South African Crime Quarterly 26

Individual articles are hosted on the Academy of Science of South Africa's Open Access Journals system. To access individual articles for this edition, click here

2008 was a year of dramatic changes in South Africa. We saw the ousting of a President; the closure of the Scorpions; a major split in the ruling party; the establishment of a new political party comprising several former ANC heavyweights; a serious crisis in the judiciary brought about by allegations that a senior judge attempted to interfere in a decision of the Constitutional Court; and thousands of job losses on the back of the collapse of the world economy, all while we watched with horror as South Africans demonstrated how quickly we can descend into violent conflict over resources. In this case, the violence was targeted at foreigners.

In this, the final edition of 2008, we reflect on a number of key issues, Lukas Muntingh examines the realities faced in South African prisons and their effectiveness,Prince Mashele delves into the `shoot to kill` debate, while Patrick Burton looks into the violence in South African schools and the specific impacts on children, their families, and society more generally.

SA Crime Quarterly editor, Chandre Gould assesses the impact of social crime prevention projects examining a social development initiative aimed at preventing and reducing crime in a rural area in the Western Cape, and finally the value of restorative justice to the reintegration of offenders is argued by Mike Batley from the Restorative Justice Centre.