Introduction To Contemporary Social Problems PDF

INTRODUCTION
TO
CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL PROBLEMS
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AGNES BAZAGEZA TEL: 0772635946
COURSE OUTLINE
1. Introduction
 Definition and concepts
 Origin of social problems
 Theories of social problems
2. Minority groups and ethnic inequalities
 Discuss minority groups
 Effects of migration
3. Sex discrimination
 Differences between sex and gender
 Gender bias
 Sexual harassment
4. Family
 Definition of the family
 Types of the family
 Conflicts between work and family life
 Divorce among the married
 Issues surrounding the family
5. Alcohol and substance abuse
 Causes and effects substance abuse
 Types of alcohol and other drugs
 Theoretical view of drugs and crime
6. Problems of physical and mental illness
7. Crime and criminal justice
 Law and crime
 Categories of crime
 Dimensions of crime problem
8. Poverty
 Causes of poverty
 Intervention in Uganda
9. Population and food
 Poverty and hunger
 Population growth and poverty
10. Environmental concerns
ASSESSMENT
 Take home assignment 20%
 Course work 20%
 Final exams 60%
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
COURSE OUTLINE .......................................................................................................................................... 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................................... 6
DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS. ........................................................................................................................ 6
1.1 ORIGINS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS .......................................................................................................... 6
1.2 TYPES OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS .............................................................................................................. 7
1.2.1 MANIFEST SOCIAL PROBLEMS ......................................................................................................... 7
1.2.2 LATENT SOCIAL PROBLEM................................................................................................................ 8
1.3 SOCIAL PERCEPTION OF SOCIAL WORKER .......................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................................................ 11
MINORITY GROUPS AND ETHNIC INEQUALITIES......................................................................................... 11
2.1 MINORITY GROUPS ........................................................................................................................... 11
2.2 CHALLENGES FACED BY MINORITY GROUPS..................................................................................... 12
2.3 ETHNICITY.......................................................................................................................................... 14
2.3.1 EFFECTS OF ETHNICITY ................................................................................................................... 15
2.3.2 NEGATIVE EFFECTS (SIDE) CHALLENGES ........................................................................................ 16
2.4 MIGRATION ....................................................................................................................................... 18
2.4.1 MODELS OF MIGRATION ................................................................................................................ 18
2.4.2 FORCES/FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO MIGRATION ................................................................. 19
2.4.3 EFFECTS OF MIGRATION ................................................................................................................ 20
2.4.4 NEGATIVE EFFECTS......................................................................................................................... 21
CHAPTER THREE .......................................................................................................................................... 22
SEX DISCRIMINATION.................................................................................................................................. 22
3.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 22
3.2 GENDER INEQUALITY ........................................................................................................................ 23
3.3 VIOLENCE IN THE HOME ................................................................................................................... 26
3.4 SEXUAL HARASSMENT ...................................................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................................................... 27
FAMILY ........................................................................................................................................................ 27
4.1 DEFINITION........................................................................................................................................ 27
4.2 FAMILY STRUCTURE .......................................................................................................................... 27
4.3 TYPES OF FAMILIES ........................................................................................................................... 27
4.4 FUNCTIONS OF A FAMILY ............................................................................................................ 28
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4.5 FAMILY DISORGANIZATION............................................................................................................... 29
4.5.1 TYPES OF FAMILY DISORGANIZATION............................................................................................ 29
4.6 EXTENDED FAMILY OBLIGATION ....................................................................................................... 31
4.6.1 EFFECTS OF FAMILY DISORGANIZATION ........................................................................................ 31
4.6.2 MEASURES TO ASSIST THE FAMILY (CHILDREN) ............................................................................ 32
CHAPTER FIVE ............................................................................................................................................. 33
DRUG ABUSE. .............................................................................................................................................. 33
5.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 33
5.2 CATEGORIES OF DRUGS AND THEIR EFFECTS ................................................................................... 34
5.3 STAGES OF DRUG ABUSE .................................................................................................................. 36
5.4 COMMONLY ABUSED DRUGS AND THEIR EFFECTS .......................................................................... 36
5.6 ALCOHOL ........................................................................................................................................... 37
5.6.1 Alcoholism ...................................................................................................................................... 38
5.6.2 Signs and symptoms of alcoholism ................................................................................................ 39
5.6.3 The physical effects of alcohol abuse ............................................................................................ 39
5.7 MEDICAL EMERGENCIES ASSOCIATED WITH ALCOHOL ABUSE. ....................................................... 40
5.8 HOW TO KNOW IF ONE IS TAKING TOO MUCH ALCOHOL. ............................................................... 40
5.9 FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE INCREASE OF DRUG AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE ............................ 41
5.10 The impact of drug and substance abuse in learning institutions .................................................. 42
5.10.1 How to prevent and curb drug and substance abuse .................................................................. 43
CHAPTER SIX................................................................................................................................................ 46
CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE ................................................................................................................... 46
6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 46
6.2 TYPES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOURS .................................................................................................... 46
6.3 CATEGORIES /TYPES OF CRIME ......................................................................................................... 48
6.4 GENERAL DEFENCES RAISED UNDER CRIME ..................................................................................... 49
CHAPTER SEVEN .......................................................................................................................................... 52
7.1 PUNISHMENT OF OFFENDERS........................................................................................................... 52
7.2 MITIGATING FACTORS OF AN ARRESTED PERSON............................................................................ 60
7.3 COMMUNITY SERVICE ....................................................................................................................... 62
CHAPTER EIGHT........................................................................................................................................... 63
POVERTY ..................................................................................................................................................... 63
8.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 63
8.2 TYPES OF POVERTY............................................................................................................................ 63
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8.3 CAUSES OF POVERTY IN UGANDA..................................................................................................... 64
8.4 EFFECTS OF POVERTY ........................................................................................................................ 66
8.5 STRATEGIES TO REDUCE POVERTY IN UGANDA................................................................................ 66
CHAPTER NINE ............................................................................................................................................ 68
POPULATION ............................................................................................................................................... 68
9.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 68
9.2 CAUSES OF HIGH FERTILITY RATES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES...................................................... 70
9.3 DETERMINANTS OF POPULATION GROWTH RATE ........................................................................... 71
9.4 POPULATION CENSUS ....................................................................................................................... 71
9.4.1 IMPORTANCE OF POPULATION CENSUS ........................................................................................ 71
9.5 STRUCTURE OF UGANDA’S POPULATION ......................................................................................... 72
9.6 ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE POPULATION STRUCTURE ........................................................ 73
9.6.1 POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................................................ 73
9.6.2 NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS........................................................................................................ 73
9.7 THE CONCEPT OF UNDER POPULATION, OPTIMUM POPULATION AND OVER POPULATION .......... 74
9.7.1 UNDER POPULATION ..................................................................................................................... 74
9.7.2 OVER POPULATION ........................................................................................................................ 75
9.8 POPULATION PROBLEMS FACED BY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES .................................................. 77
9.10.1 Effects of population explosion include: ................................................................................. 77
9.11 MEASURES THAT ARE CHECKING POPULATION GROWTH RATES IN DEVELOPING ...................... 78
CHAPTER TEN .............................................................................................................................................. 80
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS..................................................................................................................... 80
10.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 80
10.2 TYPES OF ENVIRONMENT: .............................................................................................................. 80
10.3 HOW THE ENVIRONMENT HELPS MAN TO SURVIVE ...................................................................... 82
10.4 TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION .................................................................................. 83
10.4.1 SOIL OR LAND DEGRADATION: .................................................................................................... 83
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CHAPTER ONE
DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS.
Contemporary
This refers to the current times and issues that society is facing nowadays
Social
This refers to living in groups and staying with other people in a community.
Problem
A problem is a discrepancy between what is and what ought to be in most cases

problems arise from unmet needs.
Social problems.
A social problem refers to a situation which affects a person’s social functioning

effectively in society. A problem becomes a social problem if it affects a bigger portion
of the population e.g. poverty, HIV/AIDS, Ignorance, illiteracy unemployment etc are
social problems because they affect many people in our nation.
Social problems vary from society to society among social groups.
Basically a social problem exists when there is sizeable discrepancy between what is
(actual situation) and what people think ought to be (ideal situation)
1.1 ORIGINS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Sociologists believe that social problems must have social origins however there are
other source of major problems in society.
Social factors include the following
a) The very structure of society itself; different societies have different values,
beliefs, rules and regulations, norms etc. Which may contribute to the social
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problems e.g. the culture of circumcision of women, high taxes imposed on the
population etc. these may indirectly affect the society and cause social problems
b) Original sin of man i.e. man is naturally evil and inclined to do evil things no
wonder the world is suffering from high statistics of the crime rate
c) Human nature. By default, man is selfish and all his activities show this kind of
selfishness i.e. the destruction of the environment with less thought of the next
generation.
d) Economic structure. The gap between the rich and the poor is so wide. The poor
are so poor and the rich are so rich. This has contributed to the high levels of
crime in all nations all over the world.
e) Genetic deficiencies. This school of thought talks about the fact that some
individuals are genetically inclined to be criminals. People with extra
chromosomes i.e. 6 fingers, 6 toes a large forehead are likely to engage in
criminality
f) Non social factors include natural calamities and other vagaries of nature such
as earth quakes, tornadoes, floods, epidemics like ebola, Marburg fever etc and
other natural catastrophes that can cause damage and distress to peoples’ lives
1.2 TYPES OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS
There are two types of social problems namely;
i. Manifest social problem

ii. Latent social problems
1.2.1 MANIFEST SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Manifest social problems are those problems that appear in the perceptions
andevaluation of the social conditions by the people in the society themselves i.e. these
are problems widely identify in society by the people themselves.
Examples are;
 Poverty
 Disease like HIV/AIDS
 Crime
 Drug abuse etc.
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The basic point here is that people themselves adopt judgment concerning those social
conditions but are recognized in society.
1.2.2 LATENT SOCIAL PROBLEM
These are social problems that are not generally recognized as being problems such
problems are not easily noticed and are identified by the sociologists themselves. Such
problems usually identified by social work practitioners to alert people about pending
difficulties and provide the basics for formulation of social policies e.g. the
demographer, Kingsley David identified the socio- economic and cultural consequences
of rapid population growth in other words rapid population growth may have serious
consequences for society in future. Other examples of latent social problems include
racial or sexual discrimination, illiteracy, ignorance etc. As social workers we can no
longer avoid responsibility for certain social consequences by claiming that these
problems were unforeseeable. Therefore policies should be put in place to rectify or
give solutions to such problems before they affect society drastically. A major function
Social work is to make latent social problems manifest by discovering unwanted
consequences of institutionalized arrangements in our societies. It allows us to examine
social conditions in terms of their consequences for people located in society including
the consequences that relate to values in society. These actions can help society to
make forward improvement of the social conditions.
Still by uncovering latent social problems and clarifying manifest social problems, it
helps to make people accountable for outcomes that are short run and demonstrable
and others that are long run and speculative.
But the most important thing is that the distinction or the difference between manifest
and latent social problem serves several purposes.
First of all it helps in generating ideas concerning the problems selected for
investigations
Secondly it signals us to confine the study of social problems to only those

circumstances popularly defined as social problems thereby helping to identify widely
unnoticed conditions in society.
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Finally by adopting the ideas concerning manifest and latent social problems, Social
workers do not leave their human responsibilities as social worker and do not assume
the provision of seating in perpetual judgment on society.
Why do we study contemporary social problems?
 It is the function of sociologists to study not only manifest social problems but
also latent social problems
 To identify latent social problems and alert people to pending
difficulties/challenges
 To make latent social problems manifest or clear
 To acknowledge the consequences of social problems resulting from established
social beliefs and practices which will promptly lead people to modify them or
abandon them.
 The knowledge of the consequences of social problems will lead to social policy
making and government will act accordingly to put in place policies.
1.3 SOCIAL PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS
Our consideration of manifest and latent social problems leads us directly to another
question and this question is how correctly do people perceive situations identified as
social problem. For reasons we are only beginning to understand the public image of
manifest social problems is often distorted. Some social problems such as mental
illness are sometimes ignored and others possibly denied. Others such as crime waves
and drug abuse are often blown out of proportion. Public misperceptions often occur
with respect to the scale and distribution of social problems and there are all the more
likely to occur with respect to their causes and consequences.
In large complex society, the media of mass communication e.g Newspapers, Radio and
television usually distorts and exaggerates the social problems that occur. A study
found out that the amount of crime news reported in four Colorado Newspapers was
not significantly correlated with the amount of crime officially recorded. The
Newspapers were selective in the crime news they sought to print in the Newspapers.
Furthermore a survey found out that publicity estimates of the amount of violent crime
and theft was reflected in the trend in the amount of crime news rather than in
recorded crime rates. Therefore the misconception of the extent of crime resulted from
the news the journalist publishes to the public.
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Another example is about the Caraccidents that occurs in the country compared to the
plane accidents. In 1974 fifty thousand Americans died because of motorcar accidents
and about one thousand three hundred by air plane. Yet many people feel that air plane
travel is more risky than motorcar travel. But this is because of the attention that is
given to an air plane accident in the mass media. It makes a far greater impression than
the coverage of a motorcar accident.
Therefore popular perceptions are no safe guidelines to the magnitudeof social

problems. If impressions that people receive in the course of their everyday life do
affect their attitudes but these impressions cannot give a sound basis for diagnosing
social problems or dealing with them. Therefore the processes of social perceptions are
only partly understood omitting, supplementing and organizing what is selectively
perceived as social reality.
There is another reason why the social work practitioner does not necessarily order the
social problem in the same way as people in the society. Some pervasive socialproblems
such as poverty or job discrimination are not very visible for large sectors of the
population. They arouse mild public interest comparedto less serious problems that
erupt dramatically in the public spotlight. Riots, violence in the streets, strikes, sit-ins
and all types of less organized forms of collective protests are often designed to express
the visibility of the problems that have been chronic and widespread and yet nothing
has been done about them. These examples of strikes serve roughly the same function
of providing high visibility as the mass communication of dramatic large scale disasters.
So whatever their consequences such public disasters bid for attention to help check
people from the conditions that are inevitable and might as well be accepted.
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CHAPTER TWO
MINORITY GROUPS AND ETHNIC INEQUALITIES
2.1 MINORITY GROUPS
Minority is a noun which means a smaller number or part representing less than half of
the whole.
Minority group refers to category of people who experienced relative disadvantage as

