A STUDY OF CRIME INCIDENCE IN STUDENTS’ HALLS OF RESIDENCE IN UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, NIGERIA

Crime is a social inhumane behaviour that continues to plague every sector in the country, even in the educational sector which was created with a view to bestowing knowledge to the young ones. This study examines the incidence of crime in students' hall of residence in University of Ibadan. Two female halls of residence, three male undergraduate halls of residence and one postgraduate hall of residence with highest capacity were selected. From these, 4% of the total population of students in the selected halls of residence was chosen. This was sumed up to two hundred and eight (208) respondents. Four indices were developed, these are: Crime Occurrence Index (COI), Causes of Crime Index (CCI), Effects of Crime Index (ECI) and Safety Measure Index (SMI).COI and CCI were respectively used to measure incidence and causes of crime in halls of residence while ECI was used to measure effects of crime on students in their halls of residence. SMI was used to measure various crime preventive measures in the halls of residence. ANOVA was used to test the gender and hall variation in incidence, causes and effects of crime as well as level of usage of safety measures among different halls of residence in the University. The study observed that stealing is the major type of crime in the study area with the highest COI value of 4.10. This and other crime occurred mostly during the odd hours of the day. There is no significant variation in perceived level of incidence of crime among the sampled halls of residence in University of Ibadan. Poor security measures with CCI value of 4.32 is the major contributing factor to level of crime incidence in halls of residence. It was also revealed that one out of two students living in the hall of residence has experienced crime in other hall(s) of residence. There are gender differentials in incidence (F = 13.326, p = 0.001), causes (F = 43.821, p = 0.000) and effects (F = 44.361, p = 0.00) of crime in the study area. Despite the level of crime occurrence, half of the respondents reported that they felt safe in their respective hall of residence. In order to create and maintain safe environment in halls of residence, the use of conventional security measures like the use of Close Circuit Television (CCTV), security door and locks should be adopted