Formal and Informal Crime Control Views in Nigeria and the United States: An Exploratory Study Among College Students

摘要

Formal and informal crime control is used to deter individuals from engaging in criminal behavior. Formal crime control relies on the law and official government agencies to curb criminal actions. Informal crime control relies on moral and social institutions (e.g., family or church) to promote lawful behavior. This study examined the importance of formal and informal crime control in Nigeria and the United States. Using the data collected from 758 college students, the study found that the Nigerian and U.S. respondents differed on most of the formal and informal control questions. Nigerian respondents were more likely to feel that the formal control mechanisms of the police and law deterred crime, whereas U.S. respondents were more supportive of the courts and prisons as effective forms of control. Nigerian students were more likely to feel that shame, neighborhood watches, and surveillance by neighbors were effective forms of informal social control. Both Nigerian and U.S. respondents felt that being rejected by family, neighbors, and peers was effective at deterring crime except for repeat offenders when formal punishment was viewed as being more effective. When asked to rank formal and informal crime control mechanisms, Nigerian students ranked family first, followed by corrections, courts, police, neighborhood, peers, and schools. U.S. students ranked family first, followed by police, corrections, courts, peers, schools, and neighborhood.View full textDownload full textKEYTERMSFormal crime control, informal crime control, college students’ views, Nigeria, the United StatesRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15377931003761037