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.
Description:
A dissertation in the Centre for Conflict, Human Right and Peace Studies,
Faculty of Social Science Education, submitted to the School of Graduate
Studies, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Philosophy (Conflict, Human Rights and Peace Studies) in the
University of Education, Winneba