Youth Crime and Justice Administration in Nigeria: The Inmates' Experiences, Perceptions and Outcome

Abstract

This paper examined young offenders' perception of youth justice systems operative in contemporary Nigeria. The young offenders' experiences and perception are used as variables to measure the effectives of the youth justice systems in reducing youth crime in Nigeria. The data obtained from a Ph.D. research on young offenders committed to custody in the Kaduna Borstal Institute and newspaper reports on Islamic Remand Centres were used to conduct the analysis. It is found out that at each successive stage of youth justice adjudication, the young offenders are dissatisfied with the procedures of the system. The paper concluded that the harassment, intimidation and coercion the young offenders experience rather hardened them, thus, making them perpetual criminals. This in the final analysis led to an increase in youth crime in Nigeria. Because the youth justice systems both the contemporal and the Islamic fail to curb youth crime.