Paper short abstract:

Spiritual charms are among the major objects that criminals in Nigeria usually use for crime perpetration. Therefore, this paper focused on this under-researched phenomenon by examining the types and patterns of spiritual charms usage for criminal activities in Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

Despite the fact that spiritual charms are widely recognised as constituting a major component among the classes of objects that criminals in Nigeria frequently rely upon for the facilitation and perpetration of crime, research focusing on this phenomenon is very scarce. Therefore, this paper attempted to fill this lacuna by examining the types and patterns of spiritual charms usage for criminal activities in Nigeria. Relying on the propositions of symbolic interactionism theory as a conceptual framework, it critically examined the factors underlying criminals’ utilisation of spiritual charms for crime perpetration in Nigeria, the types of crimes for which spiritual charms are commonly deployed by criminals, and the implications which criminals’ use of spiritual charms holds for crime prevention and crime control. The paper argued that the availability of a wide variety of spiritual charms in Nigeria poses a unique challenge for criminal justice officials because access to them plays a critical role in gravitating many individuals towards criminality as they are frequently employed to commit a crime, victimise people, terrorise communities, compromise the safety of law enforcement officials in the line of duty, and in some cases, evade the law.