Visiting scholar and Associate Professor of Criminology Kofi Boakye has recently published important research into crime and policing in Ghana. These findings have already reformed Ghana’s justice system.
This research consists of several publications. Together, they provide a comprehensive overview of criminal justice in Ghana. Many of these publications were also collaborative in nature. Boakye involved researchers from the University of Ghana, as well as Professor Justice Tankebe, the institute’s Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Patterns of criminality
Boakye’s paper ‘Context and disclosure of female child sexual abuse: analysis of victims case reports in Ghana’ was recently published in Children and Youth Services Review. It was a response to earlier research showing that many victims of child sexual abuse did not report their experiences. This trend was particularly common among girls and young women.
Boakye identified several factors that can influence the decision of victims to disclose their experiences, including the relationship with the perpetrator and a sense of personal and ‘collective’ shame, the latter being a sense of shame that the disclosure brought to the victims’ family.
He also published a paper in the Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, titled ‘Conducting Criminological Research in Resource-Constrained Settings: Lessons from Ghana’s Participation in ISRD4 Study’. The International Self-Report Delinquency (ISRD) Study has surveyed juvenile delinquency across different countries over several years. Ghana first participated during the fourth wave of research, with Boakye’s paper providing critical reflections on the methodology and the process for conducting comparative research involving countries in low resource settings.
He highlighted the importance of researching crime and criminal justice issues in Global South countries, due to contextual differences. Structural issues, including inadequate infrastructure, education, and cultural norms, can pose significant challenges to criminological research in Global South countries. The best approach may differ for countries such as Ghana.
Death row in Ghana
Finally, Boakye carried out research for Amnesty International Ghana, looking into the conditions of people on death row. The findings included unsanitary conditions in Ghana’s prisons, and prolonged periods of uncertainty affecting their psychological wellbeing.
These results formed part of Amnesty International’s case for complete abolition of the death penalty in Ghana. Boakye and others also found this call to be a popular position in this country, even among people whose family members or loved ones were murdered. Interviewees were also consistent in preferring life imprisonment without parole.
Boakye and his colleagues' research led to Ghana abolishing the death penalty for ordinary crimes in 2023. But he emphasises that more needs to be done to improve justice delivery in Ghana. Many people formerly on death row who are yet to have their sentences commuted to life are still housed separately in squalid conditions. Reviewing their sentences and improving their condition in prison is an ongoing task.
Lessons from Criminology
Boakye has had a long-standing interest in criminology. His undergraduate degree in Psychology led to him spending a lot of time with young people. However, he found that the subject offered limited scope to explore issues affecting them, such as youth crime and violence.
“I was really interested in how we minimise these crimes before they become adults you take to prison or sentence to death,” Boakye explains. “My question was, ‘why not prevent it early?’”
Joining the Institute of Criminology, first on the MPhil, and then PhD and as a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at Clare Hall allowed him to pursue this line of inquiry. His current collaborators include Professor Justice Takebe, who was also his contemporary at the Institute of Criminology. Boakye’s research was supervised by the late Professor David Farrington. Reflecting on this time, Boakye praises Professor Farrington and his tutors in the Institute for teaching him the importance of academic rigour and good research.
“You learn how to do proper research, research that could have an impact,” he explains. “David was not somebody you could send sloppy work to. You knew the standard you were supposed to meet.”
Farrington’s work has since been a major influence on Boakye’s own. He was a strong believer in the need for cross-national studies, to ensure policies are suitable for different countries. Boakye views his latest research as carrying on Farrington’s legacy.
“I've gained a lot of friendships in the Institute, and I keep coming back,” he concludes, “so clearly it was a good thing to do. I’ve been very lucky to have an interest that converges with criminology, and I’ve pursued that interest ever since.”