South Africans’ overall perceptions of the criminal justice system were largely negative, while perceptions of the prosecution service were ”surprisingly positive”, a survey by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) has found.
The survey was commissioned by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and conducted in October/November last year at two court sites in each province — one in a metropolitan centre and the other in a smaller town.
Altogether 210 people were interviewed at each site, bringing the total number of people interviewed to 3 830. Briefing the media on the results on Tuesday, the ISS’s Antoinette Louw said the survey found that 56% believed the government had not done a good job at fighting crime since 1994. Only 28% thought it had.
White South Africans were ”generally pessimistic about government performance, but supportive of police”, and black South Africans were ”generally supportive of government, but sceptical of the police”. Coloured South Africans were ”generally optimistic”.
Fifty-two percent of all respondents said they trusted the police and would willingly report crime, and 75% believed the prosecution service was doing a good or ”OK” job generally.
Asked about sentences handed down by courts, 62% said they were too lenient, 26% said they were about right, and nine percent said they were too tough.
Louw said that to prevent crime, 41% believed government should spend money on job creation, 34% said education, and only 17% said police.
Her ISS colleague, Martin Schonteich, told the briefing a separate survey conducted at the same time in which 100 people at each court site — 50% crime victims and 50% witnesses — were questioned, found that they were considerably more positive about the prosecution service’s work than the general public who had not had contact with prosecutors. About two thirds were at court in connection with violent crimes.
Altogether 87% said the prosecutor they had dealt with was willing to help them, and 86% said the prosecutor understood their concerns.
These ”court users” said they were satisfied with the prosecutor’s service, firstly because the prosecutor was helpful and treated them with respect. They were also professional. A second point for satisfaction was that the prosecutor informed them about the justice process and what to expect in court.
Respondents said prosecutors were particularly helpful and sympathetic in rape and sexual assault cases — 92%.
According to the survey, court users were most likely to be dissatisfied with the service provided by prosecutors because of frequent postponements, numerous delays in the court process, and a lack of information provided by prosecutors, Schonteich said.
About 69% of respondents said their cases were postponed up to five times before they testified, five percent said it had happened up to ten times, and one percent said ten or more.
Only 25% had no postponements.
National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka said he was ”very pleased” with the survey’s findings.
”It indicates that the initiatives we’ve taken have been the right ones, but it is (also) clear that we still have a lot of work to do,” he said. – Sapa