Homicide in Western Nigeria

Abstract

Homicide is a universal phenomenon which occurs both among developed and developing communities, but to a varying extent. Homicide in this context does not include the lawful killing of criminals convicted of capital offence, or killing in war or in conditions of political strife. Considerable work has been done on various aspects of criminal homicide in many countries—Verkko (1951) in Finland, Jacqueline H. and Murray A. Strauss (1953) in Ceylon, Wolfgang (1958) in the United States. The book African Homicide and Suicide edited by Paul Bohanan (1960) contains only a chapter on homicide among the Tivs of Central Nigeria, and this is based on a retrospective study of case files. Lambo (1962) reported twenty-nine cases which he had interviewed for the courts; these came from the whole of Nigeria, and therefore represent different peoples and cultures.