compared to members of a dominant social group
Accordingly, minority is a group of people of the same race, culture or religion who live
in a place where most of the people around them are of different race, culture or
religion.
Louis Wirth defined a minority group as “a group of people who because of their
physical or cultural characteristic are singled out from the others in the society in
which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard
themselves as objects of collective discrimination.
People within the minority sometimes actively promote endogamy (marriage within
the group) in order to keep alive their cultural distinctiveness.
Minorities have experienced prejudice at the hands of the majority society
Many minorities are both ethnically and physically distinct from the rest of the people
frequently physical differences such as skin color are the defining factor in the
designating as ethnic minority.
Ethnic distinctions are commonly associated with inequalities of wealth and power as
well as with antagonisms between the groups.
The largest ratio of minorities in the United States are Africans, Americans, Native
Americans and Asian Americans. One black author Ralph Ellison wrote “ Iam invisible
simply because people refuse to see me. Over very many decades many Africans
Americans still feel invisible. Despite their large numbers they have long been treated
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as second class citizen this is because of racial discrimination and prejudice against
African Americans which is rooted in the history of slavery in the United States. Many
other subordinate groups also have little wealth and income and by 1909 blacks could
not even owned the property and could not have the benefit of leaving their inheritance
to their children. However in the 1960s there were several civil rights movements to
achieve blacks civil rights.
However life remains difficult for minority of poor Blacks who have attempted to
survive in ghetto areas shattered by high unemployment and poor housing.
2.2 CHALLENGES FACED BY MINORITY GROUPS
Looking in details of specific groups, it discusses the position of minorities with regard
to the number of areas including education, health and political participation. The
characteristic often singles them out as marginalized groups frequently living in a
remote geographical location in small communities poorer than the very population
with limited political representation and lacking access to basic social services as
stipulated below;
Access to health and social services. Minorities and ethnic groups rely on their
traditional knowledge of medicinal herbs, though even the transmission of knowledge
is seriously threatened by modernizing forces that are often accompanied by serious
environmental degradation, loss of herbs with medicinal values, therefore a challenge
to the minority in accessing the local herbs.
In most cases in the public health system these groups are not planned for, for instance
infant mortality rates are high in Uganda, life expectancy rates are low, for example
among the Batwa women of Kisoro, there are two still births out of every dozen live
births (infant mortality rate is 17%) and five out of 10 children reach their first birth
day. These figures are far worse than national average for instance an 11% infant
mortality rate, and 18% chance of dying before first birthday.
Gender aspects among the ethnic minority groups counts a challenge. These
women are frequently excluded from decision making and gender interests are never
accorded priority even in the national policies and programs. This can be seen among
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the Karamajongs where by the men come at a round table to discuss issues of
development and in most cases women are left to do home chores. The women have no
access to property rights or if they do, they can’t inherit. The no consideration in
resource ownership is aggravated by lower level of literacy and education among
women.
Access to education. The 1995 construction guarantees the right to education under
Article 30act 34 requires the state and parents to offer basic education to a child. To
implement these provisions, the government introduced universal primary education
in 1997 with the initial aim of enhancing primary level intake throughout the country
and hence addressing high levels of illiteracy. In Uganda the majority of minority still
suffer an acute lack of access to education as most schools are near urbanized parts of
Uganda, where rural ethnic groups do not live. There is confusion about language
content of education for example among Batwa they are taught in Rujumbira andRukiga
and not Lutwa, this remain a challenge up to date.
Socio-economic problem is also another challenge. Ethnic and minority groups have
lost land and other means to survive due to civil strife or to the government policies on
forest and wild life conservation, while very limited alternatives have been provided.
Cultural rights. Given most ethnic minority groups in Uganda are now increasingly
scattered, coupled with derogatory (strong disapproval) attitudes, this has played a role
in denial of their rights. Their traditional way of life was communal with well
established social support structures that were instrumental for survival but today the
Batwa havet o work mostly as casuallabourers for normal wages that are often less
than half those paid to non-Batwa.
Discrimination.Batwa are excluded from the society by their neighbors and they are
shunned as sexual partners. It is also believed that sleeping with a Mutwa woman
heals backache and HIV/AIDS. This type of belief by other tribes about the Batwa
remains a great challenge and in relation to this discrimination on the basis of sex and
gender and women are more socially and economically deprived .
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Barriers to social mobility and job opportunities; in our society today, ethnic
minorities like the Karamojong still face the significant barriers to social mobility
despite many having better qualifications than their other counterparts or the majority.
In our society today, jobs are distributed according to tribal preferences thus
prohibiting the minority groups that are undeveloped
Identity challenge. Because of the differences in social cultural practice, history and
background, minorities have in most cases engaged in close fights or struggles without
weapon with other ethnic groups as a result of identity thus giving rise to the problem
of adjustment with the majority community.
Insecurity challenge. Different identity and their small numbers relative to the rest of
the society develop feelings of insecurity about their life, assets and wellbeing. This
sense of insecurity may get worse at times when the relationships between minority
and majority communities in a society are strained or not much cordial. This can be
seen among the Karamojong minority groups who possess guns
Deprivation of the benefit of the opportunities for development. Difficulty to access

services provided by the government may lead to isolation as most of these areas are
considered hard to reach areas. This leads to the minority groups staying by themselves
as a group hence hindering their integration and sharing of ideas for development
Ethnic minorities decry the loss of cultural norms, values and customs such as the
mode of greeting, the values of respect especially for elders and in laws, and of
hospitality, conflict, resolution, mediation and reconciliation mechanism among others.
This has been undermined by the majority who call all the above modernization
2.3 ETHNICITY
On the other hand, an ethnic group of ethnicity is a category of people who identify with
each other based on similarities such as common ancestry, language, history, society,
culture or nation.
Ethnicity is usually an inherited status based on the societies in which one lives.
Membership of an ethnic group tends to be defined by shared cultural heritage,
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ancestry, origin myth, history home land, language or dialect, symbolic systems such as
religion, dressing style, rituals and physical appearance
The sociologist MAX WEBER provided one of the important modern definitions of
ethnic groups “human groups other than kinship groups which cherish a believer in
their common origins at such a kind that it provides the basis of the creation of a
community”
Ethnic minority group is a group of people who differ in race or colour or in national,
religious or cultural origin from the dominant group often the majority population of
the country in Batwa, Bamba, Bavuma, Babwisi, Karamajongo and other groups.
2.3.1 EFFECTS OF ETHNICITY
Positive effects
Ethnicity keeps cultures alive. This is because many ethnic groups would like to
identify themselves as belonging to that particular group and so they manage to keep
their cultural tradition in fact. This helps the younger generation to appreciate their
cultures.
Ethnic integration. In this age of globalization and rapid social change there are some
benefits of ethnic diversity whereby there is cooperation economically, socially and
politically. International migration is accelerating the global economic and there is
movement and mixing of different ethnic groups.
There are three primary models of ethnic integration which have been adopted by
multi ethnic society and these are;
Assimilation
Assimilation means that this ethnic group abandon their original customs and practices,
molding their behavior to the values and norms of the majority, an assimilations
approach demand that they change their language, drew, life styles and cultural out
looks as part of integrating into a new social order e.g. in the United States those
immigrants (people from different ethnic groups who moved to America) where
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subjected to presser to become assimilated and many of their children become more or
less completing Americans.
The second approach or model is that of the melting point. Rather than the tradition of
the ethnic groups being dissolved in favour of those dominant and existing in the
population. They became blended to from new evolving cultural patterns. This means
that the traditions and customs of this ethnic group are not abandoning but contributes
to shape a constantly transforming society. Examples of the melting point approach
include cuisine food (different types of food), fashion, music and architecture. To a
limited degree this model is an accurate expression of aspects of America, cultural
development.
Cultural pluralism
This means to foster the development of a genuinely plural society in which all
numerous different subcultures are recognized. A pluralists approach regards ethnic
minority groups as equal stakeholder in society meaning that they enjoy the same
rights as the majority population. Ethnic differences are respected and celebrated as
vital components of the larger national life. The United States and other western
countries and pluralistic in many senses although they are some inequalities. In Britain
and elsewhere in Europe the leaders of most ethnic minority groups have increasingly
emphasized the pace of pluralism although it is yet to be achieved.
2.3.2 NEGATIVE EFFECTS (SIDE) CHALLENGES
Ethnocentrism
This is a tendency of looking of at other culture as inferior compare to your own. It is a

suspicion of outsiders combined with a tendency to evaluate the culture of other
inferior, outsiders are treated as a liens, barbarians or morally and mentally inferior.
This was how most civilization viewed members of ethnic groups and this altitude lead
to a lot of ethnic clashes in history
Group closure
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Closure refers to the process whereby groups maintain boundaries separating
themselves from others. This boundaries are formed by mean of exclusion devices in
sharpen the division between one ethnic group and another such devices include
limiting on prohibiting intermarriages between the groups, restrictions on social
contact or economic relationship like trading and the physical separation of groups
(ethnic ghettos) African Americans have experienced all this three exclusions devices.
Racial intermarriages as been illegal in social states, economic and social segregation
was enforced by law in the south and segregated black ghettos still existing in the most
major American cities.
Resource allocation
There are inequalities in the distribution of wealth and material goods this explain why
members of some groups get, shert, lynched, beaten up or harassed. A good education, a
desirable place to live in, wealth, power and social status are scarce resources some
groups have more of them than others. To hold on to their distinctive positions
privilege groups sometimes undertake extreme acts of violence against others, similarly
under privilege groups may also turn to violence as a means of trying to improve their
own situation.
Ethnic tension and conflicts
Ethnic conflicts have become internationalized. Thousands of refugees spill over into
neighboring areas or countries further destabilizing other regions. Some western
countries like America have intervene both diplomatically and militarily to protect the
human right of ethnic groups who are target peaceas been maintained but through the
president of peace keeping troops e.g. Yugoslavia, the Croatian against the Sabians
Genocide
Genocide describes the systematic elimination of one ethnic group at the hand of
another. The 20th century Witness the emergency of organized genocide most recently
in 1944 the ethnic Hutu majority in Rwanda launched genocidal campaign against the
Tutsi minority claiming lives of more than 800,000 people within a life span of three
months. More than too many refugees spread flead into the neighboring countries such
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as Burundi, Congo, and Uganda international war crime tribunals have been convened
to investigate and try those responsible for ethnic cleansing and genocide in Yugoslavia
and Rwanda.
2.4 MIGRATION
Migration refers to the movement of people from their origin land of residence to a
different new place of residence. Migration is caused by various factors which include
civil wars, diseases, famine, political instabilities and economic recession. Migration has
two patterns related to it and these are; immigration and emigration
Immigration is the movement of people into another country to settle.
Emigration is the process by which people leave a country to settle in another country.
These two patterns of migration combine to produce global migrations patterns linking
countries of origin and countries of destination. The intensification of glabal migration
since World War II and particularly other the last two decades as transforms migration
into an important political issues in many countries.
2.4.1 MODELS OF MIGRATION
Scholars have identify four models of migration to describe the main global population
movement since 1945 and these are;
 The classic model of migration

 The colonial model of migration
 The guest workers model of migration
 Illegal models of migration
The classic model of migration
This applies to countries such as Canada, the United States and Australia which have
develop as Nation of immigration has been largely encourage and the promised of
citizenship as been the extended to new comers although restrictions and quotes helps
to limits the annual intake of immigrants.
The colonial model of immigration

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This is pursued by countries such as France and the United Kingdom which tend to
favour immigrants from former colonies over those from other countries. The large
number of immigrants from new common wealth countries in Britain reflectthat
tendency
The guest workers model of immigration
Here the immigrants are admitted into the country on a temporary basis often in order
to fulfill demand within the labour market but do not received citizenship rights even
after long periods of settlement. This is common in countries like Germany and other
South American countries.
Illegal models of immigration
These are increasingly common due to the tightening immigration loss in many
industrialized counties, immigrants who are able to gain entry into a country either
secretly or under a non migration. Britain are often able to leave illegally outside the
realm of official society e.g. of this can be seen in the large number of Mexican Illegal
immigrants in many South American states or in the growing international business of
smuggling refugees across national borders.
2.4.2 FORCES/FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO MIGRATION
Push and pull factor
Push factors refers to dynamics within a country of origin which force people to
emigrate such as war, famine, political oppression of popular pressure. Pull factors by
contrast are those factor which attract immigrants such as prosperouslabour markets
better living conditions and lower population density all this could pull immigrants
from other regions.
Macro level factors .These refers to issue such as the political situation in an areas, the
laws and regulations controlling immigrations and emigration or changes in the
international economy.
Micro level factors
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These are concerned with the resources, knowledge and understanding that the
migrant people posses for e.g. the knowledge that the migrant have about the country
of destination and the social capital, human or community resources that can be
depended upon helps the immigrants to leaves their countries of origin.
The term Diaspora refers to the dispersal of an ethnic population from an origin home
into a foreign area often in a force manner or under a traumatic circumstances.
References are often made to the Jewish population and African Diaspora during
slavery as a result of slavery and genocide. Although members of a Diaspora are
scattered apart geographically they are held together by factor such as shared history, a
collective memory of the original homeland or a common ethnic society which is
nurtured and preserved.
2.4.3 EFFECTS OF MIGRATION
VALUABLE /POSITIVE FUNCTIONS
For the receiving society or country it alleviates labour shortages for example in health
care and technology. People with technological skills bring their expertise into
countries like America which helps in their health and technological factors.
For the sending nation migration can relive an economy enable to support large
number of people. The large amount of money called remittances that immigrants send
back to home countries help the economy of those countries. Worldwide immigrants
send more than 80 billion dollars a year back home to their relatives. This amount
represents a major source of income for developing nations. (WorldBank report 2003)
Many societies are becoming ethnically diverse others the existing patterns of multi-
ethnicity are being transformed. Individuals are coming into regular contact with
people who think different, look different and live differently from themselves this
interaction are happening as a result of global migration. They are also intermarriages
between this group thus making the World Global village.
20
2.4.4 NEGATIVE EFFECTS
Area that accept high concentrating of immigrants and it difficult to meet short terms
social service needs. There include education and health services which become
competitive because of large numbers of people that access those services.
There is brain drain from the Nation whereimmigrants are coming from. Whenmigrants
with skills and educational potential leaders their developing country, their departure
can be pys. Functional for that nation, No amount of payment sent back home can make
up for the low of valuable human resource from the poor countries.
Fear and dislike of new ethnic groups divide countries throughout the world. Hostility
to potential; immigrants and refugees reflects not only racial ethnic and religious
prejudice by it show a desire to maintain a dominant culture by keeping outsiders out.
Vulnerability racism including racial attacks although majority escape such attacks but
few who experience such violence the experience can be disturbing and even brutal
leading to death.
Strict policies have been put in place to curb migration. Many counties have witness
campaigns for migrant to be return to their countries of origin and threats of depletion
if there an employed or commit an offence. Many moral panics depicting migrant as
criminals and dependent on the welfare states a prompting a further tightening of
immigration policies in many countries.
21
CHAPTER THREE
SEX DISCRIMINATION
3.1 INTRODUCTION
This means treating an individual differently and adversely based on sex or maintaining
seemingly neutral policies, practices or requirements that have a negative effect on one
sex without legitimate non discriminatory reasons for the treatment.
It also refers to the unfair treatment directed against an individual or group based on
his or her sex for example studies have shown that young girls are kept at home where
are assigned heavy load of household shores by their parents, boys do not have as much
responsibility and therefore they are free to attain school. Often parent do not feel that
education is as important for girls as it is for boys and even when they send their
daughters to school it is not for very long. In secondary schools girls tend to be
generally art subjects and they are generally poorly represented in scientific files. Girls
are perceived as nurtures and this feminine role is synonymous with the domestic one.
Girlsinternalizedthis attitude and set their own goal base on a very low and limited self
concept.
What is sex?
Sex is the biological characteristics that distinguish males and female, primary sex
characteristic consists of the sexual organ related to reproduction. The secondary sex
characteristic are the physical differences between males and females that are not
directly connected with reproduction e.g. muscles, lower voice, body hair and heights in
mates. While in females they form more fatty tissue, broader hips and develop breast.
What is gender?
Gender is a social not biological characteristic. Gender consists of whatever a group

