the potential to challenge existing power inequities and alter subjectivity in a way that it may not in other contexts.
... Ghana has a punitive practice towards criminals, notably prosecution, imprisonment, and vigilantism (Adinkrah, 2005;Attafuah, 2008;Tankebe, 2009a) and 'shoot to kill tactics' recently adopted by the police towards armed robbers (Gadugah, 2009;Tankebe, 2011). ...
... Several different offender or offense types were included in these studies: Sex offenders/rapists/sexually-motivated homicide (n = 40); robbers/thieves/burglars/identity thieves (n = 12); murderers (non-sexual) (n = 3); and other (n = 3). Articles in the Bother^category included a study of vigilantes in Ghana (Adinkrah, 2005), human traffickers in Nigeria (Iacono, 2014), and rape victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Maedl 2011). ...
Captive-taking is an extensive international and domestic problem that faces law enforcement, as well as the military and intelligence communities. To date, a modicum of research has been done to understand these offenders and the methods they employ in the commission of their crimes. Understanding the tactics, techniques, and procedures that perpetrators use to execute a captive-taking event will better prepare law enforcement agencies and others to prevent, mitigate, respond to, and recover from captive-taking incidents. The current research is drawn from a pilot study consisting of interviews of seven captive-takers. Consensual qualitative analysis was utilized to draw conclusions from the interview transcripts about the modus operandi of these perpetrators. Sixty-one domains of M.O. were yielded, grouped into 35 core ideas, and cross analyzed with weighted labels identifying the frequency each particular domain/core idea arose. The results presented are unique because they are derived directly from the perspective of the captive-takers themselves and the data were gathered using a systematic methodological approach (Perpetrator-Motive Research Design). Limitations, strengths and future research directions are also discussed.
... Research on vigilantism, although scarce, indeed describes instances of vigilante violence that occurred in response to low satisfaction with police (e.g. Baker 2001, Silke 2001, Adinkrah 2005. ...
This article provides an empirical test of the common assumption that public support for vigilantism is affected by confidence in police. Aside from assessing the role of diffuse (general) confidence in police, we also tested whether police response on a situational level affects how the public views an act of vigilantism. Respondents (N=385) were presented with a vignette about vigilantism. Using an experimental between-subjects design, we varied police responsiveness (high/low) to precipitating crime as well as vigilante violence (high/low). Diffused confidence in police was a significant predictor of support for vigilantism. Additionally, both experimental factors played an important role: low police responsiveness and low vigilante violence led to more support for vigilantism. Citizens are thus sensitive to situational variation when judging a crime. Our findings also emphasise the importance of police action on a local level for the formation of public opinion.
The extant literature claims that vigilante groups protect the traditional societal order by taking the law into their own hands. Vigilantes target entire categories of ‘others’ to prevent and punish their alleged criminality or norm-breaking. These activities are often connected with far-right political movements. However, the literature fails to explain why far-right vigilante groups are frequently involved in purely criminal activities (like extortion or robbery), despite their public presentation as bastions of law and order. This text provides a tentative theory of the political-criminal convergence in political violence under the disguise of community protection against crime and norm-breaking. This theory is demonstrated through the cases of Russia (Russian National Unity), Greece (Golden Dawn), and Ukraine (Azov movement).
Most of the previous studies on vigilante violence suggest that people employ vigilante violence instrumentally to compensate for a lack of state monopoly on violence and the state's illegitimacy in controlling crime. This study, however, highlights the significance of emotions—most notably anger—in explaining approval of vigilante violence. A cross-sectional study was conducted at six Pakistani universities with a sample of 500 students recruited through online surveys. The results of the regression models show that police legitimacy and trait anger independently predict approval of vigilante violence both directly and indirectly via righteous anger. Thus, the findings suggest that people who are easily angered and who perceive the police as corrupt and procedurally unjust feel righteous anger and are likely to approve of vigilante violence.
