Admin – Page 4 – Professor Aborisade

Policing rape and serious sexual offenses in Nigeria: Officers’ experiences and appraisal of police investigative approaches

The article explores the lived experiences of investigative police officers in managing rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) in Nigeria, a developing country with a conservative patriarchal system and deep-rooted rape culture. A qualitative study involving 24 sexual crime investigating police officers of six states’ police commands in southwest Nigeria was conducted, and a thematic analysis of the narratives was carried out. Findings indicated police efforts at addressing RASSO are constrained by inadequate resources, deficiencies in personnel skilled in RASSO investigation, lack of specialist training, and low motivational incentives. Participants reported problematic interactions with RASSO victims and made comments that communicated their acceptance of rape myths, including beliefs surrounding victim culpability and false reporting. The study suggested the reimagining of police strategies at improving rape investigations by deploying specialist approaches to policing RASSO. Deploying specialism will require engaging officers with knowledge and skills in investigating rape cases, better engagement with the victims, specialist training, and addressing rape script acceptance among sexual crime detectives.

Aborisade, R.A., Adegoke, N., Adeleke, O.A., Ebobo, U.C., Ogunmefun, F.M., Chineyemba, L.I., Adedayo, S.S. (2024) Policing rape and serious sexual offenses in Nigeria: Officers’ experiences and appraisal of police investigative approaches, Police Practice and Research: An International Journal, 25(3) 251-268

“Elders in Prison: Their Health Status, Well-Being and Health-Promoting Behaviours in Nigerian Prisons”.

As prisons in Nigeria continue to witness ever growing number of aging women and men, concerns have been raised on the adequacy of the facilities in correctional institutions in the country to meet the support needs of the elderly inmates. Therefore, in order to advance knowledge on the well-being of elderly inmates in Nigeria’s correctional facilities, and as a way of supporting global empirical interests in the management of the elderly in corrections, this present study examined the capacity of prisons in Ogun State to cater for the health and other physiological needs of the elderly under incarceration. Guided by an integration of importation and deprivations theories, the study conducted a qualitative exploratory research at two purposively selected prisons in Ogun State. Through in-depth and key informant interviews, primary data were collected from 27 purposively selected inmates that were above age 55 and four officials of Ibara, Abeokuta and Ijebu-Ode prisons. The disposition of the elderly prisoners to report their health status was found to be low due to their perception that the prison authorities will not assist them medically, fear of stigmatisation, fear of confinement in solitary cells, and negative attitude of prison officials. The well-being of the elderly were further threatened by lack of proper diet, overcrowded rooms, lack of proper room ventilation, lack of regular exercises, inhaling of cigarette smoke from other inmates, irregular bath due to insufficient water, violence from other inmates, mosquito and other insect bites, sleeplessness due to discomfort and inadequate bedding facilities. In the light of the evidence provided by this present study, there is need to stress the benefits of improved health education and health awareness among the older prisoners. The government through the prison

authorities should also show more commitment to the management of health of the aged in prisons.

Aborisade, R.A., Omotayo, T.O., and Oshileye, T.A. (2016) “Elders in Prison: Their Health Status, Well-Being and Health-Promoting Behaviours in Nigerian Prisons”. Nigerian Journal of Social Studies, XIX (2) 85-106.

Differential Treatments of Prison Inmates and Implications on Nigerian Criminal Justice System

In recent years, series of protests have broken out from various prisons across Nigeria as fallout of differential treatments of prisoners and poor condition of correctional facilities. Questions have been raised about the rationality of the disparate treatment of inmates along socioeconomic lines. This present study examined the reported segregation of inmates within the context of the correctional good of prison system. From the inductive analysis of 49 qualitative interviews with ex-inmates of prisons, prison officials and legal practitioners, a pattern of unofficial discrimination of prisoners along socioeconomic lines emerged. Findings reveal that selection of inmates for disparate treatment is corruption-laden. It is submitted that in order to progressively realise and improve the administration of justice and the prison system in Nigeria, the government and other stakeholders should review reports of panel of inquiry into the country’s prison system, establish prison-reporting scheme for inmates, and rehabilitate prison facilities.

Aborisade, R.A. (2019) Differential Treatments of Prison Inmates and Implications on Nigerian Criminal Justice System, Ibadan Journal of Sociology, 9 (1) 29-46.

Gender and Sentencing in the Nigerian Justice System: Are Women Given Preferential Treatments?

In contemporary criminology, gender differences in criminal court outcomes for women and men are almost axiomatic. The literature has offered significant data on the impact of gender on sentence severity. However, most of these studies have been based in the United States and other developed societies, while primarily focusing on the effect that offender characteristics have on sentencing outcomes. Drawing from the theoretical position of judicial paternalism, this present study, explored gender-implied extra-legal factors that interplay in the process of sentencing in federal courts. Findings from the analyse of qualitative accounts of federal high court judges, legal counsels, police officers and prison officials, are broadly consistent with large body of literature in the field. In particular, gender related conditions like being in a state of pregnancy, nursing mothers, single mother or lone parenthood, and widowhood were found to facilitate disparate sentencing. Future research directions from this analysis are discussed.