considers proper for its mates and female consequently gender varies from one society
to another.
22
Gender refers to masculinity or femininity. In short you inherit your sex but you learn
your behaviors and attitudes or culture considered appropriate for the sex. The
expectations associated with gender vary around the world; gender sorts us on the
basis of sex into different life experiences. It opens and closes doors to power to party
and even prestige (status in society). Gender is a structural feature of society depending
on which society you belong to.
Understanding gender and sex
Sex Gender
What makes on male and female What makes one masculine of feminine
Biologically determined Socially determined or culturally defined
Refers to physical characteristic Learned behavior
Constant across time Changes across time
Constant across different societies and Changes across place and cultures.
cultures
3.2 GENDER INEQUALITY
Every where women is a group enjoy fewer advantages and work longer hours than
men. Women’s work and opinions are undervalued. In many countries women earn less
than men and are prevented from owning land. They faced many obstacles to all
position of authority and they face many threats to violence just because they are
women. Women are in a subordinate position and globally they faced a lot of
inequalities as identify below;
Sex typing of work
Most activities in our society are sex types in other words every society associates
activities with one sex or the other. Most work that takes place in a home like cooking,
carrying water, looking after children, etc are considered women’s jobs. In every few
societies are such activities considered in men’s work where as for men activities like
planning management are considered men’s activity for that matter women work in
low paying jobs as considered to men.
23
Prestige to work
Universally greater prestige is given to male activities regardless of what those

activities re if taking car e of goat is men’s work then the care of goats is considered
important and carried high prestige but if its women work it is considered less
important and given less prestige. In short it’s not the work that provides the prestige
but the sex in which the work is associated.
Education
Almost one billion adult around the world cannot read and write and 2/3 are women
approximately 150 million children cannot enrolled in school and about 2/3 are girls,
here we see that female are usually less literate than males although this varies from
country to country. In some countries like Arabia, very few women are given an
opportunity to go to school. In some African countries few girls who to school, leaves
school much earlier to give an opportunities to their brothers and also to take up
household responsibilities and marry to bring bride price to their parents.
Politics
Women lacked equal access to National decision making for example no national
legislature (parliament) has as many women as men in the entire world. The women
who come closest to having equal representation in parliament are found in no way
with 40% of the legislators been women. In some countries such as South Kuwait and
the United Arab Emirates women cannot even vote. In most nations in the world
women hold only about 11% of the seats in parliament and congresses.
The pay gap
In every nation women are paid less than men majority of the women especially in
African are in agriculture where they have little or no control other the income
generated by the cash crop production. In the US full time working women are paid
70% of what men are paid while in South Korea women are paid a half of what men
earn. Women tend to dominate the lower paid professions and also they concentrate in
the formal sector where the returns are low.
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Gender inequality in every life
Women’s interest attitudes and contributions are not taken as a serious as those of
men. Masculinity is valued more highly for it represent strengths and success.
Femininity is devalued because it is perceived as weakness and lack of accomplishment.
In some societies people called each other especially men, women if they think that
your are no working hard enough for example if a man work slowly other men may tell
him that you are working slowly may say that you are soft like a woman. This name
calling is a socially significant because it shows the value people especially the men
attach to women.
Gender and employment
Women enter the place of work in small number and with less education because of the
gender problem in the family and schools. Female gender participation is an important
index use to measure the status of women in Uganda men participation is higher than
that of women because women’s employment is limited by the following;
 Domestic work
 Low education labors
 Higher illiteracy
 Lack of skills
 Prejudice against women by employers
 Sexual harassment
The time budget between official and house hold role
Gender and violence
There are different ways in which women face violence and this include the following;
Forcible rape; female of old ages are victim of rape but the typical rape victim is
between 16-24 years of age. Most raped victim knew their (assailants) these are people
who commit the act and the few rape cases are committed by strangers. An aspect of
rape that is usually ignored is the rape of men in prison. Prison official are reluctant to
let the public know about this horrible act in prison but 15-20% of men in prison are
raped by fellow mail prisoners
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Date rape
This is force rape by someone you know who has taken you out on a date. Women are
forced to have sex in a date with a person who has taken them out. Women are victim
because they have forced and give him to pressure to have sex when they don’t want
but none of the men have been physically forced to have sex. Most date rapes go and
reported and the primary reason is that the victim feels partially responsible because
he knows the person and was with him voluntarily. However as a physician who
treated victim of date rape said “would you feel responsible If someone you knew hit
you over the head? (Carpenito 1999) meaning that whether it is a date rape it should be
reported to the police because it is a violation of human right.
VIOLENCE IN THE HOME
Women are also typical victims of family violence e.g. spouse battering, marital rape
and incest. When frustrated in a relationship or even causes outside the relationship,
some men turn violence towards their wives and lovers. Incest also occur in families
which socially isolated i.e. families that do not have strong ties e.g. divorced families,
single parents families etc. incest invoice sexual relations between relatives e.g. brother
and sisters or even between parents and children. The most common offenders in
incest are uncles, followed by first cousins, fathers (especially step fathers, brothers)
and finally relatives ranging from brothers in law to step grand fathers)
3.4 SEXUAL HARASSMENT
This refers to unwelcome sexual attention at work or at school which may affect a
person’s job performance or create a hostile work environment. It is also the abuse of
one’s position of authority or forced unwanted sexual demands on some one. This
includes unwantedsexual comments, touches, looks and pressure on someone to have
sex with her. At first women considered all this things to be a personal matter but with
the coming of women liberation sexual advances at work and at school were perceived
as a very big problem in society, they looked at it as abuse of positions of authority by
men. Sexual harassment is mostly common in men because of the authority they have in
their jobs, however there are few case of women sexually harassing men.
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CHAPTER FOUR
FAMILY
4.1 DEFINITION
A family is defined as a social group characterized by common residence, economic

cooperation and reproduction. A family can also be defined as a set of people related by
blood, marriage or adoption who share the primary responsibility for reproduction and
caring for members of society.
Sociologically, such an organization must include adults of both sexes, at least two of
them may gain a socially-approved sexual relationship and have one or more children
either biologically owned or adopted but all belonging to sexually co-habiting
adults.This means that a family is a unit of social organization within any society whose
cardinal function is to maintain and ensure continuity within the society.
4.2 FAMILY STRUCTURE
There have been recent debates on the composition and structure of the family. Some
sociologists are now arguing that a family may exist without necessarily having a man
(husband) and a woman (wife) in a sexual union.
Such scholars give the example of gay marriages. This however is subject to debate
because many societies have resisted that kind of union and no social recognition has
been accorded to them.
4.3 TYPES OF FAMILIES
1. Nuclear family;
This is a type of family which is made up of a man as a husband and a woman as a wife
together with their children only. Nuclear family is also referred to as elementary
familybecause it forms the first and smallest, unit of social organization in any society.
It is common in complex industrialized cities and developed societies.
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2.Extended family;
It is made up of multi-generational series of nuclear families often living together as a

common domestic group. It is also referred to as a joint family, a family having parents
living with their married children.
NB: Where the parents die and leave the children to manage the family, it becomes a
co-lateral extended family.
3.Complex family;
This refers to families based on plural marriages. It applies to polygamous marriages

which may either include polygene or polyandry.
4.4 FUNCTIONS OF A FAMILY
1. Reproduction, for a society to maintain itself, It must replace dying members. In

this case, the family contributes to human survival through its function of
reproduction,
2. Protection, unlike the young of animal species, human infants need constant care
and. security for quite a long time, The extremely long period of dependency for
children places special demands on older family members. In all cultures, it is the
family that assumes ultimate responsibility for the protection and upbringing of
children.
3. Socialization, a family serves as an agent for socialization in society. In all African
societies new members of the society [children] are basically socialized into the
society's norms, values, customs and beliefs by individual members of the family.
4. Regulation of sexual behavior, a family serves the function of regulating sexual
relations. It is the family to ensure that incest taboos are reinforced to the
maximum. Formal and informal norms in most cultures permit men to express
and enjoy sexual desires more freely than women.
5. Provision of labor, a family serves as an economic coperation charged with
producing both for subsistence and surplus used to meet other needs of the
members. This implies that members of a family provide labor force required for
the family's economic enterprise.
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6. Provision of social statuses, the family unit provides the newborn child with
ascribed statuses of race and ethnicity that helps to determine his or her place
within the society's stratification system. It is a family that first allocates status
to children and trains them on how to behave when occupying different statuses
at different times.
7. Accumulation of wealth, the family is a channel through which property or
wealth is accumulated. In African societies, individual members of a family work
to acquire wealth which is later regarded as collective property owned by
everyone within a family.
8. Basic unit of society, a family provides the raw-material for formation of larger
social and political units such as bands, clans, communities among others. The
family is the basic unit of society and a society crops-up after combining
numerous families.
4.5 FAMILY DISORGANIZATION
This is the breakup of the family unit when one or more members are un willing to
perform their role/obligations adequately as they are viewed by other members.
4.5.1 TYPES OF FAMILY DISORGANIZATION
Un completed unity or illegitimacy
According to the rule of illegitimacy each child should have a hesitation father to act as
its protector/guardians/representative on the society between this rule is violated by
people not staying together or they are not staying together or they are not legally
married couple may cohabit between with not so much committed. If a child is born this
affects the status on the child.
Voluntary departure
This includes a couple separating, divorcing and other kinds of separation
Empty shell family

This is a family where individuals live together between have minimum communication
and commitment failing to give emotional support to each other.
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Causes of family disorganization
Family disorganization may be caused by a family problems due to external events e.g
when the head of the family is not around for instance he may be in prison as the case
was with Nelson Mandela, in war, death or abroad.
Economic factors
These indirectly affect the decisions with in the family. In a society, the economic
responsibility rests on the husband and failure to do so, this kind of situation may
disorganize the education of the children.
Excessive taking of alcohol
Due to excessive taking of alcoholism it normally ends up in fights and conflicts
Women liberation
Due to this, some women cannot tolerate social restrictions by their husbands and in
addition some men cannot agree that women have fundamental rights
Sickness
In case one of the parents falls sick, especially the break winners usually the man,
children are forced to be streets, people may suffer aims AIDS or get mental illness.
Such conditions make them to forget their own obligations. In addition either spouse
could run away if one of them is sick that is in case of AIDS.
Lack of communication
There may be lack of harmony among the members and therefore very little can be
done in the home.
Extra marital relation
Can also cause family disorganization. That is one of the spouses may have an affair
outside marriages. It should be noted that extra marital sex has been the expected
known specially for men in the central regions e.g. according to a study by unit on rural
30
women. It was found out that 80% of the rural women revealed that their husbands had
outside partners. Some women also said that they were supposed to be faithful if one
was found by another man, there would be trouble. Such a thing leads to marital
conflicts.
Bride price
This is very common to many cultures. In places where bride price is not taken into
consideration women are often mistreated. This can lead to women being buttered or
marginalized.
Polygamy
In our society it is a sign of prestige even status. Other engages into it due to religious
reasons. Others its due to inability to get children. This will lead to family
disorganization when the family is large with limited facilities and gets children’s
requirements will not be met.
4.6 EXTENDED FAMILY OBLIGATION
This is one of things which are inevitable in our society. This may bring some kind of
disorganization of the family in terms of support
4.6.1 EFFECTS OF FAMILY DISORGANIZATION
1. If there is any kind of disorganization. It may be children who are affected due to
divorce or separation of the parents. Parents quite often fail to perform normal
parental roles to carry out usual activities of social control and socialization and
development of the children.
2. It has noted that families in which there is continuous marital conflicts. Juvenile
delinquency is likely to result and in this case the juvenile are children who ran
away to the streets with expectation of the better environment.
3. Parents and youth conflicts marital conflicts lead to conflicts between parents
and the youth. At adolescent stage, the youth are very sensitive on whatever is
going on around them and don’t tolerate what is going on and they inevitably
show their anger this leads to conflict.
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4. Divorce leads to economic deprivation of women. The women may lose material
property and make it worse the parents of the husband may request for
repayment of the bride price.
5. Some women may decide between their own for instances they could become
prostitutes
6. Due to extra marital relationship by men, women and children are likely to be
neglected. It becomes difficult to support both the wife and the children.
7. Lack of communication within the family also leads to either spouses to look for
emotional support from elsewhere leading of extra mental relationships
8. It could lead to physical assault of children
4.6.2 MEASURES TO ASSIST THE FAMILY (CHILDREN)
There is need to strengthen the family and children courts
It’s important to sensitize the public about the importance of a family and the
commitment to enter the family life. This can be done by the church counseling people
organizing workshops etc
There is need to sensitize family about the agencies that provide assistance to the
available services. These services should also be extended to rural areas. In addition,
the community must be empowered to participate in any kind of family organisation
agencies like FIDA legal probation offices.
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CHAPTER FIVE
DRUG ABUSE.
5.1 INTRODUCTION
A drug is any chemical substance which when taken in to the body can affect one or
more of the body' s functions. For instance, when one feels pain and is given a
painkiller; panadol, the pain reduces or disappears. This pain killer has modified the
body functioning so that the pain is either tolerated or not felt at all. In this case the'
drug has been used for curative purposes; to relieve certain symptoms, in a case
wherethe drug is used otherwise then this will be drug abuse.
These individuals who abuse drugs take drugs continuously to experience their effect
and avoid the discomfort of not taking them.In the long run their bodies get used to
drugs and larger increasing doses are required in order to quench this thirst.
Drug abuse - it is the misuse, under use, over use of any drugsto get some desired
effects, whether the drug is prescribed, unprescribed,legal or illegal; hence, it is
possible to abuse the prescribed drugs ofmedication. Drug abuse is considered to occur
when the central focus of an individual's life is on drug use. When the drug is
withdrawn unpleasant physical symptoms occur. Psychologically the drug abuser
isunable to face life andits challenges without the drug. Thus a drug is abused when its
use causes harm to personal health, to others and thesociety at large.
Some of the commonly abused drugs among young people are alcohol, cigarettes,
bhang, cocaine, and heroine. Alcohol and tobacco are ranked top on the list; they are
actually termed as the gateway to other drugs simply because they are socially accepted
and also easily available and affordable. The legal drugs that used without a medical
practioners prescription are painkillers, amphetamines, and sleeping pills.
Drug dependency / drug addiction -This refers to a long term compulsive drug use
perhaps with attempts to stop but repeatedly relapsing to drug abuse. Here the body
begins to require the drug in higher doses in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms. This
is a situation where an individual has to use the drug to function normally.
33
Withdrawal symptoms- This is a chronic physical and psychological compulsion or
craving to take a drug. The individual must take the drugs: to avoid unpleasant physical
and psychological -effects-resulting from withdrawal.
Drug tolerance - This refers to a situation where an individual needsincreasingly

