/ 30 June 2008

Crime stats: Murder rate dips

SA's murder rate has decreased in the past year with 38,6 out of every 100 000 people murdered in the period, compared with 40,5 last year.

SA’s murder rate has decreased in the past year with 38,6 out of every 100 000 people murdered in the period, compared with 40,5 last year.

Police statistics for the period between April 2007 and March 2008 showed that 18 487 cases of murder were reported to police — the lowest figure since the turn of the century. This contrasts with the 21 533 murder cases reported to police in 2002/2003.

Attempted murder was down by 7,5% with 18 795 cases being reported — a crime ratio of 39,3 incidents per 100 000 of the population — down from 42,5 incidents in 2006/2007.

During the nine months ending in December, 36 190 rapes were recorded, or 75,6 cases per 100 000 of the population.

Indecent assault was slightly down to 6 763 cases reported, compared with 6 812 cases in the previous year.

In 2007/2008, 439,1 people out of 100 000 were assaulted with the intention to do grievous bodily harm — which translated into 210 104 cases reported to police.

Common assault was down to 198 049 cases reported, or 413,9 per 100 000 of the population. This showed a decrease of 6,6% compared with the previous year’s figures of 210 057.

Common robbery had a 9,5% decline, the biggest decrease in contact crimes, with 64 985 cases reported or 135,8 incidents out of 100 000 people.

Robbery with aggravating circumstance was down from 126 558 reported cases in 2006/2007 to 118 312 cases in 2007/2008.

Questions
The Democratic Alliance asked how many South Africans were bothering to report crimes to the police.

The DA said in a statement that there was no indication of how many reported crimes had led to arrests, court appearances and convictions.

‘All the current stats tell us is how many people have reported crimes, which excludes all the disillusioned people who no longer do so,” said the statement.

The party said that according to available figures, as many as 51% of victims don’t report serious crimes such as robbery and only 49% feel that the police are doing a good job.

‘Furthermore, the police cannot continue to hide behind the high number of victims and perpetrators who know each other as a crime trend. If the victims know their perpetrators, why such a low rate of arrest? For the 2006/07 period, less than 40% of contact crime cases made it to a first court appearance.”

It said in order for the crime statistics to mean anything, they must be integrated with arrest and conviction statistics.

Amanda Dissel, programme manager of the criminal justice programme at the Centre for the Study Violence and Reconciliation, said: ”It’s difficult to say exactly whether the statistics are accurate or not in regards to attempted murder. It depends how the police categorise it. But I have not seen the statistics as yet, so it’s difficult to say.”

Crime victims poorly informed
Meanwhile, North West Premier Edna Bomo Molewa said in Mafikeng on Monday that crime victims need to know their rights.

”Victims of crime in our country are poorly informed about their empowerment,” said Molewa at the launch of the provincial implementation plan for a charter of victims’ rights.

”Not knowing about your rights is tantamount to not having those rights at all.”

She said victims had several rights — including being treated with respect and fairness, having people being sensitive to their dignity and privacy, and offering and ensuring they received the necessary information.

Victims also had the right to be protected, assisted, compensated and obtain restitution.

Molewa said victims often felt lonely because they believed the criminal justice system cared more for criminals than the victims.

She said the media was somewhat to blame because it ”sensationalised prison life as a luxury”.

”It often mischievously reports on criminals having access to television sets and other facilities and amenities, thus creating the impression that being a prisoner is fun.”

The media needed to be ”apprised of the rehabilitative and restorative basis of our management of incarcerated criminals”, she said.

Molewa said the objective of the victims’ charter was to ensure crime victims were sheltered from further trauma and not subjected to humiliation through the ill-handling of their cases. – Sapa