Spotlight: South Africa’s complete source of crime data and analysis

ISS’ Crime Hub brings the public current crime statistics, interactive maps and policy analysis.

Published on 02 March 2017 in Impact

Violent crime has long been one of South Africa’s major challenges. Over the past four years, murder and robbery have increased steadily, which means that current crime solutions are not working.

‘The first step when dealing with any complex problem is gathering and analysing the data,’ says Gareth Newham, head of the Crime and Justice Programme at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). ‘That is certainly true for crime and the ISS is South Africa’s leading source for analysing crime trends and what they mean for policy.’

The ISS Crime Hub provides the public with current statistics on crime, policing, courts and prisons. The Hub empowers communities, business and civil society leaders to tackle crime affecting their constituencies. The data is also useful for government departments other than the police that have a role in preventing violence, like local government and social welfare.

ISS is South Africa’s leading source for analysing crime

‘The new and improved ISS Crime Hub makes finding and analysing crime and violence statistics much easier,’ says Lizette Lancaster, manager of the Crime Hub. ‘Our web-based platform features interactive maps and graphs for 30 types of crime in all areas of the country. It’s South Africa's most complete source for statistics and analysis on crime and safety.’

First launched in 2010 with funding from the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the Crime Hub aims to improve policy responses to crime and violence, and give all those affected by crime access to information that can help them take appropriate action.

The Crime Hub also provides data on 30 categories of public violence that occur, for example, during protests, strikes and in the lead up to elections. A crime statistics wizard enables users to easily create graphic reports that compare various crime categories across policing precincts. Data is available about the budgets, resources and performance of the police, courts and prisons in South Africa. Analysis is made available via fact sheets, infographics and videos.

For more information contact: 

Lizette Lancaster, ISS: +27 83 321 2060, [email protected]