higher doses to get the desired effect. For instance increasing the intake of alcohol from
one bottle to three bottles of the same stuff to get the same effects.
Cross tolerance. This refers to a situation where a drug abuser has to use several drugs
of the same category to increase the desired effects. An individual who previously
drunk Tusker beer may shift to waragifor the same effects or one abusing marijuana
may graduate to herointo experience same effects.
Poly drug abuse- This refers to a situation where by a person abuses more than one
drug at the same time; heroine, alcohol and tobacco.
5.2 CATEGORIES OF DRUGS AND THEIR EFFECTS
The drugs abused by young people are of different categories
The methods of administering the drugs also vary from one type of drug to another. A
drug can be swallowed, injected, sniffed, snorted inhaled or used externally as a liquid,
lotion, ointment or powder. These different categories can be grouped as depressants /
sedatives, hallucinogens stimulants, relaxants and inhalants.
Depressants /sedatives - They reduce excitement or functional activities. The user

feels drowsy without actually sleeping. Examples are alcohol, barbiturates, opium,
aspirin and paracetamols.
Narcotics - These are sometimes referred to as the hard drugs. They are very strong
pain killers and sleep inducing drugs. Most of them are swallowed, injected or smoked.
They produce sleep or stupor and relieve pain. Legally a narcotic is a drug regulated
under the dangerousdrugs Act and should only be obtained with a doctor's
prescription. These drugs mask pain and the user experiences mild to extreme
euphoria and also experiences nausea and vomiting., .They include heroine, opium,
morphine, and pethidine. The effects of cocaine and morphine on the user are mental
34
problems, poor health, palpitations, convulsions, circulatory collapse, confusion,
dependency and addition and death. On the other hand heroine which injected into the
body through veins using syringes is highly addictive and its other effects are
respiratory problems, loss of appetite, severe anxiety, loss of weight spread of diseases
such as HIV/Aids, withdrawal symptoms, heart and liver diseases, theft of money and
other salable items, and death cause by high doses of the drug.
Hallucinogens - These are strong drugs that induce false impressions.They are
swallowed, chewed or injected. They are mostly ingested by placing a small square
paper containing the drug on the tongue. This chemical changes the mind by causing
confusion, paranoia, altered perception, and dreamlike experience, psychosis and sense
of being out of the body. Examples are marijuana and LSD.
Stimulants - They stimulate the central nervous system altering many functions such
as perception, reasoning, judgment, feelings and intelligence. They are swallowed or
injected. The drugs in this category are amphitamineas, cocaine and cigarettes
(nicotine)
Relaxants .Theseones are smoked, sniffed or swallowed. The example in this category
is marijuana (bhang). The harmful effects of are dependency syndrome, tolerance,
withdrawal phenomenon, direct toxic effect, interferes with attention, concentration
and logicalthinking, becoming violent. At higher doses the user becomes violent,
excited, may have hallucinations; can lead to mental disorder, memory impairment,
deterioration in personal hygiene, damage of the respiratory system and lung cancer.
Inhalants - These are drugs that produce fumes. They are sniffed and they consist of
glue, gasoline and paint thinner. When the fume-is sniffed or inhaled consumers
become intoxicated, dizzy and have blurred or distorted speech. The immediate effect
experienced by the user is euphoria. The user loses appetite and becomes disoriented.
Restlessness and vomiting may also occur and at higher doses breathing complications
may also occur. Generally drug abuse affects the central nervous system, and impairs
the systems of the body, the liver and the eyes. Drugs also can lead to death,
mentalproblems, withdrawal symptoms, impair judgment, reasoning and be used as an
escape from reality.
35
5.3 STAGES OF DRUG ABUSE
There are three progressive stages of drug abuse; the experimental stage transitional
stage and the abnormal stage.
The first stage/ experimental stage. When taken for the first time drug stimulates the
brain cells to a, great extend and prevent the brain other sensations from the body
organs and muscle tissues. The user's body is thus activated to do things and the user
becomes happy and does extra ordinary things. This feeling misleads the individual into
think that he/she is a super human and one gains a lot of confidence and feels relaxed
The second stage / transitional stage - The user enter into a transitional stage and
begins lo show symptoms such as oversleeping, loss of interest in education, neglect 'of
hygiene, forgetfulness, loss of memory, withdrawal symptoms, drug tolerance and
addiction, hostility towards relatives and close friends, becoming a loner etc. At this
level those close to the user begin to notice these negative reactions. The user needs to
be helped because after passing this stage rehabilitation may not be possible.
The third stage / abnormal stage-This stage characterized by depression, stress,

anxiety and weakness. The use permanently experiences withdrawal symptoms,
insomnia, irritability, confusion due to brain damage, convulsions, childish behaviour,
brain gets blocked, hallucinations and other mental disorders. At this point one lives in
a world of their own and suicide is common.
5.4 COMMONLY ABUSED DRUGS AND THEIR EFFECTS
In this section I will discuss some of the commonly abused drugs by people especially
the youths in and out of school. These are medicinal drugs, the soft drugs; mairungi,
tobacco and alcohol. Hopefully the knowledge provided will empower parents and
teachers to assist the young people out of the drug abuse mess.
Medicinal drugs - These are drugs that are prescribed by medical practitioners to
patients to cure various illnesses and diseases such as malaria, pneumonia and other
ailments. The medical practitioner will always give clear instructions of adherence to
the medication which must be followed by the patient to the latter. The drugs in this
category are:
36
Tranquilizers which serve the purpose of relieving tension and inducing sleep.
Examples are valium and piriton.
Palliative drugs which are prescribed to people suffering from chronic diseases such
as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma and tuberculosis.
Sedatives are drugs given to patients to reduce pain; aspirin codeine and paracetamol.
These drugs must be used as per the doctor's prescription because if carelessly used
they can lead to addiction, aggravate the illness or even cause death.
Mairungi.The leaves and stalks of the mairungishrub are chewed toinduce excitement.
The other effects include sleeplessness, irritability, loss of appetite, problems with
digestion, waste of financial resources, misuse of time, family problems and break ups.
Tobacco - Usually taken in the form of cigarettes and snuff. Tobacco contains
substances which are harmful to the body; nicotine, carbonmonoxide and tar. Nicotine
makes the user addicted to smoking while carbonmonoxide damages the arteries, heart
and lungs. Tarwhich the black substance left in lungs after smoking causes cancer of the
throat, lungs and the heart. Further, tobacco has the following effects.
 Addiction.
 Chest and respiratory problems.
 Women smokers may experience miscarriage, give birth to underweight babies
and have heart problems.
 Smokers irritate other people with smoke and the smell.
 Fire accidents caused by careless disposal of lighted cigarettes.
 Misuse of resources at individual and family level because a lot of money is
spend on cigarettes.
5.6 ALCOHOL
This is one of the oldest known and commonly abused drugs. Majorly its common use is
as a result of it being readily available to theusers and being socially and legally
accepted for entertainment in social occasions and ceremonies. Young people
getinfluenced into alcohol abuse by significant others, the media and their peers.
Alcohol drinks are usually made through fermentation and distillation. Examples of
alcoholic beverages are wines, spirits, various types of beers, traditional brews, and
illicit brews.
37
The effects of alcohol are many including:
 Unruly behaviour.
 Affects personality.
 Slurred speech and memory.
 Family problems and break up,
 Poor performance at school / work.
 Drop out of school / dismissal from work.
 Carelessness at school / work and at personal level.
 Destructionof the brain cells:
 Poor heath or death.
 Misuse of resources like money and other personal possessionsto satisfy the
desire for alcohol.
 Vulnerability to risky behaviours especially illicit sex, sexuallytransmitted
infection including HIV infection.
 Depresses the taker; becomes merry, too talkative or violent.
 Compulsive craving for alcohol.
These effects are indicators that all is not well and something may need to be done to
mitigate the situation. The best way forward is for the user to avoid the slippery road
that leads to alcoholism.
5.6.1 Alcoholism
Alcoholism also known as alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence symptom is a medical

illness that affects all aspects of our lives. Kenya, domestic violence, road accidents,
blindness and even death as a result of alcohol are on the rise. The affordability,
availability and accessibility of alcoholic beverages is seriously affecting the youth.
The causes of alcoholism are varied and not well understood, but they include
environmental, social and genetic factors.
38
5.6.2 Signs and symptoms of alcoholism
Alcohol abuse is mainly diagnosed through behaviour and the following sign may
indicate that an individual is abusing alcohol; insomnia, frequent falls, bruises at differ-
ent stages of healing, blackouts, chronic depression, anxiety, irritability, absence at
work or school, loss of employment or difficult in keeping a job, financial difficulties
frequent intoxicated appearance or behaviour, weight loss and frequent road accidents.
Many medical conditions are worsened by alcohol abuse, while the medical risks of
taking alcohol far out weigh any of its perceived benefits. Alcohol abusers have a higher
risk of psychiatric disorders and suicide. They often-experience guilt, shame and
depression especially when alcohol use leads to significant loses such as job,
relationships, status, economic security or physical health.
5.6.3 The physical effects of alcohol abuse
The following are the physical effects of alcohol abuse; cirrhosis (chronic liver damage
as result of alcohol use), pancreatitis (inflammation and damage of the pancreas),
epilepsy, nerve disease, alcohol related memory loss, heart muscle disease, stomach
ulcers and erosions, sexual dysfunction and infertility, increased risk of developing
cancers of; the breast, throat, mouth, trachea, esophagus, and liver, anemia and
increased risk of type two diabetes.
Social effects of alcohol abuse
Alcoholism is associated with an increased risk of committing criminal offenses

including driving under the influence of alcohol, domestic violence, child abuse, sexual
assault,robbery with violence and public disorder as a result of reduced inhibitions.
Children raised in a family with alcoholics are at an increased risk of alcohol abuse,
drug abuse, behavioural problems, and anxiety and mood disorders. These children
may become afraid of their parents because of (heir unstable moods. They can also
develop shame over their inadequacy to stop their parents drinking and this can lead to
low self esteem and depression.
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5.7 MEDICAL EMERGENCIES ASSOCIATED WITH ALCOHOL ABUSE.
There are other very specific medical emergencies associated with alcoholism where a
patient must be taken to see a doctor immediately. These may be linked to alcohol
withdrawal and may include:
 Alcohol tremors and shakes usually characterized byuncontrollable, involuntary

shaking of the hand and thee legs.
 Convulsions (fits) which involve loss of consciousness anduncontrollable
seizing of the whole body.
 Hallucinations, where the patient sees things that are not thereand occasionally
feets as if insects are crawling on the skin.
 Delirium tremens which occur two to three days after drinking and is
characterized by severe confusion, agitation, delusions., sweating, hallucinations,
very rapid heart rate and high blood pressure. Death occurs in 35 percent of
alcoholics in this stage.
 Alcoholic ketoacidosis, which starts two to three days after an alcoholic has
stopped drinking, it is characterized by nausea, vomiting, abdominal pains,
dehydration and an acetonelike odour on a patient's breath.
5.8 HOW TO KNOW IF ONE IS TAKING TOO MUCH ALCOHOL.

In most cases alcoholics are in denial about the fact they are drinking too much. Medical
personnel will carry out simple assessments to establish this fact using tools such as
CAGE and TACE questionnaires,, The more questions a person answers yes to, the
higher the likelihood of alcoholism. Some of the questions asked include:
• Have you felt you should cut down on your drinking

 Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
 Have you felt bad or guilt about your drinking?
 Have you ever had to drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or
get rid of a hangover
Management of alcoholism,
Management of alcoholism begins by an alcoholic admitting to oneself that lie or she

has a problem. Treatment is multidisciplinary and involves stopping the intake of
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alcohol and then training the patient to manage the urge to drink. The treatment
modalities include alcohol detoxification through medication and psychotherapy which
targets learning to identify and manage cravings and to deal with emotions and
stressors without reliance on alcohol.
5.9 FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE INCREASE OF DRUG AND SUBSTANCE

ABUSE
There are myriad, reasons as to why individuals abuse drugs. Most users begin by
taking it for fun and as experiment to see how they will feel and finally they get trapped
into this enslaving habit. However, whatever the reason for abuse the bottom line is
that prolonged use will finally bring serious problems to the user. Some of the reasons
for drug abuse are:
 The permissiveness in the society where people believe they have a right to do
whatever they want with their lives.
 The breakdown of the family unit.
• Parental neglect of children; some parents are too busy; others are indifferent or
ignorant of their parenting roles.
• Curiosity; leads to experimentation.
• Parents giving their children a lot of money to compensate for their absence.
• Influence from friends, peers and the mass media.
• Pressure to perform well in examinations.
• Too much school work and less time to play causing stress and frustrations.
• The availability and accessibility of the drugs.
• Laxity in learning institutions; learners having a lot offree time in school without
proper guidance on how to use itconstructively
• Lack of education opportunities.
• To cope with frustrating and stressful environments at home,school and working
places.
• Poor role models at home, school and the larger community.
• Discouragement because of family break ups; separation anddivorce
• Poverty and lack of jobs.
• Idleness and boredom.
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• Commercial advertisements on the media; radio, TV thatdeceives and promotes
abuse of drugs because they linksuccess and power to the use of these drugs.
• The social economic back ground of the user.
5.10 The impact of drug and substance abuse in learning institutions
Learners go to school to acquire knowledge, skills and values that will assist them to
become responsible and productive citizens live comfortable, peaceful and upright lives
with self and others. For this to happen, the learner needs to be sober and sound
enough. It has already been observed that the effects of drugs abuse are disastrous on
the lives of the consumers, their families and the society at large. The major effects are
addiction, loss of interest in normal life, poor relationships and breakdown of the same,
low self esteem, feelings of guilt and anxiety. When used for a long time drugs alter the
functioning of the brain and the nervous system. Drug addicts experience withdrawal
symptoms when they fail to take drugs and thus get snared into this behaviour.
Learners who have succumbed into drug abuse may thus not fully benefit from school
because of the effects that have been mentioned and are likely to getinvolved in
maladaptive behaviours for survival. This will be seen in:
• Absenteeism.
 Lack of interest in school work.
• Truancy.
• Day dreaming and absent mindedness in class.
• Deteriorating academic performance.
• Laxity and untidiness.
• Peddling of drugs in school.
• Improvising all manner of weird methods to sneak the drugs in the school: drugs
are mixed with milk in milk packets and sealed, mixed with juices and sealed
properly, put in omo packets etc
• The drug addicts recruiting more and more members into their clubs.
• Sneaking out of school to search for drugs.
• Dropping out of school.
• Aggressive behaviours; bullying, fighting, involvement inquarrels and
disagreements with other students and eventeachers.
• Unruly behaviour.
• involvement in several and repeated cases of indiscipline.
• Failure to change even after several correction attempts.
• Involvement in sexual promiscuity.
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• Risk getting infected with sexually transmitted diseases andHIV/Aids.
• Lack of planning culminating in to time wastage in school.
• Increased cases of violence in schools.
• Many cases of unrest and strikes in schools.
5.10.1 How to prevent and curb drug and substance abuse
As already observed there are myriad problems associated with drug abuse. In this
connection the way forward is to look for effective ways to prevent and if possible curb
the menace of drug abuse. The reasons that contribute to the abuse of drags need to be
looked at critically and practical solutions found to address them. Those that have not
gotten into this is harmful practice of drug and substance abuse should be guided and
encouraged to keep it up. On the other hand, those that are alreadyinto the harmful
practice should be helped to come out of it. To realizethese following measures should be
taken:
• Educating the public on proper use of drags.

