The Role of Local Government in Crime Prevention in South Africa

Countering high levels of criminality in South Africa has become a central focus of government policy

Countering high levels of criminality in South Africa has become a central focus of government policy. Crime increased dramatically in the country from the mid-1980s, peaking in 1996, then stabilising at high levels. Increasingly, a key component of the government`s policy focus on crime control is on preventive actions, aiming to undercut the causes and costs of lawlessness.

In this context, crime prevention measures refer to those activities that are intended to reduce or prevent the occurrence of specific types of crime (or the fear thereof). This can be done either by altering the environment in which they occur, or by intervening more broadly to change the social or other conditions, which are thought to have causal significance with regard to crimes. Reducing crime also requires that much greater effort is directed towards providing support and advice for those who have already been victimised. This would not only assist the process of police investigations, but should also seek to ensure that re-victimisation does not occur.

Preventing crime demands a process of analysis to determine the cause of specific types of criminal actions (and their costs for particular groups of victims), as well as the co-ordination of the resources and skills of a range of role-players to develop and implement appropriate interventions. These requirements mean that crime prevention programmes are most likely to be effective if developed in the localities where the problem occurs, rather than at national level. It requires a targeted approach that focuses various activities towards a single crime problem. Specifically, it also suggests that local players - and in particular local government - have a key role to play.  

Author

Mark Shaw, Institute for Security Studies