YOUTH INVOLVEMENT IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES IN OYI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

Youths involve in criminal activities globally. Nigeria as a country is not an exception. Youths involve themselves in criminal activities for several reasons. The problem of youth involvement in crime has become a serious challenge to the society especially in Oyi local government area of Anambra state. The issue affects not just the individuals but also family members and the society at large. The implications are that the youth becomes useless rather than being useful to the society. The society is at risk because it leads to insecurity thereby giving bad image to the community. This is a theoretical work that made use of secondary sources of data like journals, academic sources. The strain theory was the theoretical framework for the work. It explains the rationale for crime among youths. It examined factors influencing youth involvement in criminal activities and possible solutions to the problem. The factors ranges from poverty, unemployment, family size, peer pressure and so on. Recommendations were given such as giving of incentives to youths in entrepreneurship, parents speaking to their children against crime, religious bodies talking about morality and also job creation by the governments for the youths.