• Alshould adhere to the laid down rules on drags and substance abuse.
 Parents and guardian should be educated on the importance of responsible
parenting where children are given proper guidance, monitoring their activities
and behaviuor change.
• Parents and teachers should be good role models to the children / learners.
• Parents should be careful to censor and monitor the time spent and the content
viewed and watched by their children from / on the mass media; radio, TV,
computer and the internet.
• Parents and guardians should understand the consequences of giving children
too much money.
• All the time in school should be programmed for; at no time should learners be
left to be free to do what they want.
• A vocational guidance to be given in school to impart knowledge and skills to the
learners on the proper use of free time at home and in school. This will aid in
avoiding idlenessand boredom.
• The Guidance and Counseling Department should take the lead to provide
knowledge and information on drag and substance abuse and its effects and.
provide drug counselling services to those already having drag related-problems.
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• The peer educators in schools should also disseminate the information on-drag
and substance abuse through interactive sessions with the other learners.
• Learners should be educated on proper time management and proper use of
leisure time and the importance of good health.
• The school administration should create a child friendly environment where the
learners can freely communicate effectively and share their problems and
concerns.
• The Guidance and Counselling Department should besrrengthened and
empowered to effectively handle the cases of drag abuse. Here the learners
should be encouraged to mobilize their will power and make responsible
decisions and leave this retrogressive behaviour.
• Campaigns against drug and substance abuse spearheaded by NACADA- The
National Agency for Campaign Against Drag Abuse nationally and in schools
through clubs called SCAD-Students Campaign Against Drugs should be
strengthened. These clubs create awareness amongst learners on the evils of
alcohol and other drugs.
• Religious organizations and Non- governmental Organizations should assist the
parents and teachers in guiding the youth on the dangers of getting involved in
drug and substance abuse.
• The work of the Police force in arresting and prosecuting drug trafficker and
dealers should be encouraged, supported and strengthened.
• Those addicted should not be treated like criminals, but patients who need to be
shown concern and understanding.
• Those that have used the drugs for a long time should be referred to health
practitioners who will make a decision on what course of treatment to take.
• The patient should be helped by their parents, guardians, friends and the
counselor to develop coping mechanisms. » More rehabilitation centers should
be set up to manage and help in the recovery process of drag addicts. To enhance
the recovery process Support groups; Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics
Anonymous have been established in many parts of the country. Many hospitals
have also set up rehabilitation facilities for drug addicts.
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• Those through with treatment should be encouraged to join support groups,
positive clubs and projects that will encourage them to stay out of drags and
build their self esteem.
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CHAPTER SIX
CRIME AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

6.1 INTRODUCTION
CRIME; is an act or offence against the state because the state is the custodian of the
low or the constitution.
Crime also refers to any mode of behavior or act which breaks the law. It is a civil
wrong. Crimes are punished by the state and according to the law. The way in which
crime is punished has significantly changed over the years. This is due to the
replacement of traditional society with the modern industrialized social systems e.g.
prisons are more in to rehabilitating the prisoner than revenge.
6.2 TYPES OF CRIMINAL BEHAVIOURS
1) MURDER
Murder means a deliberate act of killing a human being. It is an unlawful homicide with
malice aforethought.
Murder is a capital offence in humans which carries a maximum penalty of death. This
means that if the accused is proved guilty, his/her punishment is being hanged.
Section 188 of the Penal code Act creates the offence of murder which is causing death
of another person where there is malice aforethought. Section 189 of the penal code
Act says any Person convicted of murder shall be sentenced to death. In a murder case
prosecution must do the following ie prove that:
A. The deceased is dead

B. the accused actually caused the death of the deceased
C. the death was caused with malice aforethought
D. That the death was within a year and a day (sect 198 (1) of the P.C.A)
Malice aforethought consists of an intention of killing on the part of the accused.
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2. MANSLAUGHTER
Generally any unlawful homicide which is not classified as murder is manslaughter. Its
punishment is imprisonment for life.
Section 187(1) of Penal Code Act provides that any person who by any unlawful act or
omission causes the death of another person is guilty of the felony termed
manslaughter. Section 190 of the Penal Code Act gives a punishment for manslaughter
as imprisonment for life.
A chief magistrate’s court can hear a case of manslaughter but murder can only be
heard by the high court since it is a capital offence.
There are generic types of manslaughter ie voluntary manslaughter and involuntary

manslaughter. A person is guilty of voluntary manslaughter where although he has
killed with malice aforethought, he has done so under circumstances which the law
regards as the gravity of the offence. For example where the accused acted after being
provoked. (Sect 192 and 193 of the Penal Code Act)
Involuntary manslaughter is any unlawful killing where the accused has some blame
worthy the mental state less than an intention to kill or cause previous bodily harm.
The defence of provocation is concerned with situation where the accused did not
intend to unlawfully kill or cause grievous bodily harm but acted under a certain loss of
self control.
3. RAPE
The definition of rape is contained in sect 123 on the P.C.A. it provides as follows,
Any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her
consent or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats
or intimidation of any kind or by fear of bodily harm or by means of false
representation as to the nature of the act, or in the case of a married woman by
impersonating her husband commits the felony termed rape. Sect 124 of the Penal
code Act gives the punishment for rape, it say;
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A person convicted of rape is liable to suffer death so rape is a serious offence. The
seriousness of an offence is illustrated by the punishment attached to the offence, so
rape is a capital offence only tried by the high court i.e. it is only the high court that has
original jurisdiction to hear cases of rape.
Lack of consent
The absence of the victim’s consent to the penetration is an essential feature of rape.
Therefore it is a rape case to have sexual intercourse with a person who is asleep or
unconscious and therefore unable to consent.
It is also committed where the victim is mentally deficiency or young or drank that her
knowledge and understanding are such that she is not in a position whether to consent
or resist.
4 DEFILEMENT
Section 129(1) of the Penal Code Act gives the definition of defilement as follows.
Any person who unlawfully has sexual intercourse with a girl under 18 years commits
an offence of defilement and is liable to suffer death.
Sect 129(2) of the Penal Code Act says, any person who attempts to have sex with a girl
under 18 years commits the offence of defilement and is liable to imprisonment for 18
years with or without corporal punishment. Defilement is there a capital offence only
tried by high court. It is high court which has jurisdiction to grant bail to an accused
person charged with defilement. On the charge of defilement, prostitution must prove
the following;
That the girl was below 18 years when the offence was allegedly committed.That there
was sexual intercourse.
6.3 CATEGORIES /TYPES OF CRIME
Crimes are grouped into different categories based on the victim or the injured party.
These include:
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Offences against humanity
These include inflicting pain on an individual or causing bodily harm. These include
murder, manslaughter or any other form of assault.
Offences against the law
These are many and they vary from city to country. They include embezzlement,
bribery corruption, forgery, robbery, burglary, treason.
Offences against property.
This is done against property of an individual, government or organization. It includes

malicious damage of property, unlawful encroachment onto someone’s property,
trespass.
6.4 GENERAL DEFENCES RAISED UNDER CRIME
People who commit crimes at times give certain excuses in order to defend themselves.
Such defences include;
 Ignorance of the law

 Necessity
 Insanity
 Intoxication
1. Ignorance of the law
Principally ignorance of the law is not a defence. Section 6 of the Penal Code Act states
that ignorance of the law does not accord any excuse for any act of omission which
would otherwise constitute an offence unless knowledge of the law by the offender is
declared to be an element of the offence. One of the presumptions that the law puts
forward is that everyone is presumed to be aware of the law. Generally ignorance of the
law does not afford a defence because:
a) There is difficult in proving that the accused knew the law.

b) Such a defence will make it possible for people to refrain deliberately from
acquiring, knowledge concerning their legal duties.
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2. Necessity
It is said that necessity knows no law. This is not true because a lot of criminal offences
would be committed in the name of necessity. Necessity therefore is not a defence.
3. Insanity
To be insane means having a mental disorder. Mental disorder is not itself a defence.
Sect 10 of the Penal Code Act states that every person is presumed to be of sound mind
and it have been of sound mind at any time which comes in question until the contrary
is proved. The law of insanity was debated in the house of laws and the following
principle was laid;
- Every man is presumed to be sane and to possess a sufficient degree of

reasoning to be responsible for his crime until the contrary be proved.
- To establish a defence on the grounds of insanity, it must be proved that at the
time of committing the act, the accused was laboring under such a defect of
reasoning from a disease of the mind as not to know the nature and quantity of
the act he was doing.
4. INTOXICATION
Section 12 of the Penal Code Act provides a general rule that intoxication is not a
defence of a criminal charge. However, section 12 (2) of the Penal Code Act gives
circumstances under which intoxication shall be a defence, it states as follows.
- Intoxication shall be a defence to any criminal charged if by reason of

intoxication, the person charged at the time of the act or omission, he did not
know that the act or omission was wrong or did not know what he was doing
and that therefore:
a) The state of intoxication was caused without his consent or by the malicious or
negligent act by another person.
b) The person charged was by reason of intoxication insane, temporarily or
otherwise at the time of such an act.
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Intoxication is not itself insanity and drunkardness is not generally an offence unless it
occurs in a public place and inconveniences others. One can be charged with the offence
of being idle and disorderly.
Sample question
1. Identify the different categories of crime .

2. With reference and examples; explain
a) That crime is functional in society
b) That crime is inevitable in society.
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CHAPTER SEVEN
7.1 PUNISHMENT OF OFFENDERS
Punishing of wrong doers is as old as wrong doing itself and as old as society. Wherever
human beings are there is wrong doing. Even in this room, there is at times behavior
that is considered abnormal by the majority, and they are always aspects of social
behavior that hurt the interest of the group. In all societies, there are men and women
who are specially trained and appointed to impose punishment on others who break
the law of the society.
In traditional societies in Africa, in the past and even today, those people who
contravene the social norms are brought before the elders of the clan. If the offender
committed a wrong against the member of another clan such as rape or murder, the
case would be heard and determined by elders of the two clans involved with
arbitrators from other clans that are not a part of the other clan.
In modern society punishment of wrong doers is more objective than subjective and
takes the following different types:
1. Capital punishment;
This is a death penalty which is usually imposed by courts of law for capital offences
like murder, treason, rape, defilement and manslaughter. This penalty used to be
practiced in the following ways;
a) Flaying and impaling

This was a widely used method in the ancient days. It was carried out by first skinning
the victim and then pressing his body upon a sharp stake where he remained until
death. In the meantime, the victim was left exposed to hot sunshine, insects and birds.
b) Insect bites
The victim was exposed to gradual death as a result of the work of insects.
c) Snake bites
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The victim was exposed to biting by poisonous serpents where the culprit was sewn
in a sack with a very poisonous snake
d) Use of animals
The infliction of death was done by throwing the convicted person in the house of
lions or other beasts like crocodiles. In other cases the victims were thrown before
enraged elephants to be trumped upon and torn apart.
e) Drowning
Drowning was done by throwing the victim in deep waters as a method of inflicting
death. It is noted that this was a common method in pre-colonial Ankole for pre-
marital pregnancies. This could be done in a big river or the lake
f) Stoning
Stoning to death was and is still done to thieves. In Uganda, for unknown reasons,
stoning or brutally attacking a thief is a very common practice. Its explanation is
said to lie in the economic structure of the society i.e. a society where poverty is
rampant and goods are scarce, stealing becomes a major offence depending on the
value of items stolen.
g) Casting from a height

This method of inflicting death was common in olden days where the victim was
cast from a high rock to the rocks and stones down.
h) Poisoning
Poisoning was a common practice of taking lives in ancient France. For example the
great Greek philosopher Socrates was poisoned.
i) Crucifixion.
This was a very popular method of carrying out a death penalty. It was not invented
for Jesus. It was used before Jesus and continued to be used in various forms after.
Death usually resulted from bleeding and exposure of the wounds and injuries
inflicted in the process hunger and exhaustion.
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j) Burning
Burning of culprits has been employed from primitive to recent times. Victims are
usually burnt to death or burnt after death
k) Drawing and quartering

This was a capital punishment popular during the middle ages. Four horses were
tied to each of the individual’s limbs and the four horses would be lead to different
directions thus pulling the victims into pieces. Sometimes the horses failed to pull
the victims into pieces and in such a case a knife was used to cut the muscles and
tendons.
l) Beheading.
This has been one of the most universal types of capital punishment. Unlike the
other types or methods of inflicting death, beheading always been regarded as an
honorable method of meeting death because it does not carry a stigma with it and it
is assumed to be painless.
m) Hanging
This is the most commonly used method of inflicting death on condemned human
beings, tying a rope around a man’s neck and pulling him off the ground, leaving him
to die of slow strangulation just like in committed suicide.
n) Pressing
This is closely related to strangulation methods where death is caused by pressing
the victim with weights. It used to be a fashion in Europe to lie a man on his back, on
the floor and weights of iron were put on his chest and limbs. He would remain in
this position being given little bread and water so as to kick him a life as long as
possible.
o) Suffocation.
This can be done by throwing the condemned person into a great pile of soft ashes.
Smoke too has been used to suffocate prisoners especially when it is mixed with
sulphur fumes
p) Burying alive
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This brings death by suffocation and pressing because the soil makes it impossible
for the victim to breath because it presses around him.
q) Boiling
Boiling of condemned persons is common in the history of punishment. This method
is said to have been common in England and France. Boiling was usually done either
in water, oil or in milk.
r) Firing squad
This is a common practice in Africa. Its function is that those who witness such an
execution will in future refrain in engaging in the same criminal behavior. Six to
twelve soldiers are instructed to shot at the victim as soon as a signal is given. The
soldiers fire and the victim is riddled with bullets.
s) Electrocution
This method of inflicting death on a criminal was first used at the Auburn state
prison in New York on August 6th 1980. It is done by passing a very strong electric
current in the body of the condemned.
2 .CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.
This is the infliction of physical pain and suffering for retribution, retaliation and
deference. Some types of corporal punishments are extremely cruel and brutal.
Methods of corporal punishment
a) Flogging
Corporal punishment may be inflicted by flogging with a cane or by mutilating the
victim just as the president of Central African Republic ordered that thieves in future
will have their ears cut off and eyes plucked out. This is termed as dismembering.
Flogging is also used as a punishment as well as a method of preserving family and

educational discipline. In families, husbands beat their wives, parents discipline their
children, officers give canes to deviants and recruits, and teachers flog naughty and
indisciplined children.
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b) Branding
Corporal punishment is also done by branding where the criminal is marked on the leg
or cheeks with the letter reflecting his offence eg R for a robber or a rapist or P for
prostitutes on the face with a hot metal.
Corporal punishment for enforcing discipline in prisons is extremely cruel. It may take
the form of brutal attacks on the victim by fellow inmates normally called the
“trustees”. They normally inflict bodily pain on the new inmate.
c) Dipping in water
Corporal punishment may also be done by placing the victim in a room containing
water. The prisoner has no choice but to stand in the water, urinate in it and if he get
tired, he has nowhere to sit or rest his back or legs but in this filthy water. Officers
descend on their victims with terrible violence and mercilessness.
d) Torture
In some cases suspects or victims are tortured especially males by sitting a male
suspect down with no trouser on or underwear while seated a string is tied around his
testicles. All these are usually done to make suspects speak and give the details of the
crime. In cases where the person is tortured innocently, he may incriminate himself and
others in order to be relieved of the torture.
3. FINE
A fine is a sum of money paid by the offender to the courts of law. Fines are most likely
to be imposed and non capital offences such as distillery of liquor, stealing. Movement
of live stock through quarantine areas, traffic offences and other misdemeanors. Fines
are usually alternative penalties to short prison sentence. They are thought to have
major effects in most of the offences related to money and business especially if the
offender is not able to pay and the fine is a heavy one.
Very often, a fine is not equivalent to the alternative prison sentence and it is unfair. For
example sect 150(1) of the Penal Code Act provides a fine of 200shs for adultery.
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Disadvantages of fines
1. Fines are normally accessed according to the offenders resources but more often
it depends on the gravity of the offence.
2. Most judges do not allow the offenders to pay their fine by installments.
3. Magistrates tend to impose fines on people who are able to pay and in this way
the rich survive the prison sentence while the common man is not offered the
alternative of the fine.
4. IMPRISONMENT
Imprisonment as a method of punishment was introduced by colonialists in Africa.