This paper examines public perception of the effectiveness of Moro Community Vigilante Group (MCVG) in the fight against crimes along major highways that run through Moro Local Government Area, Kwara State. This study employs the mixed method research design utilizing both the quantitative and qualitative research designs using questionnaire, in-depth interview and focus group discussion. The respondents were selected through a purposive sampling technique and the participant exclusion criterion was used to recruit and prepare the participants. Key individuals who are familiar with the topic were nominated. The study reveals that the MCVG is a useful tool for curbing highway crimes in Moro Local Government Area, Kwara State, Nigeria. However, the study also discovers some major challenges undermining the effectiveness of the MCVG in the prevention against highway crimes and other related crimes in the region. Thus, the study recommends that there is the need to strengthen the supervisory capacity of the Nigerian Police Force so that it can effectively monitor the activities of vigilante groups and proactively respond to distress calls from these irregular security outfits. There is also the need for government support in the areas of training and basic operational equipment. Above all, there is need for the urgent rehabilitation of the roads that run through the council areas connecting Ilorin, the state capital to Kwara North Senatorial District and the rest of Southwest Nigeria up to Northern Nigeria.
The reintroduction of sharia legal system and public distrust of the police for its enforcement were the two major events that paved way for the emergence of Hisbah policing organizations in Nigeria. As complementary policing groups, Hisbah have contributed greatly in the enforcement of law and maintenance of peace and social order in the study area. Notwithstanding the above, Hisbah organizations still faces serious problems including: attitudinal challenges involving allegations on human rights breaches which originate from poor training of the personnel; constitutional constraints which challenge the legitimacy of the Hisbah; and jurisdictional constraints which manifest in the recurrence clashes between the Hisbah corps and the Police. In view of the above background, this study examined the contributions of Hisbah to crime prevention and control in the Northwest of Nigeria, their methods of operation, successes achieved, relationship with the Nigeria Police Force and the challenges faced in the course of discharging their duties. Routine activity, social control, social contract, broken windows and inter-group contact theories were used as theoretical framework. A sample of 1620 respondents was selected, from 4 states with statutory Hisbah (Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi and Zamfara)using a multistage cluster sampling for the quantitative data, while purposive sampling method was primarily used to select 21 participants for the qualitative data. The study found out that the various Hisbah organizations in the sampled states: (i) contributed to crime prevention and control; (ii) their activities were desirable and successful; and (iii) their methods of operation were generally described as proactive with emphasis on encouraging what is good and discouraging what is evil. The findings showed that in spite of huge challenges such as inadequate funding, logistics, remuneration, and training of staff, Hisbah remains a force to reckon with as far as crime prevention and control in the region are concerned. Giving the findings above, it is recommended that the various Hisbah organizations in the region should be strengthened by providing them with: proper funding, operation equipment, a reviewed training curriculum, and more training opportunities. In Zamfara State where the study discovered no working relation between the Hisbah and police, the study recommends that such relationship should be established. It was also recommended that further studies should be conducted to cover the entire 3 Northern geo-political zones (Northwest, Northeast and North Central) and that both state-owned and citizens operated Hisbah should be studied on comparative basis.
This article builds on the dearth of academic literature explaining the emergence of vigilante groups by incorporating two different theoretical perspectives: collective efficacy and structural equivalence. Through the use of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), this research sampled municipalities in the Mexican states of Guerrero and Michoacan and operationalized a set of conditions based on previous research and the aforementioned theoretical perspectives. The results of the QCA demonstrate that collective efficacy was associated with the most unique explanatory pathway and provided the greatest coverage of vigilante group formations. Equally important, the conditions operationalized in this analysis provided for a total of four explanatory pathways that explained each vigilante formation without any contradictory outcomes (non-formations).
Mob justice/instant justice/vigilantism in Ghana serves as an indictment on the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, creates a heightened sense of fear among citizens that they could become victims, and also undermines the legitimacy of the police and legal authorities. Several studies have shown that communities use mob justice as a tool to respond to crimes and an ineffective criminal justice system. The current study aims to describe the mob justice situation in Ghana through the lens of the procedural justice theory. Specifically, the study asks the following research question: How does the media in Ghana describe mob justice? Drawing data from two Ghanaian newspapers—the Daily Graphic and The Ghanaian Times—the study relies on the content analysis method to explore how media in Ghana describe mob justice. The study reveals that lynch mobs are more likely to subject males, especially between the ages of 20-29, to lethal punishment than their female counterparts. Men's overrepresentation and women's underrepresentation as victims are theorized to be based on gender stereotypes. Finally, the study does not find support for the procedural justice theory. Thus, the study finds that police effectiveness is not sufficient enough to elicit police legitimacy that will enhance widespread public compliance. The study recommends that the Ghana Police should embark on policing styles that respect the rights and dignity of citizens, in addition to being effective, to remedy the mob justice problem. Further research is needed to combine official homicide data from the Ghana Police and other sources of homicide to highlight the phenomenon in Ghana, given the data source of the current study.
