Voices from Behind the Bars: Kidnappers’ Natural Self-Accounting Views, Perceptions, and Feelings on Kidnapping in the Southeastern States of Nigeria

Otu, Smart; Nnam, Macpherson Uchenna; Uduka, Uchenna Kalu

doi:10.1080/24732850.2018.1471649

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Appeal for defeasibility: In the appeal for defeasibility, an offender tries to account for his/her behaviour by denying any intention to cause the admitted and proscribed harm, or by claiming a failure to foresee the rather unfortunate outcomes of one's act, or both. (see Egbegi et al 2018;Otu et al 2018) Our respondents claim that they never intended to harm their victims nor expected that their victims would die in the manner they did.…”

Section: Excusesmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…In the words of Otu, Nnam and Uduka (2018), 'the motive behind a particular criminal conduct is of resounding relevance to researchers'. It is particularly germane in the study of church killings 'because it delves deeply into the direct and indirect, immediate and remote reasons why people engage in sustained attacks on churches'.…”

Section: The Motives Behind Sanctuary Killingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is particularly germane in the study of church killings 'because it delves deeply into the direct and indirect, immediate and remote reasons why people engage in sustained attacks on churches'. From the respondents' accounts, and building upon the works of previous scholars who have carefully analysed the motives of other categories of crimes (see Egbegi et al 2018;Emeh 2011;Evelyn 2018;Otu et al 2018…”

Section: The Motives Behind Sanctuary Killingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sad tale: According to Otu et al (2018) and Pogrebin, Poole and Martinez (2012), 'sad tale depicts an account of number of disappointing experiences, conditions or circumstances which both collectively and cumulatively are used to explain and justify the actor's illegal behavior'. This is a kind of whipping up sentiment or what we refer to here borrowing from Sykes and Matza (1957) as 'appealing to higher authority'.…”

Section: Justificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I also felt bad!' (P8, 33 years old, interviewed on 17 November 2019) Scapegoating: 'Scapegoating is all about shifting one's blameworthiness to others for one's untoward behaviour' (Otu et al 2018):…”

Section: Excusesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Exploring the reasons for perennial attacks on churches in Nigeria through the victims’ perspective

Anthony

Obasi

Deborah

et al. 2021

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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Although there are several provisions within the Nigerian legal framework that, however, address the issue of church attack, the state capacity to implement effective constitutional sanctioning on perpetrators of this heinous crime has always been found wanting or completely absent, leading to countless religious attacks on churches with seeming state consent. This study employs semi-structured interviews to draw data from affected families from Benue and Enugu States, Nigeria. The article explored their experiences. The study participants were recruited through snowball sampling technique, and data were analysed thematically. The respondents stated that church killings or killing of Christians is rising because of the fact that perpetrators stand lower risk of detection and apprehension than other crimes. Also respondents interrogated that justification for the crime is land acquisition and religious intolerance. On the persistence of the challenge, all the 13 respondents stated that the crime seems to have state approval that has made it seemly impossible to tackle. The article calls for continuous inter-religious dialogue and intentional governmental responsibility in protecting lives of all persons living within the geographical enclave of Nigeria which is necessary for the common good. Closer understanding of other faiths and religions will help build bridges of peace and tolerance. The article also calls for the need to promote African traditional values, such as the value of sacredness of life, human respect and good neighbourliness.Contribution: This study initiated the discussions that will help the public understand the reason for continuous church attacks in Nigeria, what church crime connotes in the Nigerian context and its uniqueness from other crimes. These discussions sit quite well within the transdisciplinary religious perspective of this journal.

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Section: Excusesmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: The Motives Behind Sanctuary Killingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Motives Behind Sanctuary Killingsmentioning

confidence: 99%