| dc.description.abstract | Kenya is one of the rapidly developing countries in the world, Together with this development, Kenya is also befallen with high crime rate. It is because of this high crime rate experienced in Kenya to-day that we found it necessary to open up the door to some research on crime identification and crime reduction. Due to the limited scope of this dissertation and the time
allocated to the same we have chosen to discuss in detail only the crime of theft. However, for illustration purposes other crimes are touched on. The main aim of this research has been to ascertain whether the present criminal justice system is achieving its goals whether, the criminal, after punishment in this country fits the model aimed at by the punishment which is administered. It is believed that this kind of research coming from a person who is outside the criminal justice system may be less biased and hence acceptable. There is a saying, which most of us might have heard, that if you stand too close to the portrait, you get a great view of the nose but you could not see the face So it is with many who work within the criminal justice system . The head of unit may have a tendency to limit his or her world to the boundaries of that unit There is also a tendency to confine that unit’s goals within the units boundaries , The heads of different segments of the criminal justice system may have different points of focus. For the police, it may be the number of arrests. For prosecution or prosecutors, it may be the number of prosecutions resulting in conviction. For , the deference lawyer, it may be the number of acquittals. However, each head shares the same ultimate goal, the reduction of crime. One problem arises. That is, that, by becoming near sighted and losing peripheral vision, each one can fail to see the large goal. Each can therefore, quite unwittingly, contribute to overall failure to reach the goal. In the world, people live in groups. Within these groups there are deviants. That is, persons who cannot or will not conform to the rules. Still, the society in an effort to maintain its integrity attempts to control their behaviour through folkway s. mores, and laws , those who violate criminal law are dealt with through the usual government machinery. Harsh sentences
are meted to these people in an attempt to gain conformity. The question is, do these harsh sentences deter, or do they reform the offenders? If restributive, do they take into account the concept of equivalence These are some of the issues which were discussed in this dissertation Looking at the various crimes being committed, it can be stated with certainty that the crime has increased as a result of development process urbanization industrialization, lack of housing and migration into the city from rural areas, result ins in the growth of slums , wherein, crimes are un limited ,Development has also brought with it an increase in consumer goods and a new outlook, towards life but with unequal opportunity for the acquisition of these goods. Coupled with this are the diminishing clan life and village ties on the one hand and the emergence of a more individualistic style of life characteristic of western countries on the other hand. For better or for worse, such a change in life outlook has not been accompanied by the other incidents of western countries such as the provisions for old age, for unemployment, and. for the disability to ' dark.
It seems therefore, that the rise in crime rate is almost inevitable unless some social-economic steps are taken. In Nairobi City alone, the population is nearing one million people, and with the problem of lack of employment and housing, crime has continued to rise. Added to this problem is the fact that there is already a very high rate of male migrants into Nairobi…. | |
