In the history of human folly, the purple haze of embarrassment must surely flush over us as we consider the crimes that have been committed against our fellow human beings in the name of what was presented as a noble cause at the time: the civilising mission of colonialism and the extermination of native populations; the internment and killing of communists or dissidents for democracy during the Cold War; the “war on terror” and the abduction and killing of Muslims.
In South Africa, if we are not too careful, the “war on crime” may take on a similar character. The current hysteria around crime runs the risk of quickly turning the criminal into one of those figures whose treatment we may well look upon, in hindsight, with embarrassment.
The discussion on crime, particularly violent crime, while based on very real concerns, is conducted almost entirely within the language of punishment and retribution. This leads us to see victims and perpetrators in very narrow terms. And it leads us to understand the problem and see its solution only in legal terms, to the exclusion of socio-economic, historical and psychological factors. Far too many of us are personally familiar with crime; far too many of us have been victims or know someone who was robbed, raped or murdered.
Horrible as these events are, and understandable as the desire to seek retribution may be, we need to muster the will to step back from this desire — if only to hold on to our humanity. While more police, more prisons, more courts and better prosecutors might make us feel safer in the short term, is this the kind of society we want to live in? Have prisons completely alleviated problems of crime? There are many studies that suggest the opposite, and we might want to look at them again.
We don’t need more prisons as much as we need to think about what we do to people in prisons. Are our reform programmes adequate? How do we reduce overcrowding? How do we develop different ways of holding people to account for their wrongs, other than through incarceration, bearing in mind that we want them to return to society to play a constructive role? And how do we reduce poverty and inequality, transforming a fractured society into a socially cohesive one?
This approach requires less emphasis on punishment and a more holistic understanding of both crime and violence. To understand why people do bad things does not justify what they have done; they must be held accountable. We must, however, be held accountable for what we do, don’t do and have done in the past. Let’s resist the temptation to let fear get the better of us and, in a fit of despair, implore the government to use its licence to kill and punish more often. Because when the only tool you have is a hammer, doesn’t every problem become a nail? — Suren Pillay, senior lecturer in political studies at the University of the Western Cape and senior research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council