The Africa Journal of Crime and Justice (AJCJ) is an international peer-reviewed journal that is hosted by the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the United States International University-Africa, in Nairobi, Kenya. The AJCJ intends to fill the gap for the dissemination of new knowledge, ideas, and methods, to both practitioners and academicians in the criminal justice area. The journal publishes scholarly articles on all areas of criminology, criminal law, crime, and criminal justice. It includes theoretical, as well as empirically-based analyses of crime and justice policy and practice in areas in Africa that range from policing to sentencing, community penalties, and prisons; drug use to transnational organized crime and terrorism; and crime prevention to victims of crime.

This first issue contains outstanding articles which shed light on contemporary research questions on the etiology of crime, criminal justice policy and crime prevention initiatives in Africa. The majority of the contributions analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on criminal justice systems in Africa. One contribution reviews a recent book on the enforcement of intellectual property rights in Africa.

Full-length articles:

• The Gendered Impact of COVID-19 Directives on Access to Criminal Justice in South Africa
• Alternative Dispute Resolution: The Opportunities and Challenges of COVID-19 for the Plea-Bargaining Model in Uganda
• Alternative to Prosecution in Criminal Law: A Case for Plea Agreements in Corporate Crime
• The One-Two Punch: Utilising Community Prosecution and Victim-Centred Strategies to Successfully Prosecute Trafficking in Persons in Uganda
• Victimisation and the Fear of Cybercrime during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience of Undergraduate Students in Kenya
• The Efficacy of National and International Accountability Mechanisms in Combating Al-Shabaab in Somalia
• Why the Preference for Xeer in Somalia Surged during the Coronavirus Pandemic
• Reparation Orders at the International Criminal Court: The Quest of the Victims in the Bosco Ntaganda Case
• Review: M Schneider & V Ferguson Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Africa (OUP, 2020)