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Democracy is a system by which majority tend to have their way: the majority rules. South Africa is one country which has multiple parties that seek to be leaders of the nation. This multiparty state has seen many unrests previously and currently and many fueled by political intolerance and loss of African morals. The paper examines the impact of indigenous knowledge on political tolerance in a multi-party country like South Africa. It determines if any, local indigenous can enhance mutual political tolerance at the party level. Political intolerance in many instances is linked to cultural intolerance which in turn constrains the liberty of individual citizens. South Africa like many other countries in the world is faced with the COVID-19 pandemic and this has caused many to lose jobs and other sources of income to sustain their lives. The lack to maintain the lives has resulted in many resorting to looting and committing small crimes in order to feed and maintain their families. Furthermore, the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma fueled the political intolerance that has always been a problem in South Africa. This paper applies a qualitative document analysis (QDA) to track the trends in literature about IK and politics in South Africa. It finds that IK is inter, multi and transdisciplinary disciplines and knowledge applied to address the national ills of looting, protests and opportunistic crimes. It concludes that indigenous knowledge (IK) as a form of knowledge that resonates with many ethnic communities, has attracted the attention of many experts, academics and politicians and is viewed by many as a catalyst to liberate the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African Customary law and the South African common law enjoy equal recognition in the South African legal system. However, their equal status results in various conflict situations between them, especially in the South African criminal law. This paper shows that the indigenous belief in witchcraft (including witch-killings), the indigenous belief in the tokoloshe and the use of muti-medicine (including muti-murders), as well as the indigenous custom of ukuthwala, can result in the commission of common law and statutory crimes in South Africa. These are then known as "culturally motivated" crimes. In addition, this paper shows that the indigenous beliefs and custom above can also violate fundamental human rights entrenched in the South African Constitution. In this regard, this paper also outlines the consequences that an accused can face for infringing upon a victim's fundamental human rights through the commission of a culturally motivated crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international literature links mining booms with social disruption. The rapid economic and population growth that mining brings increases urban crime and social problems. But insufficient attention has been paid to the reverse situation: the social disruption that can accompany the closure of a mine. We compare crime statistics for four categories of small city, known in South Africa as "intermediate city municipalities," from 2009 to 2018. Contrary to the findings of international studies, we find that those where mining was in decline had some of the highest crime rates, particularly in the category of sexual offences, whereas those where mining was growing had the lowest. Our research shows that mine decline and closure can contribute to social disruption. We argue that South African government policy has exacerbated this problem in the context of mine decline and that several dependencies created by mining further contribute to the problem. We challenge the assumption that fast population growth and an increase in the male population are prerequisites for social disruption. Our paper suggests the need for modifications to social disruption theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing crime is a fundamental goal of all policymakers, because its costs are both pecuniary and non-pecuniary. A number of studies have shown that individuals who are victims of crime report lower levels of life satisfaction or subjective well-being (SWB) as compared to nonvictims (Powdthavee, 2005; Cohen, 2008; Davies & Hinks, 2010). But, what is not as clear is how this nexus may differ based on household geo-type, or put differently, whether a household is located in an urban area versus a rural area. The rationale as to why geographical location is likely to play a role is as follows: (a) people migrate from rural to urban areas in hopes of finding a job or better standard of living. Given that urban migration is associated with "false expectations" (Mulcahy & Kollamparambil, 2016:1357), it may lead some to turn to crime as a means of coping. Therefore, one expects to see more crime in cities as opposed to farm areas. (b) In rural areas, people share a sense of community or 'Ubuntu'1. This means that should someone fall victim to crime, others will ensure that its effects on well-being are minimized, by assisting where they can. (c) Social disorganization theory explains differences in urban and rural crime rates, as it suggests that "a person's residential location is more significant than the person's characteristics when predicting criminal activity" (Bond, 2015: para 4). This paper investigates the impact of perceived crime on individual well-being in urban and rural areas of South Africa using a nationally representative panel dataset from 2008 to 2017. By making use of a fixed-effect model, a finding was that perceived crime negatively influences the SWB of individuals living in rural and urban areas in South Africa. Unlike the urban coefficient, the rural coefficient is not statistically significant. These results suggest two patterns: firstly, perceived crime plays a stronger role in predicting SWB in urban areas as compared to rural areas. This is likely because urbanization is linked to a higher rate of crime (Park, Burgess & McKenzie, 1925). Secondly, it provides empirical support that there exists a geographically differentiated relationship between perceived crime and the SWB nexus in South Africa. The estimates are robust to the inclusion of the inequality variable as well as alternative models (specifically random ordered probit model). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In postcolonial Africa, genocide, migration, xenophobia and representation are articulated under conditions of modernity and stand in a long history of anti-black racism and violence. Under what can be regarded as coloniality or 'the colonial presence,' both xenophobia and genocide are linked to subjectivity and representation. It is the contention of this paper that xenophobia in South Africa is linked to acts of localised xenophobia and genocide across the African continent chiefly through the epistemic violence of representation. Located in a constructionist position, representation is taken as violent and located in liberal institutions like the media that emerge as part of the racist modernity project (Lloyd 2019; Hall 1997). In this paper, I bring together postcolonial and decolonial theories to move between reading concrete historical events as captured in the archives of journalism and graffiti in urban spaces to think through ways in which xenophobia and genocide, beyond the physical violence, are articulated by and located in the epistemic violence of representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social work profession has become critical in assisting victims of violent crime at social service agencies in South Africa. Social workers have been spearheading efforts to help trauma victims at the expense of their mental health. For Black South African social workers, the mental burden of working with victim collides with historical trauma to create new ways of experiencing mental health challenges. The study aimed to explore the experiences of social workers working with victims of violent crime at select social service agencies in Johannesburg. The study was qualitative in nature and a case study design was used. Data was collected using in-depth interviews. The researchers used purposive sampling and data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results from the study showed that Black South African social workers working in the field of violent crime face challenges such as prolonged sadness, emotional exhaustion and vicarious trauma. All these psychological problems are amplified by the fact that social workers in South Africa work under strenuous conditions. This increases the impact of psychological problems on social workers. Therefore, this paper argues that when the psychological effects of working with victims of violent crime, intersect with historical trauma, it produces unique ways of experiencing trauma for Black South African social workers. This study has strong implications for research about the health and wellbeing of social work practitioners working with trauma victims. The study exposes the need to prioritize the wellbeing of social workers especially those working in contexts with a traumatic past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Large numbers of young people die yearly due to homicide, but little is known about homicide during adolescence. Research primarily focuses on youth violence among young men and masks important gender-related factors inherent in the adolescent age group. Although young women are less likely to be victims of homicide, violence against women is an important form of violence experienced during adolescence. In this paper, we describe the prevalence of and gender difference in adolescent homicide in South Africa in 2009. Methods: We conducted a retrospective national mortuary-based study to identify all child homicides (boys and girls < 18 years) in 2009 in a proportionate sample of mortuaries. Victim, perpetrator and crime data were collected in three phases: cases were identified from the mortuary register, the autopsy report and from police interviews. In this paper we focus on the adolescent group, aged 10 to 17 years. Findings: We identified 674 (95% CI: 520–823) adolescent homicides for 2009, with more male (520) than female (154) homicides. This gender disparity increased as children aged, with the male homicide rate 27.9/100 000 population (95% CI: 20.3–35.5), nearly 5 times the female rate (4.5:1) of 6.5/ 100 000 population (95% CI: 4.7–8.2) in older adolescents (15–17 year old). Adolescent males were significantly more likely (61.2%) to die in a public space compared to female adolescents (39.3%) but more adolescent females (48.4%) died at home compared to adolescent males (32.9%). Adolescent females (42.1%) were mainly killed by a family member or intimate partner while adolescent males were predominantly (58%) killed by an acquaintance. Conclusion: We found a distinct gender pattern for adolescent homicide in South Africa. This pattern appears to be driven by gender norms that support violence. South Africa requires an investment in developing evidence informed interventions to reduce violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural criminology as a topic of scholarly study, neglected over the past two to three decades, has bounced into the spotlight, with claims now being made that rural criminology is receiving justified attention among the academic fraternity. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the major challenge facing two countries with different levels of development as identified by the United Nations Human Development Index. A predicament for rural criminology is that the world is not equal: rural crimes is researched in developed countries but not in developing countries. This paper compares the types and prevalence of agricultural crimes in Australia (NSW) and South Africa to determine whether significant differences or similarities exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The term 'amaphara', possibly derived from 'parasites', burst into South African public culture in the 2010s to refer to petty thieves addicted to a heroin-based drug locally called whoonga/nyaope. Drawing on ethnography and media sources to interrogate the rise of 'amaphara', this paper argues that South Africa's heroin epidemic magnifies the attention – criticism but also sympathy – directed toward marginalised black men who have few prospects for social mobility. It locates amaphara in the national context where drug policy is largely punitive and youth unemployment rates are painfully high, but gives particular attention to families' and communities' experiences with intimate crimes, especially petty thefts. It further shows that amaphara is a contested term: heroin users are brothers, sons and grandchildren and they gain most of their income not from crime but by undertaking useful piece work in communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence and crime in countries such as South Africa are shaped by deep socio-economic inequalities; however, the spatial designs of urban areas and housing also play a role, but often in differing ways. There is little qualitatively derived research published on the design realities of poor informal housing where the hyper-permeability of housing structures directly shapes residents' experiences of crime, often in gendered ways. This paper speaks to the wider literature on Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) and applauds its recognition of the role of wider social factors in shaping crime and prevention, arguing that socio-political factors are critical too in the South African case. However, this paper calls for a fuller analysis of the particular material and design realities of informal housing, realities that are ever-present across the global South, which in practice can undermine efforts towards target hardening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses data from the World Health Organization's Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) on the prevalence of reported fear of crime at home and on the street among older people in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa. SAGE provides nationally representative data for 35,125 people aged 50 and over. These reveal large national variations in reported crime fear: for example, 65 per cent of older South Africans felt unsafe on the street, compared to only 9 per cent of older Ghanaians. The paper examines factors potentially associated with crime fear, including age, socio-economic status and frailty, and relates these to different theoretical models of crime fear. Female sex and frailty are associated with higher rates of crime fear across the study countries. Other associations are less consistent, e.g. urban residence is associated with higher levels of fear in some countries and lower levels in others. The paper considers the potential effects of crime fear on mobility beyond the home, health status and quality of life. A strong association is found for mobility, but effects on health and quality of life are harder to interpret as the direction of causality can be two-way. Overall, the paper demonstrates the potential impact of crime fear on older people's wellbeing and highlights a need for further, more contextualised research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Between 2011 and 2012, 40.1% of all sexual offences in South Africa involved children under 18. Important scholarship has demonstrated how large-scale social and economic inequalities structure African girls’ risk to and experience of sexual violence leading to a condemnation of violent masculinities and the social processes that produce it. Under conditions of chronic poverty and unstable living conditions, girls’ vulnerability to sexual violence is increased. Schools located in extreme settings, without adequate material and social resources are often in the frontline in dealing with sexual violence. This paper examines how a selected group of teachers located in a township primary school understand their role in the social protection of young girls in the context of sexual violence. An ethic of care dominated teachers’ responses to girls’ rendered vulnerable to sexual violence, but as this paper argues, caring is both vital and inadequate. This point becomes particularly clear as turbulent social conditions and material struggles beyond the school limit teachers’ potential to safeguard the needs of girls, resulting in their silence and fear contracted by their difficulty to work with parents. These social processes underscore the need to attend to interconnected interventions beyond and within education recognizing that teachers’ work in addressing sexual violence in extreme setting exceeds the terrain of schools. The paper concludes with recommendations within schools and beyond that address teachers and the social, gendered and economic contexts which give rises to girls’ sexual vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most studies rely on cross-sectional retrospective reports from adult samples