Sororicide has received scarce attention in the homicide literature. This is particularly the case for sororicide incidents occurring in the non-industrialized, non-Western world. To help address this gap in the literature and extend the study of sororicides, the current exploratory, descriptive study examined the major characteristics of 18 media-reported sororicides that occurred in Ghana from 1990 to 2017, including the socio-demographic characteristics of victims and offenders, victim-offender relationship, incident location, modus operandi, motive, and criminal justice outcomes. The results show that sororicide represents a minuscule proportion of all homicides that occur in the country annually. Brothers were overwhelmingly the perpetrators of sororicide, accounting for 17 of the 18 killings. The findings indicate that a substantial proportion of the sororicides occurred in the context of disputes over money, land, property, or inheritance. Two brothers killed sisters they suspected of maleficent witchcraft.
This paper analyzes the totality of legal features of the phenomenon of vigilantism. Within the first chapter, the concept and features of this phenomenon are considered. The second chapter is dedicated to the specialized analysis of legal characteristics of vigilantism. Within the third chapter, the author shows some of the most relevant opinions regarding aforementioned topic which can be found in academic literature. The final, fourth part of this paper aims at a comprehensive analysis of the legal permissibility of vigilant actions. It was noticed that the actions of the vigilantes can take on the features of numerous criminal offences, very diverse in terms of the nature of the legally protected goods. Among other things, it was concluded that there are no legally relevant arguments for the general legalization of vigilantism, although certain circumstances in specific cases could lead to the elimination of unlawfulness, or to the exclusion or reduction of responsibility of the perpetrator-vigilant. This mainly refers to institutes of actual misconduct, necessary defense and its overstepping, as well as to other factors concerning the perpetrator-vigilant, the behavior of the victim of the vigilant action, and the characteristic of a concrete vigilant situation.
This article examines the implications of the traditional justice system for crime control in Oshogbo. It used qualitative methods and a purposive sampling method to select 35 in-depth, 5 key informant interview participants and 3 major streets in Oshogbo, respectively. Data were content analyzed. The study found that the traditional and formal justices reduce customary and complex offenses with norms and laws, respectively. It concludes that a formal-traditional partnership will reduce criminality. It suggests the reorganization and co-optation of state and non-state systems under an institutional umbrella to reduce crime and improve public safety in Oshogbo.
Crash-landings are a recurrent theme in Ghanaian witchcraft discourse. In the society’s witchcraft lore, these are inadvertent aborted flights of purported maleficent witches en route to secret nocturnal witches’ assemblies or in transit to designated locations to implement diabolical witchcraft deeds. While the phenomenon invariably leads to severe mistreatment of the putative witches, no study has systematically explored this purported phenomenon. In this article, I describe the results of an analysis of ten cases of alleged abortive aerial flights of putative witches which were reported in the Ghanaian media over a twelve-year period. In addition to identifying the common characteristics associated with the alleged crash-landings, I provide a summary description of each case. The results show that the alleged witches were overwhelmingly female, elderly and poor, and suffered from some grave psychopathological condition. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Why should democratisation in some countries be associated with an increase in violence, both from civil society and the state? This appears to be counter-intuitive since in our general political imagination, according to the tenets of modernisation theory and in the light of specific examples such as democracy following civil war, we would expect democracy to be associated with more peaceful means of dampening social conflict. However, the patterns of democratisation, particularly following the Cold War, have demonstrated that democracies may be associated with violence.
Enhancing Urban Safety and Security addresses three major threats to the safety and security of cities: crime and violence; insecurity of tenure and forced evictions; and natural and human-made disasters. It analyses worldwide trends with respect to each of these threats, paying particular attention to their underlying causes and impacts, as well as to the good policies and best practices that have been adopted at the city, national and international levels in order to address these threats. The report adopts a human security perspective, concerned with the safety and security of people rather than of states, and highlights issues that can be addressed through appropriate urban policy, planning, design and governance. © United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), 2007. All rights reserved.
Background: Mob-justice poses a medico-legal, social and public health problem in most developing countries including Tanzania and has shown to have negative effects on social and health of the country, communities, and families. This study was conducted to analyze the mob-justice situation in north-western Tanzania to determine the causes and injury characteristics of mob-justice cases and the outcome of treatment among survivors.
