ISS Seminar Pretoria: Diminishing returns? The cost of criminal justice in South Africa

Date: 2011-05-05

Venue: , ISS Conference Room , Block C, Brooklyn Court , 361 Veale Street , New Muckleneuk , (Parking in Brooklyn Mall and ABSA court)

RSVP:
Milicent Mlaba
Tel: (012) 346 9500
Fax: (012) 460 0997/ 086 508 1660
Milicent Mlaba

Presented by the Crime and Justice Programme, Pretoria

Over the past decade there have been mixed trends in relation to crime. Some crime categories such as murder have decreased while others such as residential robberies have increased substantially. Nevertheless, there has been consistent an considerable increases in spending on the criminal justice system in South Africa.

This year government will spend a total of R86.18 billion on the criminal justice system – an increase of 213% since 2001/02. In contrast, it will spend R13.8 billion educating learners from Grade R to Grade 12. Some argue that improving education should be more of a priority if we are to reduce crime in South Africa.

This seminar will analyse spending patterns in the criminal justice system and the crime trends and debate whether increases in spending on the criminal justice system are yielding a sufficient return on investment in terms of increasing public safety.

SPEAKERS: 

Honourable Vincent Smith, Chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services

Dr. Chandre Gould, Senior Researcher, Institute for Security Studies

Mr. Kerwin Lebone, Researcher at the South African Institute of Race Relations

Mr. Gareth Newham, Head of the Crime and Justice Programme, Institute for Security Studies.

 
This seminar is made possible by funding from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.