to collect information about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to examine relationships with adult outcomes. The problems associated with these reports have long been debated, with only a few studies determining their reliability and validity and fewer still reaching consensus on the matter. This paper uses repeat prospective and retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences from two respondent sources in the South African Birth to Twenty Plus (Bt20+) cohort to explore agreement and concordance in the prospective reporting of ACEs by caregivers and respective children as adolescents and then as young adults. The findings demonstrate little overall agreement between prospective and retrospective accounts of childhood experiences, with 80% of kappa values below the moderate agreement cutoff (k = .41). The highest levels of agreement were found between prospective and retrospective reporting on parental and household death (kappas ranging from .519 to .944). Comparisons between prospective caregiver reports and retrospective young adult reports yielded high concordance rates on sexual and physical abuse and exposure to intimate partner violence (91.0%, 87.7% and 80.2%, respectively). The prevalence of reported ACEs varied with the age of the respondent, with adolescents reporting much higher rates of exposure to violence, physical and sexual abuse than are reported retrospectively or by caregivers. This variation may partly reflect actual changes in circumstances with maturation, but may be influenced by developmental stage and issues of memory, cognition and emotional state more than has been considered in previous analyses. More research, across disciplines, is needed to understand these processes and their effect on recall. Long-term prospective studies are critical for this purpose. In conclusion, methodological research that uses a range of information sources to establish the reliability and validity of both retrospective and prospective reports ‒ recognizing that the two approaches may fundamentally answer different questions ‒ should be encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that South Africa ignored the International Criminal Court's orders in 2015 and made plans to withdraw from the Rome Statute because the indictments of the leaders of Sudan, Libya, and Kenya violated international law regarding immunity for heads of state; the ICC is a political tool used to target Africa; the United States colludes with its European allies to control the ICC despite not being a signatory to the Rome Statute; the ICC prosecutes African people while ignoring similar crimes committed by others; and the history of racism and colonialism cause Africa to be skeptical of the intentions of Western nations that influence the ICC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the production of knowledge about the causes of the May 2008 attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa, embodied in state actors' recourse to discursive tropes of a ‘third force’ or mere ‘criminality’ in explaining the attacks. It explores the way in which this ‘knowledge’ reproduced statist notions of territory and power in the wake of a cataclysm that destabilised conventional notions of the congruence of nation, state and territory. The paper shows how official explanations of the attacks served both to camouflage the internal borders made visible by localised conflagrations and to reassert the state as the exclusive author of territorial borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Of primary concern to the Local Organising Committee (LOC), and other associated 2010 FIFA World Cup partners, is the safety and security of local and international tourists attending 2010 FIFA World Cup football games in South Africa. For this purpose, place-specific stadium precinct plans are proposed per identified concentric ‘zone’ around each stadium. But what is the theoretical and informational base of this strategy? Moreover, can this strategy be sustained after the tournament or utilised in future sporting events at these stadiums? In this paper the authors argue that such a safety and security strategy should be informed by a comprehensive localised theory on crime and crime management in the country. Three important crime-related issues are investigated in this paper that we believe should form the backbone of such a strategy and associated theory: the location and propensity of crime, the location of offenders in the city, and the perceptions of local residents and users. The authors demonstrate the compilation of such an information triad with reference to the Loftus Versfeld stadium in Tshwane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern theory of investment identifies the importance of uncertainty to investment. A number of empirical studies have tested the theory on South African time series, employing political instability measures as proxies for uncertainty. This paper verifies that political instability measures are required in the formulation of the investment function for South Africa. It also establishes that there are distinct institutional factors that influence the uncertainty variable such as property rights and crime levels. We find that rising income and property rights lower political instability, and that rising crime levels are positively related to political instability. The inference is that political instability in South Africa may not represent uncertainty directly, since it is systematically related to a set of determinants. Instead, uncertainty would have to be understood as being related to a broader institutional nexus that in concert may generate uncertainty for