What About the Victims?

It is almost three years since the launch of the National Crime Prevention Strategy in May 1996, a document which heralded a paradigm shift for South African criminal justice policy by recognising victims of crime as important, if not central, role players to the criminal justice process. What has happened since then to ensure that victims’ rights are being realised?

Since 1996 there have been a number of initiatives building on the Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) outlined in the NCPS. The most important initiatives include:

The establishment of a national victim empowerment management team (led by the Department of Welfare) and a reference group, which includes non-governmental organisations, to compile national policies on victim empowerment and a business plan.



The establishment of representative provincial forums on victim empowerment.



The first National Victimisation Survey which established the nature, extent and impact of crime on ordinary South Africans.



The national conference on victim empowerment held in Kimberley in June 1998, bringing together various sectoral and provincial role-players. It was here that a national slogan: "Together, empowering victims" and a logo were agreed upon.



The publication of a "Special Report on Victim Empowerment in South Africa" which captures the proceedings of the Kimberley conference as well as the United Nations Guide for Policymakers.



The appointment in late 1998 of three victim experts to the Sentencing Project Committee of the South African Law Commission to address the way in which the rights of crime victims can be institutionalised in the criminal justice system through possible legislative reform.

While these are important steps from a policy and legislative perspective, actual improved service delivery on the ground is what is urgently needed to address the cynicism many South Africans feel towards a justice system which appears to disregard both the needs and rights of victims, and appears "criminal" in its orientation. In this regard, the pilot projects on victim empowerment which Business Against Crime and the Gauteng victim empowerment forum are conducting in Rosebank and Alexandra deserve special attention. While the Rosebank initiative offers sustained and valued support to victims, the Alexandra initiative is still a long way from functional. The project has informed the development of guidelines for the establishment of community-based victim support, with the intention of promoting minimum standards and norms of service delivery.

Internationally there is growing consensus around the rights of crime victims which include:

The right to be treated with respect and dignity

The right to offer information

The right to receive information

The right to legal advice

The right to protection

The right to restitution

The right compensation

In order to institutionalise the way in which victims of crime are treated by the criminal justice system, the focus group on victims within the Law Commission’s project committee on sentencing has placed these rights as central to their investigation. Areas identified in the VEP business plan such as a victims charter, a victim compensation fund and other issues such as victim impact statements will receive priority attention from the group which has committed itself to a consultative process around these crucial issues. A discussion paper including draft legislation on ways to improve the way in which victims of crime are treated by the criminal justice system, is envisaged for later this year.

Lala Camerer,
Institute for Security Studies