Criminogenics of Traditional Circumcision Ceremonies in Masabaland, Eastern Uganda: Crime Opportunities, Community Justice, Victimization, and Criminal Justice Responses

Rituals are mechanisms for identity construction, cohesion, and moral regulation; yet, their commodification and staging as mass public events create social conditions affecting opportunities for crime. This study concerns crime related dynamics of circumcision ceremonies of the Bamasaaba of Eastern Uganda. Drawing on four theories, it introduces the concept of ritual criminogenic to illustrate how culturally sanctioned collective rituals enhance social protection and generate context-specific threats of crime. A convergent mixed methods approach was applied. Results showed that frequently reported ceremony security concerns were alcoholism (68.5%), stealing (61.4%), disorder (57.9%), violence (52.6%), and traffic jam (46.8%). Regression analysis revealed that a higher perceived risk of crime was associated with alcoholism, crowd concentration, commercial activities, and masculinity competition, and with a lower perceived risk of crime with informal control. The regression model was statistically significant, accounting for 25.6% of variance in crime risk perceptions. Rituals are not in themselves criminogenic events but are rather fluid social spaces, wherein cultural significances, environmental factors, and governance shape outcomes. The study advances the Ritual Criminogenic Framework, illustrating how indigenous structures shape culturally attuned criminality. Keywords: Imbalu; criminogenics; cultural criminology; ritual violence; community policing; and victimization.