investors. The paper highlights the significance of getting institutions right to ensure that uncertainty is kept to a minimum by providing a predictable long-term environment. Stability at a systemic level appears crucial if investment rates are to rise in South Africa and this paper demonstrates that stability in turn is driven by a sound institutional environment that has multiple dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the periodicity of violent and property crimes committed in Tshwane, South Africa from 2001 to 2006. Conventional monthly, daily and hourly variations in these types of crime are highlighted and then Fourier analysis is introduced as an advanced mathematical technique which is able to identify periodic peaks or signals of crime contained within a large time-series crime data-set. Specifically, Fourier analysis is used to examine crime periodicities in Tshwane in neighbourhoods stratified by social deprivation. Across most neighbourhood quintiles, there is a notable peak in violent crimes every 7–10 days. That is, every 7–10 days over the 5 years, there is a peak in violent crimes in most neighbourhoods in Tshwane. There is also a marginal peak occurring roughly every 50–60 days in neighbourhood Quintiles 1 (most affluent) and 3 (‘middle class’). Similar to violent crimes, the largest consistent periodicity for property crimes was observed across all five neighbourhood quintiles approximately every 7–10 days. A significant peak was also observed in property crime in Quintile 3 (‘middle class’) roughly every 75 days. Tentative explanations are provided for the results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Interventions to prevent rape perpetration must be designed to address its drivers. This paper seeks to extend understanding of drivers of single and multiple perpetrator rape (referred to here as SPR and MPR respectively) and the relationships between socio-economic status, childhood trauma, peer pressure, other masculine behaviours and rape. Method: 1370 young men aged 15 to 26 were interviewed as part of the randomised controlled trial evaluation of Stepping Stones in the rural Eastern Cape. We used multinomial to compare the characteristics of men who reported rape perpetration at baseline. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine pathways to rape perpetration. Results: 76.1% of young men had never raped, 10.0% had perpetrated SPR and 13.9% MPR. The factors associated with both MPR and SPR (compared to never having raped) were indicators of socio-economic status (SES), childhood trauma, sexual coercion by a woman, drug and alcohol use, peer pressure susceptibility, having had transactional sex, multiple sexual partners and being physically violent towards a partner. The SEM showed the relationship between SES and rape perpetration to be mediated by gender inequitable masculinity. It was complex as there was a direct path indicating that SES correlated with the masculinity variable directly such that men of higher SES had more gender inequitable masculinities, and indirect path mediated by peer pressure resistance indicated that the former pertained so long as men lacked peer pressure resistance. Having a higher SES conveyed greater resistance for some men. There was also a path mediated through childhood trauma, such that men of lower SES were more likely to have a higher childhood trauma exposure and this correlated with a higher likelihood of having the gender inequitable masculinity (with or without the mediating effect of peer pressure resistance). Discussion: Both higher and lower socio-economic status were associated with raping. Prevention of rape perpetration must focus on changing men’s gender ideals, entitlements and inequitable practices. Reducing poverty and adverse childhood experiences should also be of benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing trends of fear and insecurity in cities have sparked the re-visitation of gating, posing significant problems for citizens and policy makers alike. Gated developments are a global phenomenon occurring in diverse countries in both the developed North and developing South. Metropolitan areas in South Africa have also witnessed a rapid increase in the number and spread of gated developments since the late 1980s. Development of enclosed neighbourhoods has become increasingly popular, gaining widespread support for their utopic lifestyle and safety features. On the whole, high levels of crime and fear of crime have led to the construction of defensible space, in the form of gated developments, resulting in elevated levels of segregation. This paper provides a spatial analysis on gated developments in the non-metropolitan setting of Bloemfontein. The pattern and timeframe of gating in this city is shown to be similar to those found elsewhere in South Africa and, indeed, globally. Overall, it is the contention that gating is a trend not only seen in large metropolitan areas, but across the entire urban hierarchy of South Africa, and, as a consequence, requires investigation far beyond its metropolitan regions to more fully understand gated developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, South African serial homicide cases will be used to illustrate how practice can inform research and how research can aid practice by highlighting key questions that need to be answered and practice-based assumptions that need to be empirically tested. The cases will also be used to highlight some of the unique features of series in South Africa. