Perception of mob justice and its implication for the people of Ayawaso Central Municipality

Abstract

The main goal of the study is to assess the perception of mob justice on the right to life of citizens in Ghana. Ghana’s return to constitutional rule has seen an upsurge of lawlessness on many fronts. One main characteristic of this disturbing phenomenon is the rising threat of recourse to mob violence as a way to settling civil misunderstanding or dealing with suspected miscreants such as armed robbers, pick pockets, rapists, etc. This way of seeking justice, usually named “mob justice”, put a serious indictment on the right to life and the administration of justice in the country. This study examined the prevalence of mob justice and its implication for the people of Ayawaso municipality. Epistemologically, the pragmatism philosophy was chosen because it is seen as a midway between the positivist philosophy and the Interpretivism philosophy. In considering the research approach adopted for this study, preference favored the use of the deductive research approach as it is more appropriate and suiting to the use of pragmatist research philosophy. The research strategy and style employed for this study were the use of case study and survey questionnaires (quantitative approach). The target population of the study will be all individuals who were 18 years and above and were currently residing at Ayawaso Municipality for the past two years as well as the members of the justice system of Ghana including lawyers and the police officers. Based on the population of 94,831 sample size 400 respondents were sampled in the study area using a stratified sampling technique. Out this, 275 respondents responded to the questionnaires distributed giving 68.75% response rate. A structured questionnaire was used in gathering the data. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis techniques. The findings of the study showed that Mob Justice negatively impacts the Criminal Justice of Ghana. The study also revealed that Mob Justice negatively impacts the Right to Fair Trail in Ghana. The findings on effects of mob justice on the right to life showed that Mob Justice negatively impacts the right to life in Ghana. The study concluded that mob justice have negative effects on the criminal justice of Ghana, as well as the right to fair trial and right to life in Ghana. It is recommended that the media need to adopt interpersonal communication through organizing seminars, workshops and providing forums on which skilled personnel will sensitize the citizenry to the devastating effects of mob justice and how best society, as a whole, can deal with suspected criminals. The study suggested that the government should take it upon itself to roll out educational campaigns on the why mob justice should not be the resorts for curbing criminal acts.