CRITICALLY
ANALYZE THE CRIME PROVIDED UNDER THE CRIMINAL CODE ACT VIS-À-VIS THE PUNISHMENT
- CRIMINAL LAW
I
am going to critically analyze the crime provided under the Criminal Code Act vis-à-vis
the punishment therewith with the view of ascertaining it’s propriety or
otherwise. Due to lack of time and convenient purposes I have decided to pick Point
the following crimes amongst others provided under the Criminal Code Act (C.C.A).
1. Murder – section 315 & 316 C.C.A
2. Rape – section 357
3. Obtaining by false pretence – section 419
4. Robbery and armed robbery – section 401,
402
5. Stealing – 383, punishable under section
390
6. Receiving stolen property – section 427
7. Burials in houses without requisite
consent:- section 246
8. Written threats to murder – section 323
9. Man slaughter – section 317 &
punishable section 325
10. Setting man-trap – section 342
The above is not the totality of
offences created by the Criminal Code Act (CCA) but it will serve as a Pont of
contact to other numerous offences and their accompanying sanctions.
However to make this work more easier
and for clearity purposes I will have to sketch the offences in a table form
then comment on the effectiveness or otherwise thereafter.
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SECTIONS OF C.C.A
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OFFENCES
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PUNISHMENTS
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1.
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Section
315, 316 & 319
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Murder
(unlawful killing)
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Death
sentence section 319
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2.
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357
& punishable under358
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RAPE
(unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman without her consent or with h.er
consent if obtained by fraud, violent or threat of violent
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Section
358 life imprisonment
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3.
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418
and punishable under 419
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Obtaining
by false pretence
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Section
419:- three years imprisonment.
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4.
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401,
402
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Robbery
and armed robbery! Stealing with violence or threat of violent before, during
or immediately after the stealing and when with arms or ammunition
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section
402 robbery: 21 years imprisonment armed robbery: Death sentence
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5.
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383
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Stealing
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Section
390: three years imprisonment
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6.
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427
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Receiving
Stolen Property
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Life
imprisonment if the property so received is got in the cause of felony
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7.
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246
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Burial
in houses without the requisite consent
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Six
months imprisonment
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8.
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323
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Written
threat to murder
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Seven
years imprisonment
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9
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317
and punishable under 325
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Manslaughter:
unlawful killing of another in such circumstances as not to constitute
murder.
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Section
325: imprisonment for life.
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10
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342
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Setting
man-trap
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Imprisonment
for three years.
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COMMENT:
The
reason for creation of offence and its punishment is to regulate the society
and the activities of men and any society without Law, more especially criminal
law is like a jungle where big animal swallow the smaller ones. This is the
reason for the advent of criminal law coming into force with its significant
punishment. No wonder section 36(12) OF
1999 CONSTITUTION OF NIGERIA AS AMENDED provides that nobody can be punished
for any offence unless it is expressly provided in a written legislation and
its punishment expressly stated. Permit
me to say that the weight of any punishment for any offence depends on any of
this factors:
1. Its severity in the society
2. Its prevalence in the society.
Once the offence is deadly and highly
criminal and if it is prevalent in the society a stiffer punishment is created
to curb its menance.
Be
that as it may and for the avoidance of doubt the offences identified above and
its accompanying punishment is proportionate except No 7 above (Burial in
houses) which has no iota of severity and its impossibility in the society.
Upon acquisition of landed property you seek and obtain Governor’s consent but
burial in the land without the Governor’s consent obtained have no criminal
element at all calling it crime will be tantamount to calling renovating your
apartment without governors consent crime and as such need to expunged from our
criminal Law system because it have out lived its purpose in our criminal law
system and hence have no criminal value in the society.
CONCLUSION
In a nutshell due to the reasons
adduced above all the offences and its antecedent punishment thereto is commesorate
and have gone a long way to reduce crime rate in Nigeria society. If they are
taken serious by the law enforcement agencies and of course the judiciary in
seeing that they are adhered to the letter.
Since,
the advent of capital punishment in terms of murder, kidnapping in some states
like Delta State, arm robbery etc. Such crimes have been reduced to the barest
minimum in the Nigeria Society.
Before I drop my pen it is pertinent to state
here that no matter how severe a punishment is to a crime it cannot stop it
from being committed by a society so the essence of punishment is to reduce
crime and not to eradicate nor expunge it in its entirety