The study concentrated on 9 densely populated urban States in the south. The interviews and questionnaires were administered with the help of prison welfare officers from five randomly selected prisons. Questions covered both social, economic and demographic characteristics, as well as causes, motives and techniques of criminal behavior. Analysis of the results showed that the armed robbers in Nigeria were mostly poor youths who turned to crime as society provided them with no alternative means to realize their aspirations. The study also confirmed that the corrupt privileged class, which emphasized the acquisition of wealth by any means, created and perpetuated a system that fostered armed robbery. The study concluded that the death penalty had failed in Nigerian cities, because it did not address underlying social factors. The solution therefore lay in the creation of a humane society which de-emphasized materialism and provided a productive life for its disadvantaged youth. Tables and 25 references. (Author abstract modified).