Through imprisonment the offender is incapacitated i.e. he is physically unable to
commit new offences during the period of imprisonment. The aim of imprisonment can
be categorized as follows;
a) Protection of society;
In society there are criminals who are too dangerous to be left at large and if they are
not removed they are most likely to commit more serious crimes. For example rapists,
robbers, murderers can only be managed by confinement.
If such people are left at large, they are likely to endanger the lives of others. These
people are not sick such that they can be taken to a mental hospital but they are socially
maladjusted that the society is safer without them.
b) Deterrence
Imprisonment as a form of punishment is assumed to have a deterrent value i.e. it
works first on the individual offender who because of having been put in prison will
refrain him from committing further crime when he returns to society
c) Punishment;
Many people believe that prisoners or criminals must be punished for their criminal
acts. Punishment being an intentional infliction of pain and suffering either physically,
57
mentally or both upon the offender by the state, is just for the sake of making the
individual suffer for his wrongs.
There are two elements of punishment

1. The criminal must be made to suffer because he deserves it, suffering for his own
sake.
2. Punishment is regarded as the best method of teaching the offender a lesson.
Imprisonment inflicts punishment on the offender in many ways. The prisoner is

denied of his liberty, deprived of his freedom of choice in what he has to eat, where to
go, what to do and what to dress. He is denied of his/her sexual gratification since he is
physically confined. There is obvious constraining of the persons individually and
personally in a way regulating his food, work, walk, leisure and dress. A prisoner cannot
choose for example to wear a long beard, to use a wrist watch or to wear shoes. Above
all the prisoner is subjected to hard labour without pay, he is given a very unpalatable
diet. In short he is left with no aspect of his life which is not regulated and controlled
against his will. He is made to undergo all these so that he suffers and by doing so he is
in an undefined manner assumed to be paying back for his iniquities, criminal acts or
wrongs.
d) Reformation
In the name and for the sake of reformation prisoners are given all sorts of courses in
the belief that they will be reformed. Imprisonment is not only intended for punitive
aim but essentially for reformative aims, capable of converting prisoners into good
citizens after release.
Sometimes it is called correction, rehabilitation or treatment. It is now common to find

workshops, welding shops, large and expensive farms ranging from pig rearing to
cotton growing, producing a number of prisoners trained in painting, shoe making and
all sorts of repairs.
All these are done for the sake and in the belief that the prisoners will be reformed and
corrected. Most of these activities are earning revenue for the state but very few people
58
dare to ask how they are related to criminality and how the acquisition of skills in wood
work, maize growing or pig rearing acts to control rape and bribes in a prisoner.
5. CREATIVE RESTITUTION
Restitution is without punitive implications. Its objective is to direct the offender

towards social responsibility and towards gaining other constructive attitudes through
making amends to those he has wronged by his crime. The element of suffering in
creative restitution is minimal. The offender is encouraged to strive and make sure that
he improves the crime situation. For example killing a cow of a neighbor and you are
told to pay back other than being jailed. The offender is made to repair the destroyed
item or replace it.
Examples
 A herd boy who carelessly leaves his cow to destroy the neighbor’s crops is made
to replant the garden.
 A person who maims another person’s health is made not only to care for the
family but also to pay children’s school fees.
While punishment is known to erect psychological and social barriers to the offender,
creative restitution is intended to motivate the offender to work for correction and
conformity of other offenders.
This form of treatment of offenders is recommended because it reduces on the cost of

maintaining things in prison and off sets problems brought about by imprisonment.
For example
 Homosexuality
 Becoming hardened criminals
 Training in new techniques of committing sophisticated crimes while in prison.
 It reduces the problem of stigma and negative self-concept.
6. POLICE DISCRETION AND DIVERSION
People are frequently released by the police without appearing in court. Such releases
fellow illegal arrest and detention. But in some cases the police consider it not proper to
go further with the case especially in minor cases and disputes involving members of
one family e.g. husband and wife.
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Example a driver may be stopped for a check and he is found to have an expired
driving permit or third party. He explains that he was actually rushing to renew it. The
police can use their own discretion to release such a prisoner but warn him to go and
pay immediately. For example, a man fights with his wife, beats her up and tears her
dress, she runs to the nearest police station and reports the case of assault. The police
using their discretion may record the case and summon the husband. After hearing
from him, they may decide to drop the charge.
7 ARREST
Illegal arrest includes;

 Arrest made for failing or refusing to bribe the police.
 Arrest made without sufficient evidence.
 Arrest made on suspicion.
The system of releasing prisoners without trial is common in cases of being found
drank and disorderly, vagrancy and other minor offences. This is what is known as “the
golden rule of disposition”. This rule is related and based on the intelligence and
training of the police. The more educated, enlighten and genuine the police officer is,
the more and better he/she will exercise his discretion in the disposition of petty
offenders.
7.2 MITIGATING FACTORS OF AN ARRESTED PERSON
These are the factors considered in order to reduce the sentence of an accused person.
1. If the person is a first offender or committed the offences for the first time. If the
accused presents this, the state has a burden to prove that this person has ever
committed such an offence. This would reflect lack of reforming.
2. Plea of guilty; if a person pleads guilty he saves the court time and state
resources unlike the hard cores who make the state spend much on
investigations and proceedings.
3. Likelihood of the offender to reform; A prisoner’s sentence can be reduced, if the
judge sees the likelihood of reforming e.g. two thieved one 60 years and 19 years,
it is likely that the one of 19 years (young offender) is likely to reform but for the
old man, it is too late to reform.
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4. Ignorance of the law; for example a miner is underground in Kilembe mines and
a law is passed that anyone found putting on gumboots in town commits a crime.
On reaching the surface he is arrested, he can use it as a mitigating reason and
this can lead to reducing the sentence.
5. A good motive; for example a mother who steals a bunch of matooke to feed her
starving children but Joseph goes to the plantation and steals a full pick up of
matooke and goes to sell. The mother is likely to receivE a lighter sentence than
Joseph. It is not a defence but can be a mitigating factor.
6. Emotional distress; a lady aged 17 is convicted of infanticide, was a house maid,
become pregnant and abandoned, killed the infant after birth due to distress
because she could not be accepted by any one.
7. Sudden temptations; Indecent assault is done because a woman was indecently
dressed, it is done out of sudden temptation.
8. Intimidation;
Example a)In a case where your boss orders you to drive a vehicle which is in a
dangerous mechanical condition because he is late and you obey because you
fear to lose your job and an accident happens.
Example b)In a case where you are ordered by rebels or terrorists to do
something without fail.
9. The level or degree of participation; For example, Ronald and Martin steal a cow
from a herd. They ring to meet innocent Robert at the stage to assist them
transport their cows, they are arrested on the second day for moving with stolen
cows. Robert ‘s sentence is likely to be less than the two.
10. Previous character or record; A person well known to be a habitual thief may not
deserve leniency but a person known of good character can easily get leniency.
11. Time spent on remand; if a person has spent on remand 10 months for theft, this
period is considered when passing the sentence.
12. Co-operation with police; In case of a search for example, assuming X and Y
break into a house, steal property and hide it, on arrest X becomes co-operative
and submits the property but Y denies, after conducting a search, the property is
recovered in Mr. Y’s house, then X is likely to get a lesser sentence than Y
because of the cooperation with police.
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7.3 COMMUNITY SERVICE
Community service is a non custodial punishment where court with the consent of the
offender makes an agreement with the offender to work in the community instead of
spending time in prison. Such punishments in the community may include working on
roads, cleaning the hospital, cleaning a community water source for a stipulated period
of time. It is applied to offenders of minor offences. A minor offence is one for which
the court passes the sentences not exceeding two years.
For example being idle and disorderly, trespass, petty theft etc
Advantages of community services
1. Minor offenders will refrain from mixing with hard core/criminals.

2. It gives them a choice to stay with their families. This help them to contribute to
the development of their area and be rehabilitated by the whole community.
3. When the sentence is over, integration in the community becomes easy.
4. The community benefits from the work of the prisoner for example accessing
clean water, clearing the road, teaching adults, cleaning the hospital, slashing,
working at a school, making community bricks etc.
5. It helps in decongesting the prison hence government saves funds that would be
spent on maitaining them. This money can be relocated or diverted to other
sectors.
6. Families are saved from disintegration hence both parents remain together to
bring up their children.
7. It enables the offender to earn a living and continue with other life task. For
example to continue with education, one can work in the morning and go for
lecturers in the evening.
8. It rehabilitates the offender in a way, rehabilitation has a human face as opposed
to prison punishment .
9. It saves the children of female offenders from staying in prison.
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CHAPTER EIGHT
POVERTY
8.1 INTRODUCTION
Most people think that is mere lack of money but it involves much more than lack of
money e.g. slum dwellers may have money but may lack housing facilities, food, etc.
Poverty therefore has been described by many scholars as follows;
Peter Townsend says that poverty must be regarded as a general form of relative
deprivation which is as result of misdistribution of resources.
Robert Chambers (rural poverty, putting the last fast). He believes that many people
continue to be trapped in absolute poverty.
He defines absolute poverty as a condition of life characterized by illiteracy,

malnutrition, diseases equaled surroundings e.g. slums, high infant maternity and low
life expectants.
8.2 TYPES OF POVERTY

1. Primary poverty
2. Secondary poverty
3. Relative poverty
Primary poverty
This is the condition where the family’s total earnings are insufficient for the
maintenance of minimum necessities e.g. when one is un employed.
Secondary poverty
Is where one earns enough income but spends it on useless activities. It is therefore
poverty as a result of bad money management. The individual may spend most of his
income on alcohol, cigarettes, women etc.
Relative poverty
Here some people in the community are poor as compared to others according to the
minimum conditions of that society. Such poverty exists in every society and cannot be
avoided unless there is a radical change.
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It becomes a problem when a gap between the rich and the poor becomes so big that is
poor cannot enjoy or get what the rich takes for granted.
Categories of the poor in Uganda
These comprise the majority /bulk of the poor in Uganda
1. Orphans
2. Displaces children for the abandoned ones
3. Female headed households
Female headed households.
Most women who are heads of their house are normally widows and divorced women.
They are exposed to poverty because of the legal and cultural traditions which in many
cases deny them access to resources once controlled by their husbands e.g. in some
areas women are inherited by their brothers in law. This leaves women with on
poverty.
Old people
Many studies carried out by NGOs all arrive at the conclusion that older people are at
the bottom of the socio economic ladder. These are suffering due to the foot that their
children have been claimed by HIV/AIDS pandemic. In addition they are burdened with
the orphan children and yet the old people themselves are too poor to provide the
needs of those children both materially and psychologically.
The landless peasants
Some become landless because of the nature of their activities e.g. pastoralists, cattle
rustlers etc because of lack of land they can’t produce ant food and this retards their
earnings.
8.3 CAUSES OF POVERTY IN UGANDA
Insufficient earnings (low salaries)
These have brought about a decline in people’s real incomes.
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Bia families
Because of many children, parents hardly save for investments for both individuals and
the nations
Unemployment and under employment

When somebody is unemployed, he /she has no job for when somebody is under
employed, has big qualifications but doing a low job leading to poverty.
Loss /interruption of earnings
Loss of earnings may be due to inability of work e.g. due to sickness and disability.
Ignorance about the economic and social facilities available
Culture and traditional ways of people
People may have cultural beliefs which determine their behavior e.g. some farmers may
not want to take up new farming techniques.
Apathy towards work.
Some people are not interests in working so they remain poor
Lack of an appropriate welfare policy for those who are in need
If the government does not have enough welfare policy for people, this leads them into
continuous poverty.
High inflation rates
Due to high inflation peoples real incomes have been eroded
HIV/AIDS Epidemic
This has reduced a number of productive people in the country and many families have
a lost bread winners and as a result, women children have lost property to relatives e.g.
houses and land.
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8.4 EFFECTS OF POVERTY
There are effects on the personal level and at the national level
Effects of poverty on personal level (human beings)
 The poor live in constant anxiety and worry because of their inadequate income
which usually results into debts.
 Due to poverty, some people can starve and this leads to death.
 The poor live in constant humiliation as they observe the cheerful people around
them.
 The poor might suffer from nutrition and their life expectancy will be lower than
average
 Others may face mental problems due to their poverty
 It also leads to sickness due to poor diet.
Impacts of poverty at national level
It leads to decline in people’s investments and this has an impact or the level of
economic development in the country.
Poverty leads to slum development which is a health hazard. It brings unrest,

discontent and even kiolene
8.5 STRATEGIES TO REDUCE POVERTY IN UGANDA
Ensure firm control of the government budget. The government should fix its
expenditure in line with the budgeted amounts if it maintains such discipline, it would
be able to make some savings.
Accelerate agricultural growth. This will lead to job creation in the agricultural sector. It
can be done by targeting donor, resources towards agriculture particularly for research
and for extensional facilities.
Accelerate industrial growth. Government should encourage investors to starts

industries in rural areas; this will provide employment to rural people. The investment
would be in agriculture, agro processing etc.
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Encourage employment opportunities. We should embark on employment generations;
we need to encourage vocational training especially to the youth to provide them with
skills so as to get jobs.
Give out credit facilities both men and women’s as get involved in income generating
activities
Community based organizations, non government organization and the private medical
practions should be allowed to provide social services. There should be intensive health
care programs in many areas and this promotes a health working labour.
Control poverty, the state must adapt an appropriate social policy to deal with poverty
problems. And such a policy should aim at raising the level of real wages which enables
people to maintain minimum requirements of life
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CHAPTER NINE
POPULATION
9.1 INTRODUCTION
Population is the number of people residing in an area over a certain period of time
Concepts on population
Working population is the total number of people who are employed, self-
employed and unemployed in the economically active age bracket.
Hidden momentum of population growth this is the increase in the number of people
leaving in the country or an area in a given period of time because of a large youthful
population.
Population growth rate: refers to the rate at which a given population size increases
over a period of time
Refers to the rate / degree at which the population of a given area increases in a given
time.
Optimum population a population size that provides labour force which is sufficient to
exploit the available natural resources in order to yield maximum output per worker
and per capita income
Overpopulation is a population size in which the number of people in area are more
than the resources available.
Under population: a population size that provides labourforce which is insufficient to

