SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF CRIME IN GBOKO METROPOLIS, GBOKO LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF BENUE STATE, NIGERIA
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Abstract
Crime is the intentional commission of an act usually deemed socially harmful or dangerous and specifically defined, prohibited and punishable under criminal law. This study is a sociological analysis of crime in Gboko Metropolis; Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria with the objective of examines the causes of crime in Gboko Metropolis, Gboko Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria. Anomie and rational choice theories were used. A social survey design was adopted. A survey of 384 respondents was drawn, using clustered sampling techniques. Primary and secondary data were utilized in the study. The primary data were generated through the use of questionnaires and Focus Group Discussion. The questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively using tables; frequency, percentage, chi-square and Focus Group Discussion were transcribed verbatim. The result shows that there is high level of crime in Gboko metropolis and that peer group influence, poor socialization, economic hardship, drug abuse, crime infested environment, unemployment, parenting styles and partisan politics were the causes of crime in the study area. The study recommends that government should always provide the law enforcement agencies with an enabling environment to fight or combat crime by providing them with all the necessary equipment and not just the equipment but the sophisticated ones and there is the need for reorientation of the Nigerian value system in the prevention and control of crime in Nigeria. Deviant related values like ―the end justified the means‖ must be promptly reproved, so as to disabuse the minds of the people from adopting crime as an alternative means for actualizing their socio – political and economic aspiration or goals.