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organised violence strongly shapes political boundaries. The modern state's monopoly on legitimate violence has made national borders the primary dividing line between peaceful and violent places. However, governments that are unable to achieve such a monopoly may opt for the more modest goal of moderating the distribution of violent behaviour across their jurisdiction. This paper explores how this latter approach redefines the contours of political space through a grounded ethnography of crime control strategies in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the postapartheid era, South African police and vigilantes have synthesised statistically oriented policing logics with the racial policing tactics of the past to anticipate, locate, isolate, and redistribute patterns of violent crime. In so doing, they have created forms of territorial power and violence that are neither new nor old, but undeniably postsovereign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most immigrants from African countries choose Johannesburg as a migration destination. They all perceive it to be location with many opportunities that would enable them to make a fresh start to a life outside their home country, and Zimbabweans are no exception. In South Africa, Johannesburg has a large percentage of foreigners at any given time, hence its inner city was chosen as a suitable location to investigate the extent and manner in which the experiences of migrant Zimbabwean teachers matched their expectations. Working in Zimbabwe was no longer sustainable for them. Most of them were married and had families whom they needed to support financially. After being in South Africa for a period ranging from under one year to over five years, many had achieved some form of economic improvement, having movable and immovable assets, and saving money. However, the same migrant teachers felt unsafe and unwanted in South Africa because of crime, discrimination, hostility and xenophobia. The results revealed a paradox of economic satisfaction accompanied by fear and social unhappiness in the lives of these Zimbabwean teachers in South Africa. The Zimbabwean migrant teachers have two juxta-positioned problematic situations: wanting the money, their initial reason for migrating and motivation to continue working; and feeling imprisoned, unsafe and unwanted, an incongruous reality, in South Africa. This paper examines the dynamics of these contradictions by presenting the two-pronged dilemma from both an economic and a social point of view. They want to be and not to be in South Africa at the same time - they are trapped in a contradictory existence, in a city and country to which they chose to migrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a great deal of literature on crime and violence in post-apartheid South Africa. This paper examines the prevalence and impact of violence and crime at local level through a case study of two areas in Chatsworth, Westcliff and Bayview, where civic organizations have played an effective role in addressing local problems. They have mostly done so outside of official structures such as Community Policing Forums. The presence of strong individuals, mainly women, has helped the community cope with violence through forms of self-protection such as neighbourhood watches, vigilantism, and gated communities. On the negative side, these measures provide protection to limited segments of society; they may spawn new forms of violence that could undercut long-term violence prevention strategies; and it is also unreasonable to expect local communities with limited resources to fill the void created by state failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores themes of social space and mobility significant to tourism within the townships near Cape Town, South Africa. Research on the emergence of 'township tourism' has produced contrasting interpretations. Some authors describe essentialised notions of' Africanness', 'culture', and poverty displayed for the consumption of European tourists as voyeurism. Others emphasize township tourism's grassroots potential for local development, and portray it as a form of reconciliation through the political and personal narratives shared between resident-guides and tourists. By focusing primarily on one family of township tourism 'hosts,' the findings presented here describe how those involved with township tourism utilized new avenues of social and physical mobility across socio-spatial boundaries that persist as legacies of apartheid. Flexible understandings of space and 'multiple mobilities' are considered here, and host agency is emphasized. Finally, by tracing public discourses of criminality and 'common sense' directed at international visitors to townships in 2010, this paper demonstrates how such narratives undermined efforts to reconfigure perceptions of township spaces. I conclude by arguing that township tourism carries the potential to map new cartographies of belonging, while also creating new exclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) know that silence is not always golden. Persons with disabilities and in particular those with complex communication needs, have a heightened risk of becoming victims of crime, abuse, and neglect. This study looked at the vocabulary needed to disclose or report crime or abuse in South Africa, and also focussed on the development of communication boards for this purpose, in four of the 11 official South African languages (Afrikaans, English, Sepedi, and isiZulu). Thirty-six participants in four language-based focus groups (English, Afrikaans, Sepedi, and isiZulu) were asked to generate a list of possible words they deemed important when wanting to disclose a crime, abuse or neglect. Participants then prioritized the top 55 words. A total of 56 words appeared on