Editorial
Crime in South Africa is beginning to show a glimmer of improvement. The number of murders, for example, has decreased by more than a quarter since 1994, and the murder rate by almost a third. Nevertheless, crime rates generally remain high, and South Africans continue to feel unsafe. In this issue, bythepeople contributors look at innovations for dealing with crime, and also suggest some innovations that haven’t yet been explored in South Africa.
Helen Alexander explores the pros and cons of various community safety initiatives - particularly those that are affordable, and gives advice on how to initiate one. She also considers the highly controversial issue of gated neighbourhoods.
An innovation which relies on ordinary people and cell-phone technology - some 18 million South Africans have cell phones - is eBlockWatch, an initiative driven by a private individual. eBlockWatch uses ordinary people to record crimes they have witnessed and quickly, easily and safely relay that information to the police.
Crime incidents which involve tourists damage tourism. ‘Travel Buddies‘ relies on the technology developed for eBlockWatch to involve volunteers in helping to ensure our tourists have the information which might help to keep them safe. Julia Frielinghaus looks into how Travel Buddies and eBlockWatch work, and how you can get involved.
There are few disincentives to committing a crime in South Africa: the most important being that criminals are unlikely to get caught, and even if caught, unlikely to be convicted. We have a very low conviction rate (convictions per reported serious crimes). Many crimes are simply never investigated, or even if investigated, not prosecuted by the state. Martin Schoenteich considers the possibilities for private prosecutions in South Africa.
Although we already have state-run multi-purpose community centres in South Africa, these have tended not to involve entities like courts or police stations. Making courts an integral part of privately run or managed community centres has the potential to fund state prosecutions and raise the number of successful prosecutions. Martin Schoenteich explores how this could be achieved.
One oft-neglected factor entrenching the cycle of crime is our prison system. Between 10 000 and 20 000 prisoners are released every month from South African prisons. Many were originally imprisoned for less serious offences but leave prison likely to commit more serious crimes. Jean Redpath explores how paradoxically, correctional reform involving private and community players has the potential to reduce the cycle of crime.
Finally, take a break from serious contemplation with Sam Wilson’s Lipstick-toting anarchist’s guide to safety and security’ - because one important way of ‘dealing with crime’ is not to allow it to overtake our lives completely.