This is the theoretical chapter for my edited volume, Vigilantism and the State in Modern Latin America (Praeger). The chapter provides a theoretical perspective for understanding and analyzing extra-legal violence that is both linked and seemingly not linked to the state
Vigilantes pose an unusual problem for law enforcement agencies. On the one hand, police officers can understand where the vigilantes are coming from and even share some satisfaction in the ad hoc punishment meted out to suspected criminals. On the other hand, vigilantes often break the law in their efforts to punish alleged wrong-doers, and sometimes their perceptions of what constituents deviant behaviour is not shared by the legal system. What then are police officers to do? Do they energetically attempt to arrest and prosecute vigilantes - and risk a backlash of negative publicity in both local and wider communities, or do they quietly tolerate vigilantes, in the hope that they are more likely to do good than harm? This article reviews the causes of vigilantism and the motivations of vigilantes. It highlights a number of case studies of vigilante violence and identifies two critical issues: first, that vigilantism is a response by individuals who perceive that a serious and genuine problem exists with deviant behaviour; and second, that vigilantism frequently enjoys high levels of local support. The implications of this for policing policy and practice are assessed.
Vigilantism1 in post-1994 South Africa remains a highly emotional and contentious issue not only politically but also on a community and policing level. In the post1994 era there have been subtle changes from the pre-1994 forms of vigilantism. Vigilante activity in the period before 1990 has largely been explained in terms of political motivations (liberation and struggle ideology or the ‘conservative’ response of covert state supported actions by surrogates or proxy agent provocateurs). In the mid-1980s, individuals and groups often took the law into their own hands in what were perceived to be ‘legitimate’ attacks on agents and structures of the apartheid state. Alternatively, they were seen as pre-emptive, retaliatory or revenge responses to those attacks by other elements and groupings politically opposed to the politics o f ‘struggle’ in the townships (Coleman, 1998; Du Toit and Gagiano, 1993).
Over the past 20 years there has been a wealth of research pertaining to newspaper coverage of crime and its potential effect on public perception and fear of crime. Although research has shown that crimes such as homicide are disproportionately chosen by newspapers as crime stories over other types of crime, there is little known about how accurately this coverage reflects the true reality of violent crime. Specifically, prior research concerning the newspaper coverage of homicide has failed to address issues relating to either prominence of coverage or yearly fluctuations in coverage. The purpose of this research is to explore the difference between the reality of homicide in Houston, Texas, between 1986 and 1994 and the socially constructed reality of homicide as portrayed by newspaper coverage of homicide incidents. Specifically, what differences are there between actual homicide incidents, those that receive cursory newspaper coverage, and those that receive celebrated newspaper coverage?
The current literature on fear of crime in Africa is limited because of the almost exclusive focus on the United States and other Western nations. In Ghana, very little is known about the extent of and the predictors of fear of crime. In this study, an initial attempt is made to assess the determinants of fear of crime at the community-level in Accra. A slightly modified version of the United States’ National Criminal Victimization Survey (Community Policing Questionnaire supplement) was used to collect data from 208 residents in three communities. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses results show that gender, education, age, satisfaction with quality of life in community, type of community, and indirect victimization are significant predictors. However, direct victimization, satisfaction with local police, and “incivilities” in the community are not significant predictors. The results from this study indicate the importance of both individual-level and community-level factors in understanding the fear of crime in the three communities.
The goal of this article is to enhance awareness of witchcraft-related femicides. In Ghana, stereotypes abound of elderly women as witches. In some instances, suspicions or accusations of witchcraft are followed by lethal or nonlethal assault of the supposed witch. This article examines witch beliefs in Ghana and analyzes 13 incidents of homicide committed against women accused of witchcraft during 1995 to 2001. The author presents a genderbased analysis of witchcraft accusations that contextualizes witch murders as a form of gender discrimination. The results indicate that appreciation of the social and cultural contexts, as well as the status of women in the society, is crucial in developing an understanding of witch-related femicides in Ghanaian society. Suggestions for reducing witchrelated violence in Ghana are offered.
