ISS 6th international conference: National and international perspectives on crime, violence reduction and criminal justice

This premier event brings together researchers, academics, policy makers, and practitioners with an interest in criminology and related disciplines.

This premier annual event brings together researchers, academics, policy makers and practitioners with an interest in criminology and associated disciplines to discuss research findings and exchange ideas.

The networks established at these conferences have led to collaboration across the globe on crime and justice issues.

The event provides an excellent opportunity to exhibit the latest criminological and related research as well as policy initiatives from Africa and beyond.

For more information on this conference or previous conferences, contact Johan Burger: [email protected]

For information and presentations from the 5th international conference in 2014, click here

Inquiring into policing:

  • Commissions of Inquiry into Police in South Africa, 1910-2015: Context, Concerns and Remedies (Download the presentation)
    Prof Elrena van der Spuy, Centre of Criminology, University of Cape Town
  • Avoiding another Marikana: Why police leadership matters? (Download the presentation)
    Gareth Newham, Head, Governance, Crime and Justice Division, Institute for Security Studies
  • The Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry: Perspective of an evidence leader (No presentation available)
    Adv Thembalihle Sidaki, Evidence leader, Khayelitsha Commission of Inquiry

Access to justice and the post-2015 sustainable goals (lessons, actions & experiences)

  • Bringing Justice to Development - Access to Justice and Agenda 2030 (Download the presentation)
    Peter Chapman, Program Officer with the Open Society Justice Initiative
  • The argument for institutionalising community advice offices as vehicles for promoting justice (No presentation available)
    Winnie Martins, Director at the Centre for Community Justice and Development
  • The role of the SA Human Rights Commission in advancing access to justice (Download the presentation)
    Adv Mohammed Shafie Ameermia, Commissioner of the SA Human Rights Commission

Migration and xenophobia

  • Categories and social cohesion: Countering xenophobia by silencing difference (Download the presentation)
    Dr Loren Landau, South African Research Chair in Human Mobility and the Politics of Difference at the African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the Witwatersrand
  • Dangerous spaces: The structural context of violence against foreign nationals in South Africa (Download the presentation)
    Dr Alexandra Hiropoulos, post-doctoral research fellow with the African Centre for Migration and Society at the University of the Witwatersrand
  • Persuading the police to call a spade a spade: Why are the SAPS so reluctant to classify xenophobic attacks? (Download the presentation)
    Laura Freeman, Programme Officer at the Safety & Violence Initiative, University of Cape Town

Approaches to preventing crime and violence

  • Can social cohesion prevent collective violence? A case study of Khayelitsha (Download the presentation)
    Dr Vanessa Barolsky, Research Specialist at the Democracy, Governance and Service Delivery Programme at the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa
  • Development and Validation of the Violence-Propensity Scorecard for Youth Violence-Reduction Interventions (Download the presentation)
    Ian Edelstein, Independent Researcher & PhD candidate, Dept. of Sociology, University of Cape Town
  • Representing violence: theory in the practice of violent crime prevention (Download the presentation)
    Prof Anthony Collins, School of Media, Language and Communication at the Durban University of Technology
  • Understanding the numbers – the first step to preventing violence against women and children (Download the presentation)
    Carol Bower, LINALI Consulting

Towards accountable policing (part 1) 

  • Identification and rectification of major inadequacies in the SAPS: Have mechanisms such as commissions of inquiry and related reviews been successful? (Download the presentation)
    Dr Johan Burger, Senior Researcher, Governance, Crime and Justice Division, Institute for Security Studies
  • Toward the rational allocation of policing resources (Download the presentation)
    Jean Redpath, researcher at the Dullah Omar Institute, University of the Western Cape
  • The role of the National Statistics Office in the quality assessment of crime administrative data in South Africa (Download the presentation)
    Joseph Lukhwareni, Manager of Crime and Safety Components within Statistics South Africa

Understanding and responding to corruption

  • ‘Smoke & Mirrors’: ‘Anti-corruption’, Rule of law and the politics of elite contestation for state domination and hegemon in Zimbabwe (Download the presentation)
    Mr. Tamuka C Chirimambowa, Executive Secretary of the Institute for Public Affairs in Zimbabwe, D.Litt. et Phil in Development Studies Fellow University of Johannesburg
  • Malawi’s Cashgate scandal: Response and lessons (Download the presentation)
    Adv Pacharo Kayira, Chief State Advocate in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs
  • An appraisal of the law on asset declarations for public officials in Malawi (Download the presentation)
    Adv Jean Phillipo, Senior State Advocate within the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs in Malawi

Towards accountable policing (part 2)

  • Personal identity, performance and deceit in the South African Police Service (Download the presentation)
    Dr Andrew Faull, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Centre of Criminology, University of Cape Town
  • The Marikana decision: 7 questions and their answers (Download the presentation)
    David Bruce, Independent researcher
  • Out of the wilderness: Firearms and police frontierism in South Africa (Download the presentation)
    Guy Lamb, Director of the Safety and Violence Initiative at the University of Cape Town
  • Gendering police accountability structures: The case of South Africa’s Domestic Violence Act (Download the presentation)
    Lisa Vetten, Honorary research associate of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research

Comparative perspectives on crime and justice

  • How do South African households view the courts and police? Findings from a victimisation survey (Download the presentation)
    Joseph Lukhwareni, Manager of Crime and Safety components within Statistics South Africa
  • Drug enforcement and incarceration of minorities: A comparison between France, South Africa and the United States (Download the presentation)
    Lucile Pouthier, PhD candidate in Area Studies at the Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée
  • Appointing the national director of public prosecutions: A rethink required (Download the presentation)
    Adv Johan Kruger, Director: Centre for Constitutional Rights

Understanding and responding to crime and violence

  • Managing crime and political violence through post-conflict peace-building in South Sudan (Download the presentation)
    Joel Obengo, Administrator at Kenyatta University, Kenya and Independent researcher
  • The militarisation of crime and violence prevention in Nigeria: Causes and consequences (Download the presentation)
    Dr Chris M A Kwaja, Lecturer and researcher at the Centre for Conflict Management and Peace Studies, University of Jos, Nigeria
  • Risky localities: Exploring a methodology for comparing socio-economic characteristics of high murder areas (Download the presentation)
    Lizette Lancaster, Manager: Crime and Justice Information Hub, Institute for Security Studies & Ellen Kamman, independent consultant and data analyst 

Alternative approaches to conventional justice

  • Prosecuting & defending African customary values in the context of SA criminal values: Can culture serve as a defence? (Download the presentation)
    Dr Jacques Matthee, Advocate of the High Court of South Africa and attached to the North West University
  • Minimum Sentencing: A failed experiment? (Download the presentation)
    Adv Michael Miller, Advocate of the High Court of South Africa and Senior Legal Researcher of Legal Aid South Africa

Responses to crime & violence

  • An organisational response to the murder of police officials in the Western Cape province, South Africa (2002 - 2014) (Download the presentation)
    Grainne Perkins, University of Cape Town
  • In their boots: Staff perspectives on violence behind bars in Johannesburg (Download the presentation)
    Sasha Gear, Just Detention International-South Africa
  • Challenges of truth telling among male victims in situations of conflict: The case of Mt Elgon, Kenya (Download the presentation)
    Dr CA Mumma Martinon, Lecturer at the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Nairobi

Media coverage of this event:

Independent Online

Development partners
This conference was made possible through funding provided by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Government of Sweden. The ISS is also grateful for support from the following members of the ISS Partnership Forum: Governments of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the USA.
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