Article
Commercial Transactions in Children: The Case of Ghana
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
(2017)
Abstract
The current article represents an examination of commercial transactions involving the sale of children in contemporary Ghana. It presents the results of a criminological analysis of twenty cases of commercial transactions in children in Ghana. It describes the socio-demographic characteristics of offenders and victims, victim-offender relationships, offender motivations, public reactions to the phenomenon, as well as the criminal justice system’s responses to the crime. The data were extracted from Ghanaian print and electronic presses. The data show that more boys than girls were sold and that the ages of the victims ranged from one-month-old to 19-years-old, although younger, prepubescent children were more likely to be sold than adolescents and younger adults. The results further show that the relationship between the offender and the child victim was a primary one, with parent-child relationships being dominant, followed by uncle-nephew. Pecuniary reasons were the primary motive for the crime, with offenders invariably expressing the need for money to satisfy pressing financial needs or personal enrichment. The data show that offenders were subject to prompt arrest, prosecution and incarceration. A summary is provided for each of the 20 cases analyzed in the study.
Keywords
- child sale,
- human trafficking,
- child abuse,
- child neglect,
- ghana
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring June 10, 2017
Citation Information
Mensah Adinkrah. "Commercial Transactions in Children: The Case of Ghana" International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology (2017) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/mensah_adinkrah/38/