The Role of Prison Experience on Recidivism in Kakamega County, Kenya

Recidivism is the relapse into criminal activity and is generally measured by a former prisoner’s return to prison for a new offence. The rate of recidivism in Kenya is estimated to be about two‐thirds, which means that two‐thirds of released inmates will be re‐incarcerated after their release from prisons. As a result of this, crime by former inmates alone account for a substantial share of the current and future crimes. From the trend in the high prevalence of recidivism in Kenya, there are a staggering high number of people being incarcerated and eventually released back to the community and the high risk of re-arrest and re-incarceration is a concern for policymakers, criminologists, and those involved in corrections. High rates of recidivism result in tremendous costs both in terms of public safety and in monies spent to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate re‐offenders. High rates of recidivism also lead to devastating social costs to the communities and families of offenders, as well as the personal costs to the offenders themselves. This made the researcher to be interested in recidivism by looking at the role of prison experience on recidivism. The study adopted survey research design. This is a type of descriptive research that adopts descriptive and fact finding enquiries of different kinds of information that describes existing phenomenon by asking individuals about their perception, attitudes, behavior or values. The study was carried out in Kakamega County, covering the three penal institutions, that is, Kakamega Male, Kakamega Female and Shikutse G.K prisons. The study population was repeat offenders found in all the three penal institutions in Kakamega County. Purposive sampling was used to identify recidivists from the general prison offender population based on the existing official prison records. a total of one hundred and forty six respondents were sampled for this study. Random sampling was used to achieve the desired representation from the study population. Questionnaires were used as data collection tools and interviews method was also utilized to collect data. Findings revealed that the longer the duration spent in prison, the worse the reentry experience since those inmates who had served longer sentences suffered the greatest reentry experiences occasioned by disintegrated families, inability to easily secure employment after release, and high chances of reoffending. Therefore the need to come up with working pre-release programs meant to enable inmates to have smooth transitions from correctional institutions to their communities by working with the offenders to develop plans, including housing, employment and participation in post-release programs. Keywords: recidivism, prisoner, re-incarceration

PERCEPTIONS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ON THE NEED FOR SEX EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS, ELDORET MUNICIPALITY, KENYA

It is estimated that 23% of the girls in secondary schools in Kenya drop out of school each year as a result of teenage pregnancy. Findings of the Kenya Aids Indicator Survey of 2007 indicate that the HIV and STI prevalence rate is 7 for Rift Valley province, that is, 7 out of every 1000 people have HIV and STI. The drop-out rate for girls in Uasin Gishu district is 2.1% while that of boys’ stands at 2.4%, according to Uasin Gishu development plan 2002 -2007. This is attributed to factors such as HIV, STIs and teenage pregnancies among others. In response to the rising number of HIV, STIs and teenage pregnancies and the resultant dropout rates in schools, the Ministry of Education intended to introduce sex education in secondary schools in Kenya to create awareness on the consequences of sex abuse in order to reduce school dropout rate on teenage pregnancies and STIs related infections. Debates on introduction of Sex Education in schools rages on and a lot of studies have been done on the pros and cons of this. But the opinion of children has not been sought. However, the intentions of the ministry were not realized because religious groups opposed it. In African indigenous culture, children are not consulted in decision making, but according to the United Nations Convention of 1989, children have a right to access information, participate and take responsibility in the society. Hence, need to seek their views. Therefore, this study sought to find out the perception of secondary school students on the need for sex education in secondary schools in Eldoret municipality, Kenya. Perceptions are vital since they shape students behaviour and attitudes towards their sexuality as well as morality. The research design for this study was a cross sectional descriptive survey aimed at collecting qualitative and quantitative primary data from students on their perceptions on the need for sex education. This was done through structured questionnaires and focus group discussions. A sample of 325 students was obtained through stratified and simple random sampling. The findings of the study showed that 53% of the students perceived the need to introduce of Sex Education in schools and so the idea is perhaps worth revisiting. The researcher therefore concludes that many students’ perceptions’ towards introduction of sex education in secondary schools is positive.   Article visualizations

