In this generation that we live in, jungle justice is the best measure to curbing the menace of all manner of illegal activities carried out by criminals.
You will notice that anytime it is carried out, it frustrates illegitimate operations of the criminals for a long time. There was a case in Makurdi, the Benue state capital recently, when a young man who was in the habit of forcefully snatching motorcycles from genuine owners was apprehended and set ablaze by angry youths immediately he was caught. So this kind of punishment certainly act as a deterrent to others who may want to involve in such heinous crimes. I have always stood with the jungle system of Justice.
Apart from being slow and gradual, the legal process gives room for rehabilitation at the end of the day in which case, causes more harm than good. Correctional centres most often than not, serve as a place where you have an assemblage of bad guys who strategize and come back, to practice their negative acts on responsible citizens once they are freed and reintegrate into the society.
Mr Benedict Bemngu Ucha (Public affairs analyst)
I personally, hail the application of jungle justice in combating crime in no small measure. It is a good thing and I don’t have any sympathy whatsoever, for those who are victims of jungle justice. There are many things for one to do to make ends meet, so to me, no reason is good enough when an able bodied young man goes wielding arms and threatening innocent citizens over their hard earned money to make ends meet.
There are other choices you can stick to no matter how wretched a means of livelihood is, it carries dignity when people see that you are honest.
In fact, jungle justice should be adopted as the fast and most appropriate way of combating crime in and around the world. Anyone who engages himself in stealing or is prune to any act of criminality, does not deserve to live, he should be killed immediately. Most times when persons involved in illegal activities are arrested, they are later released as free people and they continue to cause mayhem.
Prince Joshua Agena (Civil Servant)
In my view, jungle justice can never be the appropriate solution to combating crime, because of the provisions on the protection of human rights in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
We have seen a situation where criminals confess to committing a particular crime and pleading with the security agents to eliminate them. We also hear of false accusations against innocent persons, so if we say jungle justice should be employed as a means to tackling societal ills, then there will be disorderliness. No matter the degree of crime that an individual commits, he should be made to face the full wrath of the law.
A situation in which behaviour of people are not controlled and left to take laws into their hands rather, lead to the unfortunate deaths of some innocent citizens who might be wrongly alleged to have committed crimes that they know nothing about.
Marvis Ogbonna (Businessman)
Jungle justice is an extra judicial killing that ordinarily wouldn’t have had a place in civilized societies because it is an offence by taking a human life, therefore, should never be considered as an appropriate measure of combating crime. It gives rise to more dangerous crimes that involve harming the criminal in an event of a struggle between the victim and criminal.
Crime has to be thoroughly investigated before judgement is passed. But this is not the case with jungle justice and can lead to a big error of judgement.
Jungle justice can only give rise to more dangerous crimes thereby, leading to unnecessary deaths of culprits.
Jungle justice develops fear in a criminal which makes him/her to either kill the accuser or hurt them in order to get away in safety.
Mr Israel Shanyi (Businessman)
Well, oftentimes, people carry out jungle justice for reasons as such nonchalant and inadequacies on the part of the police force. Nevertheless, jungle justice is never and should never be a solution to criminality in our communities because it rather causes more harm than good to people.
I say this because when this happens, it makes relatives of the person who was manhandled and subsequently eliminated through the system (jungle justice), to look for possible ways by which they would avenge the agonies their person went through even after the incidence.
Therefore, perpetrators of such crimes, should be dealt with according to the laws of the land, and locals who take laws into their hands by using that system to expressing their grievances, should be made to face the full wrath of the law.
Mr Japhet Vaungwa Toochi (Teacher)
The system of jungle justice has been the practice over time, especially at the market places and motor parks, which are areas more prone to crimes like pick pocketing, bags and phone snatching and so on.
Many times, out of anger and due to persistent stealing and of course the general insecurity, angry members of the public do resort to jungle Justice.
People that have been victimized by criminals often out of anger and for want of vengeance, take laws into their hands in order to demand for Justice.
Jungle Justice is in a way, very appropriate in combating crime and because many people do not trust the police owing to the poor policing culture and public relations that has been existing. And the way the police handle criminal cases, have made some people not to feel comfortable with handing over criminal suspects to them and this has led to lynching of the suspects, and by this they are simply sending warning signals to those who are intending to indulge in criminal activities, especially now that there is a high level of insecurity giving rise to kidnappings and killings for rituals.
Ochapa Obande (Civil Engineer)
