Crime Forecasting and Planning in Developing Countries: Emerging Issues

Abstract

In recent times, there is the growing manifestation among stake holders that crime cannot be controlled exclusively through the action of the police and criminal justice administrators. This reality has brought about the idea of new forms of approach on crime prevention against the backdrop of the apparent failure of the police, courts and prisons to stem the rising crime rates in many societies. Thus, the prevalence of crime necessitates the study of geographical and communal setting of environment in order to adopt a most effective approach to tackling crime. The paper reiterates that criminal statistics is a tool for answering questions, helps to approach the study of crime and justice from the scientifi c world and the facts obtained may aid in dealing with the crime problem, but reliance on crime statistics must be done with circumspection. The study reveals that many crimes are committed but never reported to the police, while of those reported, many are not recorded, and of those recorded, and many are not summarized or reflected in statistical tables. The initial stages of the criminalization process depend heavily upon the victims commitment to “making a complaint” which entails their acceptance of the burdens that may follow, with a preparedness to take the matter all the way to court and, if necessary, to give evidence. Also, the victims’ attitudes a times affect the figures generated for crime statistics. In some other instances, the police may not record a crime reported, if the police authority in their own discretion regard such incident as purely domestic matter or those that are too trivial to be investigated. The paper concludes that crime is assuming a frightening dimension as virtually everybody is becoming vulnerable to criminal attacks, brutal acts of terrorism, armed robbery, assassination, ritual killings, cultism, bombing, kidnapping and the like that are now prevalent and very alarming.

Key words: Crime; Police; Criminal Justice; Administrators; Statistics; Complaint; Terrorism; Armed robbery; Assassination; Killings; Bbombing; Kidnapping