Beyond the University’s Halls: Understanding Criminal Activities on Peace and Security among Students of University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Peace and Security is critical to the improvement of students’ social welfare. Informed by Life style exposure theory and Routine activity theory, the study examined the impact of criminal activities on peace and security among university students: a case of University of Cape Coast, Ghana. The qualitative research approach was used due to the nature of the study. The descriptive cross-sectional design was used for the study. The study used in-depth interview to understand the live experiences of the students in the study. In total 30 students and five security personnel from the university were selected for the study. The findings revealed that the rate of crime on campus is increasing and students had a negative perception about their living environment. Again, it was found that majority of the respondents agree that crime rate has increased recently on UCC campus and communities like Amamoma, Kwaprow and Ayensu are the hotspot residence. The major perpetrators were reviewed to be town members. Crime affects student’s peace and security and some of these effects were fear and panic, psychological effect, academic performance, loss of focus, worries, loss of properties, and insecurity. Based on the findings accumulated from the study, the researcher recommends that students should take personal security measures like locking of doors, walking in groups and placing their personal belongings in appropriate places in order to reduce the workload of the campus security.