Criminology

This chapter focuses on conceptualizing Africa from the prism of criminology as an academic discipline. Its core objective is to understand crime, criminal behavior, and the criminal justice system from the perspective of African philosophy. To achieve this, it examines the state of being criminal, the legal system for managing criminals, crime prevention and control mechanisms from the classical, positivist, and conflict/radical/critical schools of thoughts in criminology. The rationale for this objective is hinged on the fact that the field of criminology has developed with more Western and liberal thoughts, thereby excluding a greater part of a section of the world’s view on crime and its management. In essence, this chapter elucidates what Africa is in criminology in order to provide a globally inclusive and holistic understanding of the discipline.