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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:55 am
Time: 11:55 am
Results for juvenile delinquency (kenya)
1 results foundAuthor: Masese, Grace Title: Crime and Violence Trends in Nairobi, Kenya Summary: This paper examines the phenomenon of youth crime in Nairobi especially in relation to youth gangs. The case pays special attention to the Mungiki movement and street families. It also examines some of the organized responses to crime of this nature. As the administrative, political and commercial capital of Kenya, Nairobi is a significant trendsetter in the country. The city holds approximately 3 million residents, 10% of the Kenyan population. An additional 1.5 million persons from neighboring districts come to work in the city on a daily basis. In addition the industrial satellite towns; Mavoko, Thika, Ruiru, and Kikuyu depend on Nairobi’s facilities such as water supply, schools and health facilities among other amenities for their survival. The city also provides services to a large population in the neighboring rural, peri-urban and urban areas of Kiambu, Kajiado, Machakos, and Thika districts. The status of Nairobi as a national hub acts as a powerful magnet for people from rural areas in search of better opportunities, resulting in a great strain on the city’s capacity to handle the influx. The growth of slums and mushrooming of unplanned and unauthorized settlements such as Kibera, Mathare and Mukuru kwa Njenga, within the city and its peripheries is a direct consequence of this migratory tide. Informal settlements are found in all the divisions of Nairobi. These settlements vary in size and density, are characterized by very poor environmental and health conditions, inadequate shelter, unemployment and insufficient services. Over 60% of the population of Nairobi resides in informal settlements.1 The problem of crime in Nairobi is closely associated with but not limited to informal settlements due to various reasons such as: • limited opportunities for gainful legal employment and consequently fertile grounds for the nurturing a sense of helplessness and hopelessness; • often neighboring most affluent residential neighborhoods makes theft and robbery an attractive option for idle youths • frequent eviction of the inhabitants from their residence pushing the poor into criminal activities; • easy hideout for criminals as formal social control institutions are weak coupled with inadequate accessibility among others. This is in line with the structural and organizational perspective that regards crime as a product of social change and its influence on behaviour in specific cultural, political, economic and social contexts. For example, forces existing in the deprived and demeaning conditions of living for the lower classes in society may push many of their members into criminal behavior, resulting in increase in crime rates;‘Crime does not happen spontaneously. It grows out of an unequal and exclusive society and out of lack of institutional and social control’2. The cultural perspective views delinquent behavior in groups among the lower classes as a protest against norms and values of the upper classes. Since lower class individuals are unable to achieve success legitimately they experience a cultural conflict, which is referred as status frustration, and often join in gangs and engage in behavior that is legally non-conformist. Therefore, crime has been viewed as sub-culture among certain groups that represent a value system directly opposed to that of the larger society. Details: Case study prepared for Enhancing Urban Safety and Security: Global Report on Human Settlements 2007. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 22, 2013 at: http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/GRHS.2007.CaseStudy.Crime.Nairobi.pdf Year: 2007 Country: Kenya URL: http://www.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/GRHS.2007.CaseStudy.Crime.Nairobi.pdf Shelf Number: 129134 Keywords: Juvenile Delinquency (Kenya)ViolenceYouth Gangs |