Sub-Saharan Africa

Traditional Sub-Saharan Africa

It is not possible to generalize about crime and punishment in traditional sub-Saharan Africa. What was defined as “crime” varied greatly between ethnic groups and even between subgroups or clans within an ethnic group. However, as in all societies, the concept of crime in most traditional sub-Saharan African societies covered wrongdoings that were considered socially injurious enough to warrant punishments. Such wrongdoings were not only those that were physically harmful to individuals or the community as a whole but also those that contravened rules of interpersonal relationships and obligations regarding mutual respect for [Page 1592]persons and property, including “forbidden” actions that breached moral rules of decency or religious ethics (Gluckman 1955). The latter could be defined as deviance or antisocial behavior in most modern societies today, but in traditional sub-Saharan Africa, the boundary between “crime” and “deviance” was not distinct. Both could bring severe punishments. Within some ethnic groups, a violation of moral rules of decency or religious ethics could lead to a more severe punishment than could a violation against personal property or even homicide. For example, among the Tiv of northern Nigeria, homicide, although morally reprehensible, could be regarded under certain circumstances as an offense against traditional religious “laws” and therefore dealt with not by physical punishments but by ritual reparation or a counteraction by the accused to set it right; this would be considered a legitimate punishment for the offense (Bohannan 1957).

There is a popular belief that punishment in traditional sub-Saharan African societies was purely punitive (Lukes and Scull 1984). This view is based on the fact that even “antisocial” behaviors were punishable. However, what was important in the context of punishment in traditional sub-Saharan African societies was the purpose of punishment. In most traditional African societies, the purpose of punishment was restorative—to restore or heal the social relations disturbed by the wrongdoing. This could take the form of “an eye for an eye” retribution to settle the score or the offender being asked to make amends to the victim(s), religious institutions that had been offended, or the community as a whole. As everywhere, punishment in sub-Saharan Africa was an essential part of the communities' mechanisms for maintaining social cohesion, harmony, and social control.

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