Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In many countries in West Africa, Jungle justice is categorized as one of the core social vices
that militate against national growth and development. The act of a group of people (usually a
mob) putting laws into their own hands by beating an alleged criminal to the point of death or
even to death without obliging to the dictates of the rule of law by committing such actions to
the law enforcement agencies exposes the core interpretation of what jungle justice entails.
This dehumanizing and degrading act needs an alarming intervention because it does not only
negate the maintenance of societal law and order, but also abuses the indorsement of social
justice, since it infringes upon the fundamental human rights of its victims. Many innocent
lives have been put into jeopardy and some lives even lost due to the incessant display of this
social vice. The theories of “legal realism” and “Retributive justice” will be employed for this
study. The theories respectively state that jurisprudence have to rely on ‘natural science’, that
is, ‘empirical evidences’ before administering justices, and also the fair and proportional
punishment to crime in order to restore a proper balance. This implies that a person must be
found guilty before punishment and that punishment given must be proportionate to crime.
These theories are being employed because they collectively demonstrate in dynamic ways
the importance of the ensuring the uphold of the dictates of the rule of law. While the theory
of Legal realism suggests that there should be ‘proper investigation’ of crime issues before
declaration of an alleged criminal guilty or not, the theory of Retributive justice denotes that
punishment meted out to an offender must be “commensurate” to the crime committed by the
offender. This study looks forward to digging deep into the possibilities of the justice system
having a proper investigation on crime issues, and at the same time ensuring the swift
dispensation of justice, considering variables such ‘time’ that are sometimes required for
thorough investigation, which will be add-on to literature especially as regards the theories
employed.

It has been argued that jungle justice prevalence has continually disrupted societal peace and
order in some African countries, most especially in Nigeria. The Human Rights Writers’
Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) submitted that the crawling and extremely slow justice
delivery system of the Nigerian Justice system, is one of the major reasons for the
unprecedented rise in the use of Jungle justice, Olugbemiro (2013:1). This paper therefore
calls for a change in this dehumanizing and discriminating act and urges the judicial
parastatals and agencies to focus on the procedural and swift delivery of justice to its citizens.
This paper also seeks to call the attention of the Nigerian government to the maintenance of
societal law and order by providing effective sanctions to caution citizens involved in the act
of jungle justice.

KEYWORDS: JUNGLE JUSTICE, JUSTICE SYSTEM, AFRICA, HUMAN RIGHTS,
LAW AND ORDER.