The impact of economic recession on adolescent criminality in Nigeria

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Sociology - Law, Delinquency, Abnormal Behavior, grade: 4.0, University of Benin, language: English, abstract: The work determines if the economic recession in Nigeria has any influence on criminal behaviour amongst youths. The specific objectives of this research are to identify the causes of recession, to determine the social implications of economic recession on the society, to ascertain the increase in the level of crime amongst youths in economic recession and to ascertain the patterns of crime committed by youths in periods of economic downturn. The author examines the influence the downturn of the economic had on the criminal behaviour among youths, most especially those based in Benin City, Edo State Nigeria. Therefore, data from pre-economic recession to post-economic period recession has been analysed. A combination of a longitudinal and cross sectional study survey was used in order to gather the needed data from subjects, newspapers and crime statistics. The author discovered that the fall in the price of crude oil and poor economic policy were the major causes of economic recession in the period. During this period there were closure of businesses resulting from low patronage and high cost of doing business in the country. There was a high rate of unemployment which resulted tin social instability and youth restiveness in the state.