two or more of the lists from the four language groups. The board was developed using Picture Communication Symbols (PCS), the most frequently used symbol set in South Africa, according to an electronic mail survey. A discrepancy analysis revealed that these 56 words could be represented by 219 symbols. Symbols were developed for two words (swear, threaten) for which no PCS symbols existed. The process of developing the communication boards described in this paper may be useful to AAC communities in other countries, and the boards can serve as templates for other languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a scholarly analysis of the epidemiological criminology measures applied by South Africa to combat human trafficking of women and girls for involuntary prostitution. It comprises a description of the range of services provided by South African and international organizations and institutions responding to human trafficking of women and girls for involuntary prostitution. Firstly, the sources of information collected to assemble this paper are described. Secondly, the theoretical framework of epi-criminology and the conceptual framework of human trafficking for involuntary prostitution are explained. Thirdly, criminological and public health challenges facing South Africa are discussed briefly as factors giving rise to human trafficking of young women and girls for involuntary prostitution. The fourth aspects discussed are epi-criminological responses, and challenges facing South Africa when responding to human trafficking of women and girls are described. Although victims of human trafficking would still remain hidden with legislation, in the absence of the Human Trafficking Law South Africa cannot determine the extent of the crime. In addition, an ambiguous approach to prostitution prevails in communities and among South African Police Service (SAPS) officers. Furthermore, it is possible that poverty alleviation programmes aimed at mediating poverty and unemployment challenges may not be reaching the targeted populations. To conclude, an emphasis on a multi-faceted approach to address human trafficking of women and girls is advised. South Africa is currently applying a prevention, protection of victims, and prosecution of traffickers approach to respond to human trafficking of girls for involuntary prostitution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African government has embarked on a programme of encouraging social cohesion in South Africa first to address concerns stemming from high levels of violent crime which characterise the society, and second, to foster positive national identity in a complex, heterogeneous, racialised and stratified nation. Through a discussion of the impact of violent crime on emergent forms of community, this paper argues that the practices of communities evolving in the post-apartheid period show tendencies toward fragmentation rather than unification, undermining efforts of 'nation-building'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last 20 years has witnessed an explosion not only in the growth of private residential territories throughout the world, but also in the literature addressing them. The majority of research is centred on experiences in the United States and Latin America (although studies elsewhere are increasing) and suffers from a tendency to homogenise the processes and consequences of gating as synonymous whether experienced in Los Angeles, New York, Mexico City or São Paulo. Whilst axiomatic to state the unlikelihood of identical trends in such differing contexts, the absence of such a statement in the literature is significant. This paper addresses the social and spatial phenomenon of residential gated communities in three of South Africa’s major cities: Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. Detailed background and discussion regarding the development and experience of ‘gating’ in each city is analysed, emphasising the uniqueness of each city’s gating experience. These indications, that gating is not a universal experience despite some common themes, serve to counter the homogenous discourse in both popular and academic parlance throughout the world and within South Africa. In addition, particular concerns related to the growth of residential forms based on exclusion and privatisation within the South African context, are considered. In essence, we conclude that while ‘gating’ may be an individually rational decision in the context of South Africa’s growing crime, its collective consequences produce a divided city, at odds with post-apartheid ideals of unity and equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is!to improve knowledge on the spatial origin and development of criminal offenders within the Tshwane municipality. A preliminary socio-demographic profile of offenders residing within Tshwane is compiled based on a written survey of a sample of 75 offenders. The importance of residential location in defining the socio-demographic profile of offenders is investigated through the use of location quotients (LQs). The study revealed that the sample of offenders tended to reside in suburbs that exhibited offender rates between 11-28% higher than the municipality as a whole. In the context of exposure to criminal elements, economic offenders were found to be more prone to the deleterious effects of suburbs than violent or sexual offenders. The study motivates that location is an important risk factor for criminal offending in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People are, more than ever before, dependent on the unreliable media-industry for information. The possibility, therefore, exists that the media can