Restorative Intervention and Community Policy

Abstract

The goals of crime prevention and control have been deemed imperative especially as the rate of crime keeps swelling. The face of policing is adversely changing so also is the problem of recidivism hampering the realization of policing goals. Undoubtedly, the goals can never be attained without the involvement of community members. Contrarily, the relationship between the police and the community looks very gloomy. Thus, these necessitated the argument for the intervention of restorative philosophy in the field of community policing as an essential requirements for winning the war against crimes in lIorin. This study, therefore, examined how restorative justice and community policing could help in the effective control and prevention of crime in lIorin and Nigeria at large, The study was a survey, using triangulation method and was guided by social control theory. For quantitative data, census study was conducted on Sixty (60) respondents found in the Ministry of Justice. The census study was conducted because of the relatively small size of the respondents that were found in the Ministry. Also, seven (7) respondents (four for in-depth interview and three for Key Informant Interview) were purposively selected from Ministry of Justice, and Police headquarters, Idla-ap e, Oke-adini communities respectively. SPSS analysis revealed that majority of minor crimes and few serious crimes could better be settled by community elders, which is out of court settlement. In addition, the interviews suggested that, for community relation to be at its prime, police officers serving as mediators in the community should always aim at pleasant outcome because they may also be victims of their discretion. Hence, the research recommends the inclusion of restorative justice principles in the country's penal system and improvements in the principles of community pollcing .