South African Crime Quarterly 18

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

Despite growing fears of a new ‘crime wave’, the public have access to official crime statistics only up to March 2006. The Minister of Safety and Security assured us that next year the statistics will be released soon after the end of the financial year. This, together with a much clearer strategy and commitment from government as a whole for dealing with crime, may help to assuage public anxiety. Antoinette Louw puts the statistics in context.

Robert Mattes looks at the public perceptions of crime, corruption and government with Idasa and Afrobarometer public opinion surveys conducted since 1994 reveal that levels of reported experiences with crime are unchanged over the past four years, but that public perceptions of overall safety and the performance of the police are actually improving.

Mattes adds more value to this edition of SA Crime Quarterly by detailing Afrobarometer’s regular surveys of public attitudes toward governance, democracy and economics in 18 African countries. Showing that experiences of crime and concerns over safety in South Africa are indeed quite prevalent, but are by no means exceptional.

Rape is one of the most underreported crimes worldwide, not least because of the trauma facing complainants once the case goes to trial. The case of S v Zuma was a clear illustration of this problem. The court’s decision to allow Zuma’s lawyers to cross-examine the complainant about her sexual history (governed by section 227 of the Criminal Procedure Act) has far-reaching implications, Jake Moloi explains.

Bilkis Omar closes SACQ 18 by discussing the impact of SAPS restructuring on public order policing.