Aborisade, R.A. & Adedayo, S.S. (2020): Gender and Sentencing in the Nigerian Justice System: Are Women Given Preferential Treatments?, Gender and Behaviour, 18(2) 15581-11590.

Feminisation of Poverty and the Povertisation of Women in Nigeria: A conceptual analysis and Implications for female criminalities.

Extant literature has considerably posited that structural decreases in access to services and income make women increasingly vulnerable to poverty. A divide of the body of knowledge on women’s poverty status used feminization of poverty to infer poverty among women as a function that primarily focuses on the changes in family structure. Another divide argued that the povertization of women better captures the long history of female economic impoverishment and exploitation. In this article, an analysis of these two perspectives was done to review social constraints that uniquely contribute to women’s poverty in Nigeria. Guided by liberal feminist-structural theory, a narrative approach was adopted to engage literature on women’s poverty in Nigeria, social constraints for women’s empowerment, and women’s participation in property crimes. Evidence from the review shows that both perspectives of feminization of poverty and the povertization of women apply to the case of Nigerian women. Explanations for women’s participation in property crimes were established within the context of poverty and economic marginalization. The authors examined the implications of female criminality on the overall fabric of Nigerian society and argued for a reversal of socioeconomic conditions that continues to emasculate womenfolk from economic enterprise. Specifically, adoption of social policies to support single mothers and mother-only families, recognition of the economic value of women’s unpaid labor, and encouragement of women’s active participation in politics, were suggested.

Oduwole, E.A. and Aborisade, R.A. (2023) Feminisation of Poverty and the Povertisation of Women in Nigeria: A conceptual analysis and Implications for female criminalities. Gender and Behaviour, 21(2) 21829-21838

“A Qualitative Exploration of the Coping Strategies of Female Offenders in Nigerian Prisons”

Deprivation and importation theories propose that the experience and adjustment of inmates to prison life is dependent on the restrictive prison milieu and their pre-prison experiences and orientation. This implies that prison’s sub-culture mediate the relationship between demographic characteristics and adjustment to prison life. Although this core assumption underlies both theories, few researchers have attempted to test its validity, while those that does have largely focused on male offenders. Guided by an integration of the two theories, this current study explored the specific gender-related challenges that female inmates of Nigerian prisons are confronted with and the adjustment measures adopted by female prisoners. Qualitative, in-depth oral interviews were employed to gather information from 32 purposively selected female inmates and six prison officials of Ijebu-Ode and Old Abeokuta prisons. There are evidential supports for the integrative/alliance theory as key findings of this study confirm determinants of adjustability of the inmates to prison life as including age, level of religious commitment, years of incarceration, prison history, and pre-prison experience like socioeconomic, marital (especially those with children) and educational status. Various strategies used to adjust to prison life by the inmates included self-withdrawal, indulgence and some level of social reclusion (asceticism); forging cordial relationships with fellow inmates and staff; and participating very actively in the religious programmes within the prisons. The study suggests that both government and nongovernmental organisations should intervene and develop social supports that recognise the biogenic peculiarities of female inmates in order for the prisons to meet the two objectives of rehabilitating and reforming the female offenders.

Aborisade, R.A. and Fayemi, J.A. (2016) “A Qualitative Exploration of the Coping Strategies of Female Offenders in Nigerian Prisons”, International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, 9 (1) 1-22

Motivations and Mechanism of Child Sexual Abuse: The Narratives of Adult Male Offenders in Nigerian Prisons

Undoubtedly, there has been an increase in public awareness and concern about child sexual abuse in Nigeria in recent years. However, in spite of the fact that researchers have made substantial contributions to a previously scanty body of literature on child sexual abuse, minimal attention has been given to juvenile sex offenders. Therefore, this present study explored and described the motivations and mechanisms adopted by child sexual offenders in perpetrating sexual abuse on the underage. Drawing on Finkelhor’s Precondition Model of Child Sexual Abuse, their psychosocial and psychosexual histories, motives for sexually abusing young children, mode of operation and events leading to sexual abuse of the children were investigated. Qualitative analysis of official demographic and offence history data, and in-depth interviews of 29 purposively selected offenders in Ikoyi, Kirikiri Medium and Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, Lagos reveal that most perpetrators of child sexual abuse are related to or known to the victim. After winning the confidence of victims’ parents and organising ‘time alone’ with the children, offenders deploy various gradual desensitisation strategies to get their victims to take part in the sexual activity. There is need for public awareness and understanding of the common tactics that are employed by offenders to seek opportunities for time alone with their victims while children can equally be made to be aware of pre-offence behaviours of potential offenders and be taught self-protective strategies to keep them safe.

