Assessing the Crime Fighters - the Ability of the Criminal Justice System to Solve and Prosecute Crime
This paper looks at a number of the criminal justice system’s performance indicators to identify its crucial weaknesses.
The South African criminal justice system is in a state of crisis. The awaiting trial population is at an historic high. The prosecution service is taking fewer cases to trial than at any time since 1949. Some serious violent crimes are solved so rarely that the perpetrators of these crimes have less than a one in fifty chance of being caught and punished.
This paper looks at a number of the criminal justice system’s performance indicators to identify its crucial weaknesses. Most of the analysis will be devoted to the last three years (1996-98) for which comprehensive statistics are available for the whole country. However, a brief overview of selected historical trends is given as these provide valuable insight into some of the current weaknesses of the criminal justice system.
In South Africa, the police and the prosecution service are two distinct and separate institutions. Yet, they must rely on each other if they are to succeed in their fight against crime. A perfectly investigated crime will not lead to a conviction if its prosecution is flawed. Equally, a flawless prosecution will lead to an acquittal of the accused if the police has not uncovered sufficient evidence to allow the prosecution to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. In essence, one weak link in the criminal justice process is all that is required for it to fail.
There are a number of weak links in South Africa’s criminal justice system:
- Too many cases are withdrawn before they go to trial because of crime victims’ lack of understanding of and faith in the criminal justice process, and inordinate delays in the country’s criminal courts.
- Too many cases go undetected because of the public’s general unwillingness to assist the police in its investigations, and to testify for the prosecution in criminal trials. Moreover, many cases go undetected because of the police’s weak criminal investigation capabilities, especially in respect of forensic investigations.
- Too few cases are being taken on by the prosecution service because of a lack of experienced and adequately trained prosecutors.
Author
Martin Schönteich, Crime and Justice Programme, Institute for Security Studies