manipulate the way in which people experience reality. In view of the current discourse on the role of the media in South Africa, this article explores how selected daily newspapers in Gauteng represent the crime reality of South Africa. By taking as a departure point the relation between reality and the represented reality as portrayed by the media (and newspapers specifically) the important role of mediation in representation is discussed as well as the various techniques that can be used to manipulate represented reality in news texts. Journalists subjectively select and organise reality in order to represent it in media texts. Three newspapers, namely Beeld, The Star and Sowetan were selected and then collected during June 2007. Using content analysis, information about the frequency of crime stories, the types of crime, the race of crime victims and the place where the crimes took place were used as criteria to determine which type of reality the three newspapers represent to their target readers. Discourse analysis was used to determine underlying patterns and meanings. The findings indicate that all three papers represent a reality that matches the world view of their different target audiences, each representing a fraction of the South African crime reality. It is argued that this polarises the South African population and prevents a cohesive society. The question of how South African citizens must make sense of a partially portrayed reality remains unanswered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime has become central to any discussion about the consolidation of democracy in South Africa. Concerns about crime intensified in the years after 1994, as the country attempted to grapple with the apparent ‘crime wave’ that accompanied the transition. A decade later crime is still a priority for government and a concern among citizens, but the clamour that characterised both state and civil society responses in the early years of democracy has receded (See the article by the author in Social Indicators Research 41: 137–168, 1997). This may relate to the decrease in crime levels as reflected by various statistical sources. It is also possible that those whose voices were heard most loudly on the issue – the middle classes – have taken all available measures to protect their property and lives from crime. In all likelihood, South Africans have become accustomed to living in a violent society, and one in which other equally serious problems now require attention. Although the national obsession with crime has waned, the available data nevertheless indicate that the problem still affects many thousands of lives. The impact of crime – in terms of the costs of victimisation, negative perceptions and fear, and the cost of responding to crime – remains high for South African society. This paper considers how crime levels and perceptions about crime and safety have changed over the past decade, and what these trends tell us about the country 10 years into our democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the response to domestic violence in the South African Jewish community, specifically that provided by Jewish Community Services, Johannesburg. The context is briefly presented in terms of the major challenges facing the South African community, the Jewish community per se, the impact of apartheid, the post-apartheid era, specifically the significance of crime, violence, and emigration. Brief reference is made to domestic violence within the general population. An in-depth review is given of the development of the domestic violence programme in the Jewish community, including a critical assessment of challenges and constraint to be addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Three quarters of care-leavers don't report any criminal activity during the first 2–5 years post-care. • One in ten report a single, fairly trivial instance of crime during the first 2–5 years post-care. • One fifth report regular and more serious crime and conflict with the law over 2+ interviews. • No patterns during the first year post-care predicted the future crime pathways. Research on care-leaving internationally suggests that young adults with experience of residential or foster care are disproportionately likely to engage in criminal activity and to come into conflict with the law. There is, however, no research on this population in South Africa. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of young people transitioning out of care and journeying towards young adulthood over a period of five years. The sample included 51 participants who had had at least two (and up to five) interviews (spaced approximately a year apart) since leaving care. A mixed methods design was utilised to investigate their patterns of criminal engagement over time. Results suggest three patterns among this sample of care-leavers: those who are 'crime free', reporting no criminal activity over two or more post-care interviews (73% of the sample); those reporting 'incidental crime', viz. criminal activity in just one follow-up interview, with the crime being of low severity and seldom having conflict with the law (10% of participants); and those reporting 'regular crime', viz. criminal activity in two or more follow-up interviews, with more severe types of crime and greater likelihood of coming into conflict with the law (including being found guilty of a crime in court and spending a night or more in jail) and an increase in frequency and severity of crime over the years out of care (18% of participants). Findings are discussed in relation to international literature and implications for practice are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]