"When I Take Drugs, I Don't Care": Insights into the Operational Dynamics of Male Violent Offenders in a Correctional Centre.

This study investigated the operational dynamics of male violent offenders incarcerated in Abakaliki custodial center, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey research design was adopted and purposive technique used to recruit 260 inmates charged with violent offenses. The data generated from structured questionnaire were analyzed using Predictive Analytic Software (PAS), with ordinary least regression, descriptive statistics and spearman rank order correlation techniques, employed in testing the variables explored. Findings revealed that this population use drugs to enhance criminal performance through being brutal; instilling fear in victims to secure their total compliance and submission; and suppressing regret for their criminal acts. Heroin, followed by, cocaine, cannabis, tramadol, and multiple drug use, were commonly used drugs in the population surveyed, with their offenses ranging from cultism, armed robbery, murder and burglary to kidnapping and assault and battery. Gaining insights into the changing operational knowledge, procedures and dynamics of violent offenders will (re)direct policy approach and action that are capable of increasing public and custodial safety. It will also orient and direct practical prison reforms for successful rehabilitation and reintegration of released inmates into the free world.

The Role of Defensive Pessimism and Love and Sex Perception on Rape Victim Blame Attribution among Public Servants in a Nigerian City.

Existing literature have decried the propensity to blame victims of rape which ultimately translates worryingly into a tolerance of crimes against persons. Being a lopsided and an understudied phenomenon, the present study sets out to explore the role of defensive pessimism and love, and sex perception on rape victim blaming among civil servants in Akwa Ibom State Civil Service Commission, Nigeria. Using a cross-sectional survey research design, 167 civil servants were recruited, comprising 84 males and 83 females, with mean age of 36.29 and standard deviation of 8.53. To measure variables of interest, three instruments: Perception of Love and Sex Scale, Attitudes Towards Rape Victims Scale, and the revised Defensive Pessimism Questionnaire were adopted. To analyze the information obtained from the measuring instruments, descriptive and regression statistics were employed, and results indicated that the less defensive pessimism civil servants reported, the more victim blame they exhibited. Findings also revealed that civil servants who perceived love and sex negatively reported more victim blame. From this study, a new link was formed between variables of interest and the need for adequate mass sensitization on the urgent need of condemning strongly acts of rape and sexual assaults, coupled with advocacy for desensitization on victim blame among "survivors" (rape victims).