utilize the available resources fully and income per capita is less than optimum.
Natural population growth.The rate of change of population resulting from the

interplay of birth rates and death rates.
It is established by expressing the difference between new births and deaths as a

percentage of one hundred.
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Artificial population growth rate: is the rate of change of population resulting
from the inter play of immigration and emigration rates. Artificial population
growth rate= (immigration rate – emigration rate) × 100
Population density: the number of people per unit area of land, for example, per
square kilometre.
Population increase (rate of): rate at which a given population size grows over a
given period of time, for example, one year
Mortality rate: the number of people who die before their life expectancy is over.
In many developing countries the mortality rate has fallen because of improved
economic and hygienic conditions, availability of modern medicine and better medical
care and education which have been provided to the people by government.
Life expectancy: time period, normally in years, that a baby is expected to live after it
has been born alive.
Fertility rate : This refers to yearly number of children born alive per thousand women
within the child bearing age normally between the ages of 15 and 49 years.
Crude birth rate
This refers to the total number of children born alive per 1000 of a given population in
a given year.
Determinants of birth rate
• Levels of education.
• Cultural status.
• Food supply.
• Level of technology for example family planning methods being used.
• Natural female fertility rate.
• Government policy on population growth.
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Death rate
This refers to the number of people who die in a year per 1000 of the total population.
Determinants of death rate
• Food supply.
• Political climate.
• Level of income of individuals.
• Level of medical care.
• Rate of natural hazards or epidemics for example Ebola, AIDS and
cholera.
9.2 CAUSES OF HIGH FERTILITY RATES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The economic value of children.Some communities attach great importance to the

number of children in a family. This is because children are a source of labour and
provide security to their
Customs and traditions.In some communities children are sources of pride, pleasure
and respect to parents. A wife who bears many children is regarded as the ideal wife.
Fertility rates are therefore, high in a community with such an attitude to children and
women
Low cost of rearing children. The cost of rearing children in some societies is lower
than benefits realized from them. Costs of rearing children in such societies is low
because food is plentifully available free of charge and government meets the cost of
education and medical care. Thus the burden of having many children is not so much
felt by parents thus encouraging them to produce more.
Early marriage.Women in developing countries tend to marry when they are still
young, usually at the age of fifteen or less. The child bearing period of up to 49 years of
age is therefore very high.
The population trap is a point in time, in the Malthusian population theory, at

which population size is equal to food supply or subsistence beyond which population
is subject to starvation, death and misery.
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Limited access to education by women.The majority of women in developing
countries have limited access to education thus limiting their role in society to
provision of labour to family tasks and child bearing.
Absence of government commitment to control fertility.Fertility rates are high due

to failure by governments to punish families for having many children. This contrasts
sharply with countries where governments use positive and negative sanctions to
influence family size such as in China and India.
Increased health and life expectancy of mothers.Education and health services

have increased life expectancy of child bearing mothers through reduced maternal
mortality rates thereby
9.3 DETERMINANTS OF POPULATION GROWTH RATE

The healthy status of the people in the country.
• Birth rate (fertility rate).

• Death rate (mortality rate).
• Emigration rate
• Immigration rate.
• health condition
• Education status
• Cultural belief
9.4 POPULATION CENSUS

This is the physical counting of people leaving in area over a given period of time. In
Uganda its done after 10 years.
9.4.1 IMPORTANCE OF POPULATION CENSUS

• Determines the population growth rate.
• Determines the employment levels in the country.
• Determines the levels of education in the country.
• Determines the size of the country’s potential labourforce
• Determines the size of the population in relation to the available resources.
• Determines the age structure of the population in order to know the dependency
ratio.
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• Determines the population distribution in terms of rural and urban areas.
• Determines the rate of migration, that is, the number of emigrants and
immigrants.
9.5 STRUCTURE OF UGANDA’S POPULATION

The population of Uganda is characterized by the following:
 Dominated by the young age bracket constituting over 40% of the total
population.
 There are more females than males. There is generally about 51% females and
49% males resources).
 Mainly rural based. There is approximately 80% of the population living in rural
areas. Demand for resources like firewood by the increasing population in the
rural areas.
 High illiteracy rates. About 32% of Ugandans do not know how to read and write.
High population growth rates. The growth rate is as high approximately 3% per
annum. it difficult for the government to make long term plans. This arises
because economic planners fail to
 Most people (majority of the population) are semi-skilled and / or unskilled.
 Mainly engaged in primary production. The productive force of the population are
mainly engaged targets in primary production especially agriculture. 
 There is uneven spatial distribution of population. Some areas or districts are

highly populated for is mainly semi-skilled; therefore, different fields leading to
higher example Kampala with 7360 people per square kilometer while other
areas are sparsely populated like Moroto with 20 persons per square kilometer.
 A big proportion of the population live below the international poverty line.
About 35% of the dollar a day implying that they are very poor and are not able
to buy many goods and services which
Ugandans live below the international poverty line. Many people in Uganda live on less
than one dollar (US$1) a day.
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9.6 ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE POPULATION STRUCTURE
9.6.1 POSITIVE IMPLICATIONS

High market potential due to the high population growth rate. An increasing
population provides a large market potential which increases market for investors.
 High potential for labourforce due to the high population growth rate. For
example there possibility for the provision of cheap labour because many people
are unskilled and semi-skilled.
 The high population growth rate provides a high potential for increased resource
utilizationleading to increases productivity.
 The dominant young population encourages effort to work hard so as to sustain

the dependants.
 High potential for government tax revenue. Provideslabourforceto be taxed by

the government.
 The high population growth rate awakens the government to its responsibility of
providing the necessary infrastructure which leads to increase in output. g
 The high population growth rate reduces per capita social overhead costs for
example reduction in enough to sustain the cost of providing infrastructure.
 Encourages labour mobility. The high population growth rate forces the skilled
and unskilled labour to search for better opportunities either within the country
or outside the country in order to earn a living.
9.6.2 NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS

• Leads to over resource exploitation. This further limits continuous production
due to resource depletion.
• Increases dependency burden. This further reduces the rate of capital
accumulation due to reduced savings.
• Increases rural urban migration. This causes evils such as open urban
unemployment.
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• Increases government expenditure. This is because the majority of people are
poor and the government has to spend much on providing essential goods and
services for the poor.
• Increases high crime rates. The unemployed people resort to social evils such as
murder, theft and prostitution to earn a living.
• Increases environmental degradation. In that people practice land fragmentation
in order to create room for settlement.
9.7 THE CONCEPT OF UNDER POPULATION, OPTIMUM POPULATION AND

OVER POPULATION
9.7.1 UNDER POPULATION

Under population” refers to a population size that supplies insufficient labourforce
relative to the existing co-operant factors leading to low average output. Or
Is a situation where a country’s resources exceed the existing population and some of
the resources remain unutilized leading to low income per capita.
Merits of under population in an economy
 It protects the country’s resources from over exploitation.
 Reduces the level of inflation because there is reduced aggregate demand.
 Leads to creation of more employment opportunities for the available

labourforce.
 The available stock of capital.
 It may lead to equity in income distribution if majority of the people are

employed.
Demerits of under population in an economy
 Limited or small market size. The market for goods and services is small due to
the low number of consumers in the economy
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 Underutilization of natural resources / Leads to wastage of resources as some
will be idle. Resources especially land are underutilized due to inadequate labour
to utilize them.
 Limited labour supply /Causes labour shortage. The supply of labour is low due
to existence of a few people in the economy.
 Low tax revenue. Due to small number of people
 Low output hence low economic growth rate. The rate of economic growth is low
due to low levelsthis due limited exploitation of resources.
9.7.2 OVER POPULATION

This refers to the size of the population that provides labourforce which is more than
the resources available.
SIGNIFICANCE OF AN INCREASING POPULATION
• High market potential. This is due to increase in effective demand by the growing
population.
• High tax potential. This is due to increased investment, labourforce and
consumer demandthat provide more tax revenue to the government.
• Increased labour supply. As population increases, labour supply also increases as
more and more High potential for labourforce. This is because of the increase in
labour supply associated with the people become available for employment at
the existing wage rates.
• Wider market. As population increases, the number of consumers in an economy
also increases.
• High potential for increased resource utilization. This is due to the high level of
investment required increasing population therefore, provides a large and ready
domestic market for goods produced both to meet the increasing consumer
demand hence increased use of idle resources.
• It is an incentive or potential for massive future investment. This is due to the
increased consumer.
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• Increases the rate of natural resource utilization. Resources, especially land, that
were previously under and unutilized (idle) are brought to use by the
existing population.
• Government is awakened to the responsibilities of providing the necessary
infrastructure. This leads  Increased labour mobility. An increasing
population prompts increased mobility of labour because to increase in the level
of output. of pressure on the existing resources in areas where population is
increasing. Workers migrate from
• The young population is usually innovative and creative. This is due to increase
in the level of areas where there are shortages of factor inputs and wages are low
to areas where co-operant factors competition that results into more discoveries.
• Declining social per capita. The average cost of providing social infrastructures
like roads, education .
NEGATIVE IMPLICATIONS (COSTS) OF AN INCREASING POPULATION
The negative implications of an increasing population are:
• Leads to limited domestic market or low effective demand due to low income per
capita.
• Overutilization of natural resources. An increasing population leads to
overutilization of resources which leads to their exhaustion due to overstocking,
overfishing and over farming by the large population. limited resources / funds.
• Widening income disparities. Income inequality increases because only a few
people are able to get employed and majority do not have any income thus
increased dependency burden.
• Low savings and investment. The level of savings and investment decreases due
high dependence burden.
• Increases population pressure on infrastructures. Population increases more
than the capacity of the available form of schools, hospitals and housing that are
overstrained.
• Poor standards of living. The living conditions of the people become poorer thus
limiting the conditions of life.
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• Increased government expenditure on provision of social services.
Government expenditure is because a high population growth rate leads to
increased reliance on foreign aid, foreign manpower increases due to the rising
cost of provision of social services such as infrastructure, education and and
foreign technology to meet the needs of the high population increase.
9.8 POPULATION PROBLEMS FACED BY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

• Low income per capita.
• High dependence burden.
• Unemployment and under employment.
• Increased social unrest.
• Balance of payment (B.O.P.) problems.
• Exerts pressure on land.
• Brain drain.
• Poverty
• High social costs for example pollution, congestion e.t.c
• Pressure on existing infrastructure/ over-straining the infrastructure.
• High government expenditure on provision of social services.
9.10 POPULATION EXPLOSION
This is sudden increase in the population of an area or a country over a given period of
time.
9.10.1 Effects of population explosion include:

• Leads to over exploitation of resources.
• Leads to food shortages.
• Leads to land shortages.
• Leads to increased dependency ratio or burden.
• Leads to increased poverty.
• Leads to worsened balance of payments position.
• Leads to environmental degradation.
• Leads to increased income inequalities.
• Leads to rising demand pull inflation.
• Leads to low savings and low investment.
• Unemployment is increased.
• Leads to low productivity in the economy.
• Distorts government projected planning.
• Leads to heavy burden on government to provide essential services.
• Leads to underutilization of resources.
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9.11 MEASURES THAT ARE CHECKING POPULATION GROWTH RATES IN
DEVELOPING
• Improving health facilities. Child health is being improved through
establishment of medical facilities throughout the country and through mass
immunization against killer diseases and it Is Shaped it will reduce parents
demand for many children for security purposes. QUESTION 6
• Encouraging family planning. Efforts are being made through the mass media
campaigns, to encourage family planning especially the use of contraceptives
so as to avoid unnecessary pregnancies.
 Encouraging women to participate in political and economic activities. This

is being done by giving women a head start in numerous political offices in the
country and by extending loans to women. The economic empowerment of
women is meant to enable women to make rational decisions process.
 Encouraging education for women. The education of the girl child and women
in general is being encouraged, for example, through giving women additional
when selection of studentsfor entry into higher institutions of learning is being
made. This is meant to keep students (women)
 Sensitizing the population of the dangers of large families. People, through

the mass media, are being sensitized of the dangers of having large families such
as inadequate resources and time to effective utilization and exploitation of
natural resources which raises output. Look after children effectively. It is hoped
that this will encourage parents to choose small families instead of large ones.
 Setting minimum marriage age and defilement laws. The minimum marriage
age is being maintained at 18 years. Marriage of and/ or sexual relations with
persons below that age is illegal and is subject to judicial penalties. This delays
the age at which a person becomes a parent a first given period of time) i.e. it
is the measure of output per unit of labour employed time and reduces the
fertility period.
 Encouraging monetization of the economy. The economy is being monetized

and subsistence production is being discouraged through provision of markets
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for farm produce provision of loans to farmers. Monetization of the economy
shall increase costs of raising children and may discourageparents from having
large families.
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CHAPTER TEN
ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
10.1 INTRODUCTION
What is environment?
The word environment refers to all things that surround man. These things can be air,
water, plants, temperature, animals, people, hills, etc. Environment includes all sorts
that affect the life of man and some other things around him.
10.2 TYPES OF ENVIRONMENT:
Environment is divided into two types namely:-
Biological Environment
Physical Environment
Biological environment:
This is the type of environment, which consists of living things e.g. plant and animals.
Physical environment:
This is the type of environment, which consists of non-living things. Some of these can
be seen while others cannot be seen. Those, which can be seen, include; mountains,
lakes, rocks, soil, water, and those, which cannot beseen include, wind, temperature,
vapour, air, etc.
What does the term degradation mean?
Degradation means a way of making something poorer or less attractive, orDegradation

is a way of spoiling something. Degradation comes from the word degrade.
What does the term environmental degradation mean?
Environmental degradation means a way in which the quality of our surrounding or

environment is made less and less attractive.or
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Environmental degradation is the lowering of the quality or spoiling our surroundings
or environment.
Things (components) which make up the environment.The environment is made up of

many things which include: -
Human beings:We are the most important component of the environment. All the
other things that are around us support us for our well being.
Land:Mild is an important part of the environment because the majority of our