Aborisade, R.A. and Shontan, A.R. (2017) Motivations and Mechanism of Child Sexual Abuse: The Narratives of Adult Male Offenders in Nigerian Prisons, Ife Psychologia, 25 (1) 244-265

‘Killing the Beloved’: Psychosocial Factors Facilitating Spousal Homicide in Nigeria

The prevalence of spousal homicide in Nigeria appears to have been on the increase in recent years, sparking criminological and public health concerns. Meanwhile, research on family violence has vigorously focused on spousal abuse, trends and prevalence of domestic violence, and risk factors, while the most severe of violence-the killing of a spouse, has not received an equal amount of attention. Leaning on eclectic adoption of social learning, resource, victim precipitation and traumatic bonding theories, this present study advanced knowledge in family violence by examining the psychological and sociological factors that played roles in pathways to spousal homicide. Qualitative analysis of official demographic and offence history data, and in-depth interviews of 18 purposively selected offenders of spousal homicide in celled housing units in Kirikiri Maximum, Kirikiri Female and Ikoyi Prisons reveal that childhood experience of violence and abuse is strongly connected with perception and perpetration of violence in marital life. The events leading to the death of spouses suggested that the killings were accidental rather than premeditated, however, the use of dangerous weapons were prevalent. There is a clear empirical evidence to suggest that qualitatively, men who kill their spouses do not differ greatly from those who use nonlethal violence. It is suggested that parents, religious leaders and significant others should be more attentive to situations between couples and base their interventions on the wellbeing of the couples rather than religious dictates and social desirability alone. It is essential that an understanding of spousal homicide is continuously pursued and that steps are taken to reduce the likelihood of spousal homicide—the final abuse.

Aborisade, R.A. and Shontan, A.R. (2017) ‘Killing the Beloved’: Psychosocial Factors Facilitating Spousal Homicide in Nigeria, Ife Psychologia, 25 (2) 350-365

Sexual Abuse of Elderly Women in Nigeria: A Sociological Exposition of an Emerging Crime

Indeed, appreciable research has considered the dynamics of sexual assault involving young victims. However, very little criminological research has considered the dynamics of sexual abuse of elderly people. To fill this void, this current study developed a profile of sexual abuse cases among women aged 50 and older, based on the accounts of their abusers. Specifically, the study investigated the motives and mechanisms for sexual abuse of the aged in the country as well as the factors that account for the vulnerability of aged women. A sample of 21 elderly sexual abuse offenders from six prisons in Ogun and Lagos states were purposively engaged to shed some light on the nature and dimensions of sexual abuse of elderly women in the country. Results from qualitative analyses of official demographic and offence history data, and in-depth interviews of offenders challenge a couple of commonly held beliefs, assumptions and assertions about sexual abuse of elderly in literature, news journals and public discourse. As against a general belief that young men that sexually abuse older women are ‘money ritualists,’ this study found sexual violence history, mental illness, substance abuse, and sexual deviancy as factors fuelling perpetrators’ action. The majority of perpetrators were intrafamiliar offenders who are family members, neighbours, workers and associates of the victims. Offenders expressed awareness of usual non-reporting of sexual victimisation by the abused, which is a factor that encourages intrafamiliar offending. As a growing social menace in Nigeria, sexual abuse of the elderly is factored by neglect, and exposure of adults to both environmental and situational pressures. Therefore, proper caregiving, meeting of essential needs of the elderly, response from the criminal justice system and encouraging reportage of sexual victimisation are suggested.

Adedayo, S.S. and Aborisade, R.A. (2018) Sexual Abuse of Elderly Women in Nigeria: A Sociological Exposition of an Emerging Crime. The Nigerian Journal of Anthropology and Sociology. 16 (2) 13-21.

Police abuse of sex workers in Nigeria: evidence from a qualitative study

Scant public attention has so far been paid to police abuse of sex workers in Nigeria, in spite of the overwhelming evidences of incessant abuse of authority by the Nigeria Police which has led to sexual assault of women and girls during patrol, arrest and detention. Hence, this paper presents an empirical exposition of human rights abuses of street-based sex workers by officers of the Nigeria Police and its inherent public health implications. Qualitative data were collected for the study from 56 street-working commercial sex workers in the red-light district of major roads within the city of Ibadan. Police abuse of street-based sex workers was found to be rampant and comes in the form of economic extortion, verbal intimidation, sexual assault, and physical manhandling. The negative condom use habits of officers during sexual assault of the sex workers was identified as having grave public health consequence. The paper ends with the suggestion that the Nigerian authorities, judicial and legal officials, civil society groups and the international community should initiate and support reforms of policy, law and practice in Nigeria that seeks to protect women and girls from rape and other forms of violence perpetrated by state actors.

Aborisade, R.A. (2019) Police abuse of sex workers in Nigeria: evidence from a qualitative study, Police Practice and Research 20 (4), 405-419 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15614263.2018.1500283.