PROSECUTING SOMALIA PIRATES AS TERRORISTS

This article starts from the assumption that piracy resembles terrorism in many aspects and attempts to support it through both a theoretical investigation and practical examples. The argument it makes is that Somali pirates should be prosecuted as terrorists. Moreover, it emphasizes the idea that for Somalia’s neighboring countries and not only the implementation of such an approach consists in resorting to the antiterrorist conventions already in place. Thus, for example, Kenya Navy as a piracyfi ghting agency should rely on these conventions to justify the capture and prosecution of pirates in Kenyan courts. In this respect, we emphasize the idea that only by resorting to an established international legal framework can Kenya identify the tools to counter pirates’ actions within legal limits. Moreover, this should be paralleled by efforts towards rebuilding Somalia and its institutions if long-term solutions are to be envisaged in the eradication of piracy in the Indian Ocean. In conclusion, the article looks at the concepts of piracy, terrorism and development in the Horn of Africa, suggests that piracy is a form of Terrorism and, makes a series of recommendations

INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL FACTORS ON VOCATIONAL CAREER CHOICES IN TECHNICAL INSTITUTIONS IN KENYA - A SURVEY OF CATHOLIC PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS IN NAKURU DIOCESE

The purpose of this study was to investigate influence of social factors on vocational career choices of students in Catholic-sponsored technical institutions located in the Catholic Diocese of Nakuru, Kenya. The study was guided by the research question: What is the influence of social factors on vocational career choices in the aforementioned institutions? The study was grounded on Krumboltz theory of social learning. The empirical literature covered various societal factors. A Convergent parallel mixed method design was used whereby 292 respondents participated in the study. Purposive, stratified and simple random sampling techniques were applied in sampling of institutions, administrators, teachers and students respectively. For data collection, interview guides were used for teachers and principals while questionnaires were employed to facilitate data collection from students. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences programme was used to aid analysis of quantitative data from the students while qualitative data from teachers and principals were organized into themes. Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data were done independently then mixed at the end during interpretation. The study revealed that 91.6% of students are influenced by immediate people they interact with. It was also found that 55.6% never had prior working experience. The study revealed that as family and friends influence students in technical and vocational training institutions there is still a large number (49.3%) who make choices according to their own personal interest. Majority of the students (61.8%) perceived the courses they were pursuing as being very difficult but also marketable. Electrical installation was found to have the highest number of enrollment for national examinations followed by mechanics. The study recommended to Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development to introduce subjects at high school level that could expose students to vocational careers. It was further recommended that technical institutions should come up with guiding policies on how to help and streamline student’s choices on vocational careers.   Article visualizations

KENYA’S PRE - EMPTIVE AND PREVENTIVE INCURSION AGAINST AL - SHABAAB IN THE LIGHT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Al-Shabaab terrorist group’s series of kidnappings and cross-border incursions into Kenya threatened security and the lucrative tourism industry in East Africa's largest economy. Towards the end of 2011 events like the kidnapping of two foreigners and the killing of another in the Kenyan resorts on the east coast, the abduction of two aid workers from the Dadaab refugee camp, and the attack against Kenyan soldiers in cross-border raids raised a lot of concern for the Kenyan government. Consequently, the latter decided that the national security interest of Kenya had to be protected. As a result, the decision of the government was to go to war against Al- Shabaab. This prompted the Kenya Defence Forces’ (KDF) incursion to Somalia in a pre-emptive and preventive campaign aimed at fl ushing out Al-Shabaab from this country. The campaign took off in mid-October 2011 and it was dubbed “Operation Linda Nchi”, Swahili for “Protect the country’. In this article we look at the implication of Kenya’s pre-emptive and preventive incursion against Al- Shabaab from the perspective of international law