activities such as hunting, growing crops, rearing animals, construction of houses and
other structures such as school and hospitals are built on land.
Soil: Soil isimportant for growing good health food, cash crops, grass for animals I mid
trees all of which are important for our survival. That is why it is important for us to
make sure that the soil we use is always taken care of and remains productive.
Water: This includes lakes and rivers, which are on the surface of our land. Some water
however, is underground and we can get this water by digging wells and boreholes, we
need to make sure water sources are kept clean and inn used in the correct way.
Wetlands:Wetland are water-logged areas such as swamps and marshes. They are
important for storage of water as well as being habitats for fish and other living things.
Animals:Wild animals are found in forests and swamps. Domestic animals are kept in
our homesteads. Animals are important because they provide us with meat, milk, skin,
and manure for our gardens. They also provide laboure. g donkeys, oxen and horses.
Insects and other small creatures: In our environment, there are many different
types of insects and othersmall creatures such as worms and micro organisms. They are
very useful to the environment in many different ways. For example, earthworms make
holes in the soil (aerate) which helps air and water to get into the soil.
Plants:Plants such as bushes, shrubs, trees and grass make up the vegetation cover that
protects the soil and have many other uses. These include medicine, food, shelter and
furniture.
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Built up environment:These include houses, roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, church,
mosques, towns and many others.
10.3 HOW THE ENVIRONMENT HELPS MAN TO SURVIVE
For us to survive and lead a comfortable life in our environment, there an certain basic
needs that we require. These include: -
Food:We get our food from plants and animals. We need food to survive. Such food
includes; meat, milk, vegetables, fruits and staple foods such as millet, maize, bananas
and potatoes. All this food comes from our environment.
Shelter:We need shelter for protection. This includes a good house, school, churches or
mosques. To build all these, we need land, trees for poles, soil for bricks, stones for the
foundation, cement that comes from clay and limestone rocks, from the environment.
Clothing:We need clothing to protect us from injury, cold or heat and to look smart and
presentable. Shoes protect our feet from cold or worms while hats protect us from the
sun. Shirts, trousers, and dresses protect us from cold by giving us warmth. To make
shoes we need leather from animals. To make clothes, we need cotton or fibres from
trees which grow from our soil.
Water:Wecannot survive without water. We need water for drinking, cooking our food,
washing, for our animals to drink and for our crops to grow. We get this water from
swamps, wells, rivers and lakes. Each of us therefore needs to take care of these
important water sources.
Health:Human beings are happy when they are healthy and strong. Unfortunately
sometimes people fall sick and even die from diseases such as malaria winch is spread
by mosquitoes breeding in stagnant dirty water. Diseases liketyphoid, dysentery,
bilharzia, polio are spread by keeping our environment dirty. To be healthy, is
necessary to keep environment clean and well looked after.
Security:We need to feel secure from wild animals, from other human beings that may
attack us, from hunger, disease and poverty.
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10.4 TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
10.4.1 SOIL OR LAND DEGRADATION:
Soil or land degradation is when soil is made poor and less productive through the
following ways: -
1. SOIL EROSION:
Soil erosionis the washing away of topsoil from higher levels to lower levels by wind or
water.
Causes of soil erosion include:
 Deforestation
 Overstocking
 Bush burning
 Building of houses and roads
 Overgrazing
 Over cropping / over cultivation
• Monocropping
Effects or disadvantages of soil erosion
a) Food shortages:
Soil erosion reduces soil fertility. This in turn reduces food productivity,slowly, this
leads to food shortage for the people.
b) Water loses quality:
When soil is washed away, it creates problems elsewhere. Soil that is washed from up
the hills enters rivers, kills water animals and cover, the places where they stay. The
soil may carry pesticides that poison water or fertilizers, which aid the growth of bad
waterweeds such as the water hyacinth.
c) Causes loss of life:
Soil erosion sometimes results in landslides and flooding which destroy human
settlement and causes serious loss of life.
d) Causes movement to forests:
Soil erosion degrades land so that it can no longer support agriculture. People are
forced to move to the more fertile forest areas where they again clear away more
patches of forests for cultivation. Soil erosion thus leads to loss of forest cover.
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e) Spreading of a desert: (desertification)
As- soil and vegetation cover is lost, the climate in an area becomes slowly drier,
eventually the land becomes a desert. This process of desertification is a major threat to
food and water security in Uganda.
2. DEFORESTATION:
This is cutting down of trees in large numbers leaving the soil bare. Deforestation is
caused when trees are cut for the following:
• Firewood
• Brick making
• In mining industry
• For fish smoking
• For tobacco curing
• For charcoal
3. DEVEGETATION:
This is the removing of soil cover or vegetation and leaving the soil bare. It is done
through agricultural activities such as:
• Deforestation
• Overgrazing
• Overstocking
• Bush burning
Once the soil cover is lost, then the same effects of soil erosion also occur.
4. WETLAND DEGRADATION:
Wetlands are what we commonly, call the swamps or marshes in Uganda. They are
areas where plants and animals are found and are often temporarily permanently
flooded with water.
84
USES OR VALUES OF WETLAND / SWAMPS
They control floods. Wetlands take in water, suck it like a sponge and keep it. In this
way, the water cannot flow easily and cause soil erosion or flooding. When rain stops
the wetland releases water slowly. This is where we get water to drink like from
springs and other water points.
Wetlands retain fertile soil. When water runs off the ground, it actually digs up and
carries away fertile topsoil. The water takes this fertile soil into the swamps. This soil is
then arrested by swamp vegetation and is deposited in the wetland.
Wetlands filter out water:The water filled with soil or already used water which has
dangerous particles of other substances can be filtered by wetlands.
Wetlands influence local climate. The amount of water in the atmosphere around
wetland (humidity) is more than elsewhere. A wetland is cooler. This is very important
for agriculture.
Wetland provides forest resources. We get a lot of resources from wetlands. Some of
these are used for building such as poles or for cultural values or medicine. Reeds are
used for making chairs and tables to sell and make money to add to our family income.
Wetlands provide areas for fishing:Swamps have large amount of fish, which greatly
supplement our daily diet, and bring in employment to many local people. Wildlife
animals are also found in wetlands such as the Sitatunga.
Wetlands provide fuel for energy production:We can make charcoal (briquettes)
from wetland materials such as papyrus while some of these materials can be used
directly as firewood.
85
WAYS HOW OUR WETLANDS ARE ABUSED (DEGRADED)
Wetland over use.This is when people over harvest the papyrus reeds in the swamp
without letting it rest and allow more papyrus reeds to grow naturally.
Wetland drainage: Wetland drainage is the act of digging trenches in a swamp,

therebyremoving (channeling) water away from the wetland in order to allow for the
development of the area as agricultural land or for dairy farming. This later makes the
wetland dry killing or displacing the organisms in their habitat
Wetland pollution:Thisis done in the following ways: -
• Wastes from factories are discharged directly into the wetland.

• Vehicles are often seen being washed right in the wetland.
• Discharging sewage directly into the wetland / swamp killing all theinsects,
animals, and plants which are important in our environment.
Burning of Wetlands.This is when people set fire on wetland / swamps killing all the
insects, animals and plants which are important in our environment.
5. SILTING OF WATER.
This is when people who stay near river banks and lake shores cultivate the hanks and
shores removing the grass. When it rains, running water carries the soil into the lake.
The soil settles at the bottom of the lake reducing its depth. This soil which is carried by
running water to the bottom of the lake is called silt.People should not dig near the
banks of rivers or lake shores.
6. POLLUTION
What is pollution?
Pollution is the release of harmful wastes into the environment. Many of the substances
are harmful not only to human life but also to other living things. Any agent which
causes pollution is called a pollutant, e.g.fumes from factories, noise, oil discharge, heat,
sewage, garbage scrap etc.
86
Types of pollution:
There are four namely: -
• Air pollution
• Land pollution
• Water pollution
• Sound or noise pollution
1. Air pollution:
This is the release of harmful and dangerous gases into the atmosphere or air. If there is
too much smoke or dust in air or if there are other gases which ARE not normally part of
the air we breathe, then the air is said to be polluted.
Ways how air is polluted.
• Fumes from factories and industries e.g. smoke, rock particles from quarries.
• Exhaust fumes from cars, trains, and other engines.
• Tobacco smoke from smokers
• Heat from engines and factories
• Heat and smoke from burning of bushes, forests and charcoal.
• Radioactive substances from bombs and atomic industries.
2. Water pollution:
This is when water sources are contaminated with harmful water wastes,
Ways how water is polluted.
• Dumping of wastes from farms and industries.

• Discharging of raw or untreated sewage (human faeces and urine from toilets)
into lakes and rivers.
• Spilling of oil wastes from factories and refineries.
• Discharging of hot wastewater from factories and industries.
• Dumping of household refuse into the water source.
• Urinating, bathing, defecating, and washing in or near water sources.
3. Land pollution:
This is when land can be contaminated with land wastes
87
Ways how land is polluted:
• Rocks from mining pits after the mineral has been smelted off.
• Dumping of old vehicles and factory machines.
• Dumping of garbage especially in towns and cities.
• Dumping of old used tins, polythene papers (buvera) plastics etc.
Sound/ noise pollution:
Sound pollution is when there is too much sound or noise for the ear. This unwanted
sound is contributed to the environment by man in the following ways;
• Noise from war weapons like bombs and artillery guns.

• Noise from supersonic jets.
• Noise from birds especially weaverbirds
• Noise from engines of vehicles and factories.
• Blaring music in markets from people who sell tapes.
Diseasesrelated to pollution and contamination of the environment:
Pollution has serious effects on human health. It can lead to the cause of following
diseases: -
• Asthma from industrial fumes and smoking.

• Cancer from industrial chemicals and smoking.
• Diseases caused as a result of untreated sewage in water sources e.g. dysentery,
cholera and typhoid fever.
• Genetical (hereditary) diseases caused by radioactive substance from bombs like
in Japan after the second world war, some babies were and are still born with
some parts of the body missing.
• Excessive sound pollution can cause headache, increased blood pressure,
abortion in some mothers, damage to the heart and mental disorders.
• Broken bottles and scattered tins can cut people especially child they move
around.
• Some pollutants like scrap can house or habour organisms that are harmful to
man such as snakes and mosquitoes,
88
EFFECTS OF POLLUTION ON THE RESOURCES AND ORGANISMS
• Water pollution kills fish and other living things in water. Some of these
pollutants accumulate in fish and when eaten by man can cause diseases like
cancer.
• Air pollution causes death to birds, useful insects and other organisms in the air.
• Land pollution by chemicals kill bacteria and other organisms which help to
maintain soil fertility.
• Polythene bags (buvera) prevent water from sinking into the ground and also if
eaten by animals cause death.
• Some industrial fumes cause damage like sulphur containing
chemicals,acidfumes, or particles of rock dust from quarries. Sometimes these
fumes cause acid rains.
• Polythene bags make soil infertile when they are in large quantities.
• Soot or dust particles can block stomata of leaves causing them not to use air for
photosynthesis.
Effects of pollution on weather
• Air pollution from heavy industrial town cause very heavy fog or mist. This
prevents sunlight and high humidity of the atmosphere.
• Smoke from factories can cause rainfall in a given area. However, some rain may
be dangerous e.g. black rain, which rained in Saudi Arabia due to smoke from
burning oil during the Iraq war.
• Release of heat in the atmosphere can increase environment temperature.
• The accumulation of carbondioxide gases from mining activities create a kind
of cover in the atmosphere and this rises the temperature causing global
warming.
Natural causes of environmental degradation
• Floods destroy large areas of vegetation and can cause landslides. Flooded areas
are sometimes permanently spoiled.
• Drought causes rain not to come in time and destroys our grassland. If drought
lasts a long time, trees and all plants die.
• Earth quakes and volcanic eruptions also destroy large areas of natural
vegetation. The lava (molten rock) from the volcano flows down burning all
thevegetation in its path.
• Strong wind blows down trees and blows away tonnes of soil from one area to
another.
89
WAYS HOW TO CONTROL AND PREVENT ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION
• We should practice cover cropping, intercropping and agro forestry (the growing
of trees on the same land that you are also growing crops orlivestock).
• Plant legumes, practice crop rotation and also use compost, green and farm yard
manure to keep the soil fertile.
• No one should develop wetlands without approval from NEMA (National
Environment Management Authority).
• Do not drain wetlands for agriculture.
• Use stoves, which save charcoal and firewood.
• Don't allow people to build and make any development too close to river banks
or lake shores.
• Use the three RS’ to control wastes i.e. Reduction Reusing and Recycling.
Reduction
This means avoid using many things serving the same purpose. Like you don't need to
carry home something in a polythene bag which again is put mother polythene bag.
Reusing
This is the act of using something more than once or in different ways e.g.usea
polythene bag more than once, an old car tyre can be cut and flowers planted in or used
as container for chicken feed.
Recycling
This involves collection of material that have been thrown away i.e. glass, metal etc so
that they are processed into new products e.g. polythene papers can be processed into
water pipes and jerrycans. Broken glass and bottles can be made into new ones. House
refuse can be made into fertilizers or compost manure.
• The population should be educated about the effects of pollution.

• Some pollutants can be burnt or buried in one place.
• Controlling of human population because a big population means mow pollution.
• Planting trees to use more carbondioxide.
• Reducing noise by fitting machines with silencers to reduce noise, loud disco
music should be controlled, factories should be built far from residential areas.
• Using chemical with a lot of care i.e. oil should not be spilled faun motor vehicles,
refineries and chemical wastes should first be treated before discharging them
into water sources.
• Avoid starting forests or grassland fires, this makes smoke which pollutes the
atmosphere.
• Use non-polluting means of transport like bicycles.
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Introduction To Contemporary Social Problems PDF

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INTRODUCTION

CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL PROBLEMS

COURSE OUTLINE .......................................................................................................................................... 2

DEFINITION AND CONCEPTS.

A problem is a discrepancy between what is and what ought to be in most cases

A social problem refers to a situation which affects a person’s social functioning

Social problems vary from society to society among social groups.

1.1 ORIGINS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Social factors include the following

1.2 TYPES OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS

There are two types of social problems namely;

i. Manifest social problem

1.2.1 MANIFEST SOCIAL PROBLEMS

1.2.2 LATENT SOCIAL PROBLEM

Secondly it signals us to confine the study of social problems to only those

Why do we study contemporary social problems?

1.3 SOCIAL PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Therefore popular perceptions are no safe guidelines to the magnitudeof social

MINORITY GROUPS AND ETHNIC INEQUALITIES

2.1 MINORITY GROUPS

Minority group refers to category of people who experienced relative disadvantage as

Minorities have experienced prejudice at the hands of the majority society

2.2 CHALLENGES FACED BY MINORITY GROUPS

Deprivation of the benefit of the opportunities for development. Difficulty to access

2.3.1 EFFECTS OF ETHNICITY

2.3.2 NEGATIVE EFFECTS (SIDE) CHALLENGES

This is a tendency of looking of at other culture as inferior compare to your own. It is a

Ethnic tension and conflicts

Immigration is the movement of people into another country to settle.

2.4.1 MODELS OF MIGRATION

 The classic model of migration

The classic model of migration

The colonial model of immigration

The guest workers model of immigration

Illegal models of immigration

2.4.2 FORCES/FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO MIGRATION

Push and pull factor

Micro level factors

2.4.3 EFFECTS OF MIGRATION

VALUABLE /POSITIVE FUNCTIONS

Gender is a social not biological characteristic. Gender consists of whatever a group

Understanding gender and sex

Biologically determined Socially determined or culturally defined

Refers to physical characteristic Learned behavior

Constant across time Changes across time

3.2 GENDER INEQUALITY

Sex typing of work

Universally greater prestige is given to male activities regardless of what those

The pay gap

Gender and employment

The time budget between official and house hold role

Gender and violence

VIOLENCE IN THE HOME

3.4 SEXUAL HARASSMENT

A family is defined as a social group characterized by common residence, economic

4.2 FAMILY STRUCTURE

4.3 TYPES OF FAMILIES

It is made up of multi-generational series of nuclear families often living together as a

This refers to families based on plural marriages. It applies to polygamous marriages

4.4 FUNCTIONS OF A FAMILY

1. Reproduction, for a society to maintain itself, It must replace dying members. In

4.5 FAMILY DISORGANIZATION

4.5.1 TYPES OF FAMILY DISORGANIZATION