THE NIGERIA CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS IN CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR CONTROL: A SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

In the wake of seemingly normalized criminality and its unabated wave in Nigeria and the need for concerted efforts to understand its pervasiveness, this paper examines the role of the Nigeria criminal justice system (CJS) in criminal behavior control. The effectiveness of the CJS was analyzed as an instrument of social justice and criminal behavior control. From the point of view of some socialpsychological theories and concepts, the paper submitted that the lack of credibility on the part of the communicators, the Nigeria CJS (i. e. the police, lawyers, judges, and the prisons), in their administration of justice and the laws has been responsible for an avalanche of social injustice, lack of discipline and lawlessness in Nigeria and Nigerians. The Nigeria CJS, who constitutes the supposed custodians of the laws, is largely indicted, therefore as responsible for the ineffectiveness of the system in criminal behavior control. This paper therefore argues that once the image of the Nigeria CJS is rebuilt, through positive behavioral change, for its actors to be accepted as legitimate and credible instruments in ensuring compliance with the law, it then becomes easy to control criminal behaviors among Nigerians as Nigeria CJS actors are significant models for social influence and behavioral change.