While South Africa still has one of the highest crime rates in the world, the past three years has seen a significant reduction in crime, according to a South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) report.
”The number of serious crimes reported to the South African Police Service declined by almost 18% between 2002/03 and 2005/06 according to the report,” read a SAIRR statement released on Tuesday.
”This followed an increase of over 30% between 1994 and 2003.”
Aggravated robberies, which had increased by 58% between 1994/95 and 2003/04, had peaked in 2004 before declining by 10 p% in the past two years.
Kerwin Lebone, author of the report, pointed out that there had been a 10% decline in the number of serious crimes committed since 1994.
The murder rate, which peaked in 1995/96, had subsequently declined by 42%, according to the SAIRR.
”The rate of aggravated robbery had declined from a peak of 288,1 per 100 000 people in 2003/04 to 255,3 in 2005/06, an 11% decrease,” the statement read.
However, the murder rate in South Africa was 13 times higher than in the United States and 51 times higher than that of Britain. — Sapa