Crime, Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System in Africa

Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan is Associate Professor of Criminology at City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR. His research focuses on psycho-criminology of crimes and criminal behaviour, violent sexual offending, stalking behaviour, and Asian criminology. He is the author of several books and more than 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.Samuel Adjorlolo is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mental Health Nursing, University of Ghana, Ghana. His research interests centre on forensic mental health, child and adolescent mental health and maternal mental health. He has published over 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

• Chapter 1: Introduction; Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan and Samuel Adjorlolo.- Part One: Theory and Research.- Chapter 2: Suicide, Suicidal Ideation, and Behavior among African Youths: A Psycho-social and Criminological Analysis; Richard A. Aborisade.- Chapter 3: Situating Suicide Attempt within the Notion of “Social Suffering”: A New Public Mental Health Approach for Addressing a Psycho-criminological Problem in Ghana; Johnny Andoh Arthur.- Chapter 4: A Review of the Violent Nature of Criminal Victimization in South Africa; By:  Johan van Graan.- Chapter 5: An Exploratory Study of Kidnapping as an Emerging Crime in Nigeria; By: Alaba Oludare.- Chapter 6: “What is the Problem”? Citizen’s Experiences with the Police and Court in Ghana; Akosua A. Adu-Poku.- Chapter 7: “Before I could, say Jack, I was in the Grip of the Police”: Experiences of Persons who Use Drugs and Their Encounters with the Police in Ghana; Feikoab Parimah, Charlotte O. Kwakye-Nuako, Maria Goretti Ane-Loglo, Mary Eyram Ashinyo, Timothy P. Debrah, & Samuel Hanu.- Chapter 8: Evaluating the Predictors of Stress among Police Officers in Nigeria: A Psychosocial Analysis; Oluwagbenga (Michael) Akinlabi.- Chapter 9: Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment among Prison Officers in Ghana: A Qualitative Exploration;Thomas D. Akoensi.- Part Two: Policy and Practice.- Chapter 10: An Overview of Serial Murder and its Investigation in South Africa; Gerard N. Labuschagne.- Chapter 11: The Constitutional Imperative, Common Law Position and Domestic Legislation in the Context of Mental Health Care in South Africa; Magdalen Swanepoel.- Chapter 12:    Issues of Competence, Experience, and Psychological Awareness among Police Prosecutors Working on Cases of Child Sexual Abuse in Ghana; Charlotte O. Kwakye-Nuako.- Chapter 13: Mental Health of Prison Inmates within the Nigerian Criminal Justice System; Chiedu Eseadi.- Chapter 14: Crossing the Social Boundary: Black FemaleOffenders inside South African Institutions of Incarceration; NP Dastile.- Chapter 15: Conclusion; Samuel Adjorlolo and Heng Choon (Oliver) Chan.