Reducing recidivism rate: A comparative study of Nigeria and China’s Prison Systems

Abstract

This study examined the two prison systems of two different countries, Nigeria and China with the aim of identifying the rates of recidivism among them. One of the goals of any criminal justice system is to rehabilitate criminals and turn them into responsible citizens that can be reintegrated into the society. A sound criminal justice system aims to end crime not the lives of the citizens that committed the crimes. Data for this research work were obtained through critical case sampling and content analysis was used to study this work. Certain factors such as prisoners, criminal justice system, recidivism and crimes were selected for this study. It adopted the Person in Environment perspective and the Systems Theory as its theoretical framework. It depicted that the environment has an impact on the behaviour of people and that there were certain systems that interact to influence the conduct of humans. This study observed that the Chinese government has implemented effective correctional programmes and policies for prisoners to get accepted in the society while the Nigerian government has failed to design and implement policies and programmes aimed at reducing the rate of recidivism. It argued that China takes care of the rights of prisoners while in Nigeria prisoners‟ rights are alienated with inappropriate prisons conditions. This study recommended that prisons should facilitate prisoners‟ employment and skills development which can assist them to deviate from their offensive acts. It concluded that improved prisoners‟ conditions through education, training, skill development, and restoration of rights are of great necessity for prisoners while undergoing rehabilitation.