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Book chapter | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | South Africa: crime in transition |
Author: | Shaw, Mark |
Book title: | Violence in Southern Africa |
Year: | 1997 |
Pages: | 156-175 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | criminal law offences |
Abstract: | Ending crime has become the leading challenge of South Africa's democratic government. While the growth of criminality in South African society began in the early 1980s it peaked - in common with other societies attempting to move from authoritarian rule to democratic governance - during the years of political transition. South Africa's system of criminal justice is ill-prepared to face the challenges of growing crime. Policing remains centralized and unresponsive to local needs, as well as requiring the upgrading of detection services. Urgent reform is also required in the areas of prosecution, sentencing and incarceration. The recently released National Crime Prevention Strategy, the key response of the new government to growing levels of crime, while an important initiative, remains too centralized and reliant on Pretoria-led rather than local initiatives. On the ground, citizens are responding in their own way: for the wealthy (and generally white) this means greater use of the burgeoning private security industry; for less fortunate communities it increasingly raises the possibility of taking the law into community hands through vigilante action. Notes, ref., sum. |