BEHAVIOURISM, CRIME PREVENTION AND SAFETY MEASURES: THE COUNSELLORS PERSPECTIVE

BEHAVIOURISM, CRIME PREVENTION AND SAFETY MEASURES: THE COUNSELLORS PERSPECTIVE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Behaviour is composed of reactions and movements that an organism gives and does in a certain situation. The term, behaviour is mostly used for actions that can be observed from outside. Behaviorist learning approach mostly focuses on how behaviours are acquired. Behaviorist approach claims that learning can develop by means of establishing a connection between stimulus and behaviour, and that any behaviour can be changed through reinforcement.

Behaviorists address learning as a mechanic process and give particular importance to objectivity. According to behaviorists, people are not good or bad from birth. Experiences and environment constitute a human’s personality. According to them, human brain can be compared to a black box. Neither can we know what is going on in this black box nor do we need to know it. What is important is not what is happening in this black box, but what is important is what goes in this black box (input) and what comes out of it (output). Outputs are objective, observable and measurable. Inputs and outputs can be adjusted, arranged and controlled. What is important is not the senses of a person, but the reflection of them.

According to Dambazau [3] Nigeria has been on the world crime map since 1980s. The types of crimes that are very common in country ranges from homicide, armed robbery, rape, housebreak, car theft, fraud, drug and food abuse, bribery and corruption, gambling, kidnapping, smuggling, human trafficking, drug trafficking, cyber crime,money laundering, advanced fee fraud (419) and more recent ones including oil bunkering and the Boko Haram killings.16 Available statistics from UNODC [1] reveals that, the rate of murder in Nigeria stand at 20 per 100,000 people in 2012. Based on the data from the law enforcement agents [5] the number is on the rise, especially in crimes like homicide, corruption, kidnapping, theft and other forms of ferocity [5]. A recent 2015 investigation carried out by Afrobarometer [6] discovered that 39 percent of Nigerians felt insecure in their neighborhoods and 33 percent had some anxiety about crime happening in their households.

Crime prevention and control is an issue of concern to almost all societies in the globe, due to the frequent rise in the commitment rate of crime.

Crime prevention is the attempt to reduce and deter crime and criminals. It is applied specifically to efforts made by governments to reduce crime, enforce the law, and maintain criminal justice. In this work we look for the perspectives of the councellors on behaviourism, crime prevention and safety measures.