Crime and Punishment in Nigeria: Public Perception of State Laws and Criminal Sanctions

Public perception of state laws and sanctions of the offender are inevitable particularly the nature of crime and punishment in Nigeria society with serious implications for the success or failure of the law and the legal system. The public thinks, believe, and feels about the law and the legal system determine whether people actually turn to law or turn away from if whether the support the law or fight it and therefore whether the legal system succeeds in its social control functions or fails. The cardinal objective of study is to conduct a survey of public perception of criminal laws and sanctions in Nigeria and the research questions were examined the level of public support for state laws, public choices of penalties for criminal offences the perceptions of state law and punishment in Nigeria subgroup population vary in the way of punish offences. The major theoretical framework used for the paper is Marxist theory this explain the inherent contradiction, inequality and division of classes and group in the society. The theory submits that many of the laws in Nigeria are biased in favors of the economically privileged class and the law will not receive much public support. The paper also utilized secondary sources of data analysis the study concluded and recommended that in order to sustain widespread public support for the state laws or even to broaden support. The majority of laws in Nigeria will elicit low or passive support.