Abstract
Youth violence presents a complex and entrenched challenge to the stability, security, and developmental aspirations of the Nigerian state. Dominant legal and policy responses, anchored in a punitive criminal justice paradigm, have proven insufficient in curbing the prevalence and intensity of such violence. This article posits that a fundamental reorientation is required, shifting the legal focus from reactive punishment to proactive, community embedded prevention. It introduces and elaborates “Therapeutic Communalism” as a robust legal framework. This framework reconceptualises youth violence not as an isolated individual pathology, but as a symptomatic manifestation of systemic communal and institutional failure. The framework mandates a legally structured, shared responsibility among families, educational institutions, local communities, and the state. Their role is to collaboratively construct regulated, supportive, and norm governed social environments that prevent violent behaviours from emerging. Through a detailed analysis of Nigeria's existing constitutional and statutory landscape, an exploration of practical implementation mechanisms, and a critical engagement with necessary safeguards, this article argues that Therapeutic Communalism offers a culturally resonant, rights respecting, and empirically grounded pathway towards sustainable violence prevention and the facilitation of broader social healing in Nigeria.