Poverty, unemployment turn youths into thieves

The high cost of living and massive unemployment have turned some youths into thieves, a Judiciary report shows.

Theft and related crimes account for a third of all cases handled by the criminal justice system in the last financial year, according to the report by the National Council on Administration of Justice covering 2023-24.

Of 104,769 criminal cases reported to the police and committed to the justice chain, 34,611 were theft.

Stealing led in this category of crimes, with 18,292 recorded. This is a rise from 2022-23 when 17, 386 cases were reported.

Robbery cases were 3,913, breakings 6,426, theft of stock 2,667, and theft by servant 1,817 cases.

Theft of motor vehicle and other forms of theft had 1,496 cases.

The report says the crime trends can be attributed to the high cost of living and unemployment. “....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,” it says.

The report corroborates the findings of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics on poverty index in the country, showing that millions more people have sunk into poverty due to the harsh economic conditions and crime rates have surged.

Youth unemployment in Kenya stands at 39 per cent, with 5.2 million people aged between 18 and 34 years out of work.

The trends reported by the NCAJ and the KNBS had been predicted in 2020 by a UN Habitat report that said that crime situation in the country could get dire, especially in slums as the economy was dipping into a long-term slump.

The UN-Habitat report said 48 per cent of 5.2 million unemployed people in the country are resorting to crime to make ends meet, in a tough economic environment