Do Armed Robbers Really Fear The Law In Metropolitan Benin, Southern Nigeria?

Abstract

Ostensibly, the #Endsars protest of 2020 which rocked the entire Nigeria as nation had consequences and an upsurge in robbery/activities as several police stations were sacked while arms and ammunitions veered off into the wrong hands. The study therefore sought to examine the causes and motivating factors in armed robbery even in the face of stringent laws against it. The relative deprivation theory was used as the theoretical bases of the study. The research design used was the survey design which employed the questionnaire in collecting data from 585 participants. The study found that poverty, ostentatious lifestyle of the elite, poor condition of security agents, lack of family values and unemployment were some of the causes and motivating factors in armed robbery. The study revealed that the existing extant laws against armed robbery do not in any way deter potential armed robbers from engaging in the nefarious social vice. Against this background, the study recommends that good family values and morals, as well as government’s creation of employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youth, improving on the economy of the nation and strengthening the judiciary will help to reduce the incidence of armed robbery in metropolitan Benin, southern Nigeria.

Key words:  Armed Robbery, Law, Police, Judiciary