Abstract
This chapter traces the history of kidnapping as a precursor to the recent spike in violent crimes in Nigeria. The crime of kidnapping is not a new crime in human history. Many nations have experienced and dealt with this crime before the recent spike in Nigeria. The purpose of this chapter is to study the crime of kidnapping in Nigeria and other countries and to examine the responses and lessons learned that may be adopted for reducing kidnapping in Nigeria. Using the rational choice and strain theories as the criminological framework for understanding kidnapping in present-day Nigeria, the chapter explores the psychological aspects of the crime. This chapter also presents statistics from SBM Intel, a research and communications consulting firm that collects and analyses data to influence change in Africa. The chapter further sheds light into how Nigeria has been dealing with the crime of kidnapping and concludes with policy implications and recommendations.
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04 November 2021
The original chapter was inadvertently published with incorrect affiliation of one of the authors ‘Ifeoma E. Okoye’. The affiliation has been corrected in the chapter as below:
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Oludare, A.M., Okoye, I.E., Tsado, L.K. (2021). An Exploratory Study on Kidnapping as an Emerging Crime in Nigeria. In: Chan, H.C.(., Adjorlolo, S. (eds) Crime, Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71024-8_5
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