Report links steady rise in serious crimes in Kenya to unemployment

The country suffered a steady rise in serious crimes in the last financial year ending June this year, courtesy of unemployment.

This is according to the annual National Council on Administration of Justice (NCAJ) report that ranked offences against other persons, stealing and other penal code offences amongst leading criminal offences committed within the period under review.

"Serious criminal activities declined between fiscal years 2019/20 and 2020/21 but subsequently increased steadily to 104,769 in the financial year 2023/24. The rise could be attributed to high unemployment rates," the report shows.

Other leading crimes include; breaking, offences against morality followed by economic crimes.

The trend, according to the report has seen an increase in remanded across the country.

"In the criminal justice system, the outcome of a trial process may yield conviction and subsequent imprisonment. Whereas convicted and unconvicted offenders have been gradually rising since 2020, there was a slight decline in convicted offenders in the year under review," the report shows.

Consequently, convicted prisoners declined partially from 35,557 in the last financial year to 35,336 in the financial year under review while those convicted rose from 26,358 to 26,579 within the respective period.

Men accounted for a majority of the offenders in both categories at 95 per cent.

"The male prison population with prior convictions lastly outnumbers the female population, with 14,059 males compared to 2,016 females," the report adds.

It, however, notes a worrying trend in recidivism that rose by two per cent among females and by 11 per cent among males.

Death convictions 

At the same time, a rise in death convictions was recorded as having grown from 94 in 2002 to 140 in 2023.

On children matters, records shared by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit (AHTCPU) with the commission show that cases of sexual abuse, child trafficking and reports of missing children topped crimes committed against children within the period under review.

"The majority of cases 40 per cent were related to sexual abuse and exploitation clouding defilement, attempted defilement, incest and child pornography. This was followed by child trafficking cases accounting for 20 per cent of the totals and missing children cases which made up 13 per cent of the cases handled," the report shows.

Teenagers aged between 13 and 15 accounted for most of the victims at 32 per cent, followed by those aged 16 to 17 years who accounted for 22 per cent of the victims.

Children aged 10 to 12 followed third at 19 per cent and those aged seven to nine years at 15 per cent.

A breakdown of the countries where children were abused the most shows Kericho has the highest number of offenders at 249 followed by Muranga at 225 and Mombasa at 209.

This is however not reflective of the children at risk across the country as the same report shows that, Nairobi, Kiambu and Machakos counties accounted for the leading counties with the highest violence against children cases in the country.

During the period under review, the report says 117,602 children experienced various forms of violence.

They ranged from various forms of abuse from sexual, physical and emotional, to harmful cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation, child marriage and vulnerabilities to trafficking, substance abuse, radicalisation, hazardous labour and online exploitation.