This study discusses the trends and patterns of robbery, and reactions to it in contemporary Ghana between 1982 and 1993. It contends that robbery as a crime of opportunity appears to have been prevalent in pre-colonial times as well as during the subsequent period of slavery. Its trends and patterns however, have changed with the introduction of a monetary economy that has resulted in increased opportunities and targets for robbery. The descriptive statistical data derived from official police records conclude that even though the incidence and volume of robbery in Ghana is quantitatively small compared to the rates of other index offenses, and minuscule within the population at large, official reaction to it has been rather swift and merciless. More robbers were executed than offenders in any other category of offenders, save persons accused of preparing to overthrow the government. All the executed robbers were tried by Public Tribunals established by the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) military regime that ruled Ghana from 1982 to 1993. No reason can be assigned to the executions other than deterrence, which raises questions as to its efficacy. Further areas of research, the need to classify the various forms of robberies, the need for the development of policy options, the need for enhanced data collection techniques, and criminal justice reform have been suggested.
This study has explored patterns and motives of spousal homicide in Greece. The data were ob tained from an availability sample of 62 cases of spousal homicides published in daily Greek newspapers which record spousal killings in all of Greece.The findings suggest that spousal homicide in Greece is manifested in certain patterns of occu pational status, gender, age, place of occurrence, method of inflicting death and occurrence of suicide- homicide. The data also tend to support the argument that in spousal homicides the predominant issues are real or imagined sexual infidelity, jealousy and coercive control of the spouse. Patterns and motives of such homicides are generally similar to those reported in other industrial societies, especially Canada and the United States.
The paper delineates what is seen as key challenges to the chieftaincy institution in Ghana. Historical challenges in the form of colonial attempts to sidestep the institution and the attempts by the immediate post independence governments to subjugate and divest them of their economic strength through drastic laws, never cowed the institution. Currently, the 1992 Fourth Republic Constitution bars chiefs from participating in partisan politics thus infringing on their inalienable right of free association. The responses of chiefs to current challenges include the setting up of education funds, participating in HIV/AIDS education, and sensitizing the people on the dangers of environmental degradation. In sum, the noted resilience of the institution will once more assist in containing the challenges to the institution in the 21st century.
Vigilante justice is not new to Jamaica, but recent public support for citizens to take action against alleged offenders outside the justice system has raised troublesome questions about the formal criminal justice system of this Caribbean island. This paper focuses on the roles of formal and informal social control mechanisms in developing countries. Specifically, it discusses the contribution of both informal and formal social control systems and the need to establish a balance for effective crime control. The paper questions developing nations’ emphasis on their own approach to crime control, suggesting that developing countries need to approach crime control through a social justice perspective
The Anambra Vigilante Service (AVS) represents an innovative response to a perceived rise in violent crime. Faced with inadequately resourced and at times corrupt federal policing that failed to restrain crime, local politicians were exposed to charges of poor state government. As a result, Anambra has sought to create an official state organisation out of an unofficial vigilante group. Using local knowledge and counter-violence that shows scant regard for the law or human rights, the group has markedly reduced the incidence of violent crime. Yet though the organisation has a legal basis, the state has found it difficult to maintain control over its activities. It hovers somewhere between official and unofficial, using its popular support to deflect criticism. Its lack of accountability and attitude to the rule of law clearly disqualifies it from being a valid alternative policing strategy within a democracy, although it is increasingly being used as a model of internal security across the country. With little prospect that the Nigeria Police will be resourced and trained sufficiently to make much impression on crime in the near future, it is unlikely that this development will be curtailed. We have a situation, therefore, where, despite the return to democratic constitutionalism in Nigeria, vigilante services such as the Bakassi Boys permit the continuance of authoritarian values and practices.
Nigeria's police and judiciary have failed to protect its citizens and have therefore lost all credibility. European principles of justice have likewise become discredited. Militias like the Bakassi Boys offer a popular alternative, which includes public executions and the use of the occult in fighting evil. But the growing fear of crime is only one reason why ‘jungle justice’ may spread. Governors and influential politicians help finance armed vigilante groups, and may make use of young men with machetes and pump-action shotguns to intimidate political opponents. As an ethnic militia that is ready to defend the interests of the ‘Igbo nation’, the Bakassi Boys have also been used to kill members of other ethnic groups. In many parts of Nigeria, ethnic and religious communities are preparing for ‘self-defence’, because they have no trust in the ability of democratic institutions to settle their conflicts.
