The rising costs of crime:

State spending on criminal justice

State spending on criminal justice has outpaced the inflation rate for several years. Since 1994 the prison service has received the greatest budget increase of all the criminal justice system departments. The police’s portion of the budget has declined. Personnel costs consume the bulk of the criminal justice system’s expenditure, leaving little money for the purchase of new equipment.

The amount of money spent on the three core components of the South African criminal justice system (justice, prisons and police) has, in real terms, increased considerably over the last ten years (Figure 1). Spending increased from R4.27bn in 1990/91 to R23.48bn in the 1999/2000 budget year — an increase of 450%. Over a similar period (1990 to 1999), the consumer price index increased by 159%.

Figure 1: Spending by the justice, prisons, and police departments, 1990/91-1999/2000

Source: Department of Finance

Prison service’s gains

The police service received the major portion of the budget allocated to the criminal justice system departments in the current financial year (Figure 3). However, within these departments, correctional services was allocated the greatest budget increase since South Africa’s democratically elected parliament passed its first budget in 1994/95. The increase in expenditure on the prison service has been more than twice that of the department for safety and security (Figure 4).

Figure 3: Expenditure on the criminal justice system, by department, 1999/2000

Source: Department of Finance

Figure 4: % Increase in budgeted expenditure by departments of the criminal justice system between 1994/95-1999/2000

Source: Department of Finance

The prison service’s slice of the total criminal justice budget has grown from 18% in 1994/95 to almost 23% in the 1999/2000 budget year. The department for safety and security’s slice of the criminal justice budget dropped from almost 71% to 65.1% over the same period. The department of justice’s share of the budget increased slightly during this time.

The growth in the department of correctional services’ budget is primarily a result of the increase in the prisoner population since 1995. The main cause for this increase has been the growth in the number of awaiting trial prisoners (Figure 5). There were 54 107 awaiting trial prisoners in South Africa’s jails at the end of June 1999. At R80 per prisoner per day, the current awaiting trial population is costing the state R1.58bn a year.

Figure 5: Increase in prisoner numbers, 1995-1999

Source: Department of Correctional Services

Personnel expenditure

All three criminal justice departments allocate the majority of their budgets to personnel costs. At the bottom of the scale, the department of justice spent just over 60% of its 1998/99 budget on personnel expenditure. Correctional services by comparison spent R3.5bn, or 66.8% of its budget on personnel costs. At 78% of its budget, the department for safety and security spends more than any other criminal justice department on personnel (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Personnel expenditure as a proportion of the total budgets for the 1998/99 budget year

Source: 1998/99 Budget Review & Department of Finance

High personnel costs negatively affect the police service’s ability to replace old equipment such as vehicles, computers, and police radios. The department of public works finances the upgrading and building of new police stations. During the 1998/99 budget year a mere R129.5m was allocated for this purpose. (This amount is equivalent to 0.9% of the police’s budget.)

Cost saving measures

A cost saving initiative has been implemented in the South African Police Service (SAPS) to achieve a better balance between personnel and other costs.

The initiative seeks to decrease the number of SAPS employees from 130000 to 120000 over the next five years; reduce absenteeism in the police service; release administrative staff into operational and basic policing duties; and, replace trained police officials in administrative positions by civilians. (Some 25000 police officers are presently deployed in an administrative capacity.)

South Africa is a developing country with numerous socio-economic problems. It cannot afford to spend increasing portions of its budget on the criminal justice system while hospitals, schools, and roads need to be built. Innovative cost-cutting measures are required whereby the state can effectively fight crime at less expense to the taxpayer. For example:

Increase co-operation between the SAPS and the private security industry.



Meditate and arbitrate for minor criminal offences.



Expand the system of prison labour whereby prisoners can learn new trades and generate income for themselves and the upkeep of the prison in which they are incarcerated.



Decriminalise certain victimless crimes. For example, the possession of cannabis (dagga) below a certain weight, or prostitution where consenting adults are involved. This would allow the police to focus its limited resources on serious priority crimes.



Focus on core functions. During 1998/99 the department of justice spent R108.7m on, inter alia, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Human Rights Commission and the Commission on Gender Equality. The police band, moreover, costs some R15m a year. Spending on these activities undermines the criminal justice system’s ability to effectively perform its core services.

Martin Schönteich,
Institute for Security Studies