Pages: 47-52

Abstract

Different shade of crime and criminality is as old as mankind and has constituted a serious threat to societal peace and development. Nigeria is no exception in this regard as various kinds of criminal activities continues to occur. These ranges from arm robbery, rape, murder, burglary and theft, kidnapping, insurgency to terrorism. This study investigated the nexus between locality and the type of crime among prison inmates in the Owerri prison in Imo State. The study found that there is a high crime prevalence among rural dwellers as 318 inmates out of the 500 respondents were rural dwellers while 182 are urban dwellers. It also found high prevalence of robbery among the respondents as 223 were either robbery suspects in detention or convicted robbers. This closely followed by rape with 127, assault with 72, fraud with 52 and finally murder with a paltry 26. The Study recommended that our criminal Justice system do more neighborhoods and areas of settlement studies in relation to crime rates, this may help to identify some other factors influencing prevalence of patterns of criminality at various locations. It also recommended that adequate social control measures should be put in place to promote public safety and security of properties.