This study discusses the trends and patterns of robbery, and reactions to it in contemporary Ghana between 1982 and 1993. It contends that robbery as a crime of opportunity appears to have been prevalent in pre-colonial times as well as during the subsequent period of slavery. Its trends and patterns however, have changed with the introduction of a monetary economy that has resulted in increased opportunities and targets for robbery. The descriptive statistical data derived from official police records conclude that even though the incidence and volume of robbery in Ghana is quantitatively small compared to the rates of other index offenses, and minuscule within the population at large, official reaction to it has been rather swift and merciless. More robbers were executed than offenders in any other category of offenders, save persons accused of preparing to overthrow the government. All the executed robbers were tried by Public Tribunals established by the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) military regime that ruled Ghana from 1982 to 1993. No reason can be assigned to the executions other than deterrence, which raises questions as to its efficacy. Further areas of research, the need to classify the various forms of robberies, the need for the development of policy options, the need for enhanced data collection techniques, and criminal justice reform have been suggested.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 2000. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 298-307). Photocopy.
Despite popular and official concern about an apparent increase in vigilante activity in the United Kingdom, there has been
little serious attempt to conceptualize vigilantism. This paper attempts to establish a criminological definition of vigilantism,
so providing a starting point for future empirical analysis of the subject. The paper argues that vigilantism has six necessary
features: (i) it involves planning and premeditation by those engaging in it; (it) its participants are private citizens whose
engagement is voluntary; (iii) it is a form of ‘autonomous citizenship’ and, as such, constitutes a social movement; (iv)
it uses or threatens the use of force; (v) it arises when an established order is under threat from the transgression, the
potential transgression, or the imputed transgression of institutionalized norms; (vi) it aims to control crime or other social
infractions by offering assurances (or ‘guarantees’) of security both to participants and to others. This approach is distinct
from attempts to define vigilantism as mere ‘establishment violence’ and neither assumes vigilante engagement to be extra-legal
nor to involve the necessary imposition of punishment on victims.
Daily Graphic, p. 3. Upper east lacks magistrates Vigilante justice is no justice The Mirror
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Crime, justice and society: Criminology and the sociological imagination
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Crime victims: An introduction to victimology Public lashes out at judiciary. Daily Graphic
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Victim of mob action identified. Daily Graphic
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What's in a name? Some thoughts on the vocabulary of vigilantism and related forms of ‘informal criminal justice’
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Lack of judges delays justice in N. R. Daily Graphic
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Violence at Akwatia. Daily Graphic Govt will deal with lawlessness—Yakubu. Daily Graphic, p. 3. Dzamboe, T Workshop on dispute resolution Automation improves justice delivery. Daily Graphic
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3 shot dead at Aflao following violent clash with police. Daily Graphic, p. 1. Nigerian jailed for robbery Ukunxityiswa kwem-pimpi itayari njengotshaba lomzabalazo [An exploratory study of insider accounts of necklacing in three Port Elizabeth townships
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Angry mob lynches cop. Daily Graphic Mob attacks Yeji police station. Daily Graphic
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How sex organs are said to vanish! Daily Graphic
- G S Abugri
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The police and mob actions Editorial. Daily Graphic, p. 7. Police officer dconfessedT to robbery The Statesman, p. 1. Police officer suspected to be armed robber arrested
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Govt to reform judicial system. Daily Graphic
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Towards a critically informed policy for dealing with violence in South Africa
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Forensic journalism as patriarchal ideology: The newspaper construction of homicide-suicide Popular culture, crime and justice Woes of Ghana police
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Two armed robbers lynched. Daily Graphic
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Corruption in judiciary confirmed. The Ghanaian Times, p. 1. Watchdog committee for Yawmatwa Daily Graphic, p. 13. Watchdog C'ttees must be vetted Daily Graphic
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3 arrested for lynching. Daily Graphic
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Popular responses and urban violence: Lynching in Brazil
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Making dwitchesT more powerful. Daily Graphic
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Eight die over chieftaincy dispute. Daily Graphic Criminal justice policy
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56 vehicles for police. Daily Graphic
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Farmer placed in custody. Daily Graphic, p. 16. Let's help the police
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Thief lynched by angry mob. Daily Graphic 14 judges sworn in. Daily Graphic
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The genital-shrinking scare spreads like bushfire. . .It has now hit Kumasi. Daily Graphic
- B Ablekpe
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Mob attacks police station. Daily Graphic, p. 16. Revamping the courts should not totter
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