Source: (1999) International Review of Victimology. 6(4): 359-375.
Unlike victims in the modern Nigerian criminal justice system, victims of crime under the Afikpo indigenous systems of conflict resolution are the focus of justice processes. Victims, offenders, and their families, as well as the general community, are involved in defining harm and repair. All parties acknowledge the emotional and material loss of the victim. Offenders and their families are held responsible for the victim’s injury. Offenders are persuaded to pay restitution to victims. They also apologize to the victim, his or her family and the community. In sum, the goal of justice is the reparation of harm done to victims and communities by offenders. The community provides appropriate support to victims and their families. Victims of crime in Nigeria lack confidence in the Nigerian criminal justice system. Victims’ rights are routinely violated, victims are regularly harassed, hounded and made to pay a ransom before their cases receive formal attention by agents of the criminal justice system. Abstract courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.
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