Sub-Saharan Africa

Bankole A. Cole

Sub-Saharan Africa is a term often used to refer to the region of Africa below the Tropic of Cancer, which is 23.5 degrees north of the equator. This is essentially a racial division, to distinguish the predominantly Arab North Africa from the rest of Africa, which is predominantly negroid. However, both regions have a long history of economic, political, and cultural links, which have led to the creation of mixed races and cultures and the transfer of legal ideas and criminal justice practices between the two regions. For example, the spread of Islam from North Africa to West and East Africa in the twelfth century CE led to the adoption of Islamic law and criminal justice systems by those parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Islamic law and criminal justice systems are still followed in some nations of the subcontinent. It is not possible to generalize about crime and punishment in traditional ...

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