scholarly journals WHY LAW ENFORCEMENT IS NOT ENOUGH: Lessons from the Central Karoo on breaking the cycle of crime and violence

Author(s):  
Barbara Holtmann

A 2003 initiative to develop a crime prevention strategy for the Central Karoo District Municipality helped formulate the ‘life cycle’ that perpetuates crime and violence, which is discussed in this article. Children’s developmental needs are obvious and logical if we are to raise young people with good self esteem, who are capable and prepared to contribute to society in a constructive manner. Yet in the Central Karoo (and many other communities) our children’s needs are being ignored. As a result, children learn to fend for themselves and some quickly tip over from being vulnerable victims to becoming young offenders. This article shows that as long as we ignore children’s needs, we can never build a criminal justice system that will adequately address crime and violence in South Africa. It demonstrates why safety is an issue for society as a whole and not just for the police, courts and prisons.

Author(s):  
Antony Altbeker

After 1994, South Africa committed itself to a vision of criminal justice that placed the prevention of crime at the centre of the strategic vision of the criminal justice system. The roots of this decision lie in the politics, organisational dynamics and intellectual climate of criminology in the mid-1990s. The model has, however, proved disappointing. Worse, by distracting government from the challenge of building a criminal justice system that identifies and incarcerates more violent criminals, it may actually have helped to foster the high levels of crime from which South Africa suffers.


Author(s):  
J Sloth-Nielsen ◽  
J Gallinetti

In the midst of concerns about serious offences committed by young people, the Child Justice Act is the first formal legislative step to introduce restorative justice in South Africa, and promotes reconciliation and problem solving as an approach to the criminal behaviour of youth.This article analyses the new place of restorative justice and ubuntu in the Act through an analysis of the Preamble, Objects and General Principles sections of the Act as well as the chapters on diversion and sentencing. It notes that there is a clear and consistent framework for restorative justice and ubuntu in the Act that accords with the Constitutional Court’s understanding of both concepts.In addition, the article also enquires if the inclusion of these concepts has created a criminal justice system for children that does not hold them properly accountable for their actions. The question as to whether or not the Act has created a "just say sorry" regime is answered in the negative by way of reference to the numerous checks and balances included in the Act by the legislature.In this context it is contended that the inclusion of ubuntu-related ideologies remains relevant to the development of indigenous and locally constructed images of Africanised forms of justice, but that the true test of how it is integrated into the criminal justice system lies in the manner in which criminal justice role-players engage with ubuntu and how its implementation is effected. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamil Mujuzi

South African law provides for circumstances in which victims of crime may participate in the criminal justice system at the investigation, prosecution (trial), sentencing and parole stages. In South Africa, a prison inmate has no right to parole although the courts have held that they have a right to be considered for parole. In some cases, the victims of crime have a right to make submissions to the Parole Board about whether the offender should be released on parole. Section 299A of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 provides for the right of victims of crime to participate in parole proceedings. The purpose of this article is to discuss section 299A and illustrate ways in which victims of crime participate in the parole process. The author also recommends ways in which victims’ rights in section 299A of the Criminal Procedure Act could be strengthened.


Author(s):  
Leanne Dowse ◽  
Therese M. Cumming ◽  
Iva Strnadová ◽  
Jung-Sook Lee ◽  
Julian Trofimovs

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marelize Isabel Schoeman

This article explores the concept of criminal justice as a formal process in which parties are judged and often adjudged from the paradigmatic perspective of legal guilt versus legal innocence. While this function of a criminal-justice system is important – and indeed necessary – in any ordered society, a society in transition such as South Africa must question the underlying basis of justice. This self-reflection must include an overview questioning whether the criminal-justice system and its rules are serving the community as originally intended or have become a self-serving function of state in which the final pursuit is outcome-driven as opposed to process-driven. The process of reflection must invariably find its genesis in the question: ‘What is justice?’ While this rhetorical phraseology has become trite through overuse, the author submits that the question remains of prime importance when considered contemporarily but viewed through the lens of historical discourse in African philosophy. In essence, the question remains unanswered. Momentum is added to this debate by the recent movement towards a more human rights and restorative approach to justice as well as the increased recognition of traditional legal approaches to criminal justice. This discussion is wide and in order to delimit its scope the author relies on a Socratically influenced method of knowledge-mining to determine the philosophical principles underpinning the justice versus social justice discourse. It is proposed that lessons learned from African philosophies about justice and social justice can be integrated into modern-day justice systems and contribute to an ordered yet socially oriented approach to justice itself.


2009 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 418
Author(s):  
Eva Achjani Zulfa

AbstrakHandling problems through brat children and children who have problems with the law have occurred again when some kids sticking a gamble being arrested at near Soekarno Hatta Airport areas then processed into the judicial process. Diversion is a form of change the process by which a program can only take place on hold pre-adjudication in the criminal justice system. Forms of transfer or diversion of this case are indeed associated with the authority possessed discretion of law enforcement officers. Giddiness has appeared in the process of implementation of diversion by law enforcement officials, the search for forms of application of the criminal case handlingchild has become a growing discourse management. Policy taken toward the institution of criminal diversion not only becomes demand for law enforcement officers, but also must be institutionalized through plain legal mechanisms. It becomes author's concern to create more certain procedures to brighten solve on deviant children in this way


Author(s):  
I Dewa Gede Dana Sugama

This study discusses about Inadequacy Corruption Eradication Commission In Issuing Warrant Termination of Investigation In Corruption Case. The Commission is authorized to issue a warrant termination of the investigation and to determine the actions taken when the Commission which investigated corruption Commission was not enough evidence. The conclusion of this study is, first Corruption Eradication Commission is authorized to issue an Order for Termination of Investigation in accordance with Article 40 of Law No. 30 Year 2002 about Corruption Eradication Commission, consideration of the logic of juridical is that the Commission is not a core law enforcement within the criminal justice system and just as independent institutions that can be dismissed if there is no corruption in our country. The arrangement of Article 40 of Law No. 30 of 2002 is prudential or attitude of prudence principle for the Commission to work accurately, efficiently and professionally


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Gerard ◽  
Andrew McGrath ◽  
Emma Colvin ◽  
Kath McFarlane

Evidence from both Australian and international jurisdictions show that children in residential care are over-represented in the criminal justice system. In the current study, we interviewed 46 professionals who had contact with young people in residential care settings in New South Wales, Australia. Our sample included police officers, residential care service providers, legal aid lawyers and juvenile justice workers, about their perceptions of the link between residential care and contact with the criminal justice system. Factors identified by the participants included the care environment itself, use of police as a behavioural management tool, deficient staff training and inadequate policies and funding to address the over-representation. These factors, combined with the legacy of Australia’s colonial past, were a particularly potent source of criminalisation for Aboriginal children in care.


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