Crime prevention and morality, the campaign for moral regeneration in South Africa

This monograph traces the origins and development of the moral regeneration initiative in South Africa.

Politicians, religious leaders and social commentators have all spoken about a breakdown in morality in South Africa, with crime as the most commonly cited evidence. The moral regeneration initiative is one response to this crisis, emerging in parallel to countless other initiatives aimed at reducing crime, some of which have themselves contained explicit appeals to morals, values or ethics. This monograph traces the origins and development of the moral regeneration initiative in South Africa, and illustrates that the initiative has suffered from a lack of clarity about both its mission and its strategy. The movement’s attempts to build meaningful civil society participation in the campaign have also been a key challenge. The monograph also considers whether a largely ideological campaign of this type will deliver any meaningful results in terms of strengthening social fabric and reducing crime.

About the author

Janine Rauch holds degrees in Criminology from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and Cambridge University, England. She has researched and published extensively on police reform and crime prevention in South Africa. In the early 1990s she worked at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Johannesburg, facilitating relationshipbuilding partnerships between police and communities in various parts of the country, and conducted groundbreaking research on police training.