South Africa

World crime capital?

Many refer to South Africa as the crime capital of the world. This has been disputed by the minister for safety and security, Steve Tshwete, and the national police commissioner, Jackie Selebi. What do the figures say? Interpol data and South African crime statistics show that South Africa’s high level of violent crime sets the country apart from other crime ridden societies.

One way of evaluating South Africa’s crime levels is to compare crime statistics of selected countries published by the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) with crime data released by the Crime Information Analysis Centre (CIAC) of the South African Police Service. This comparison is done for 1998 — the last year for which Interpol statistics are available. Levels of recorded crime in South Africa are compared with those in a number of countries in southern Africa, Latin and North America, Europe including some former communist states, and Australia.

Problematic comparisons

Comparing recorded crime rates between countries is fraught with difficulties. This is so for a number of reasons:
  • Countries have different legal and criminal justice systems. Crime definitions vary from one country to the next. For example, a serious assault in one country could be recorded as an attempted murder somewhere else. Moreover, what constitutes a recordable crime in one country might not be a criminal offence in another.
  • The likelihood of victims reporting crime, and the police recording them, is not the same in every country. Crime victims are less likely to report crime in a country with an oppressive or incompetent police force than in a country where the police is helpful and trustworthy. The distances people have to travel to the nearest police station, and the availability of transport to get there, is another factor which can affect crime reporting rates.
  • Multiple offences are not recorded uniformly in all countries. In some countries only the most serious offence reported in a single incident is recorded while in others all offences reported are recorded.
  • Differences in data quality between countries is also a factor. In developed countries recorded crimes are entered in a computerised database and channelled to a central point for analysis. In many less developed countries crime statistics are recorded on paper which can easily result in the loss of some of the statistics.
Crime statistics are only one measurement of police performance — and a limited one at that. Victim surveys are another valuable measurement and should be used in conjunction with crime statistics to make up for the shortcomings of the former. Victim surveys provide information on crimes which have not been reported to the police. It is estimated that victim surveys uncover between 60% and 70% more crime than that reported by official sources.

All crimes

Interpol provides statistics on the total number of crimes which are recorded in various countries as a ratio to their population. In Canada, for example, 8453 crimes were recorded in 1998 for 100000 of the population. According to this indicator South Africa compares favourably to many developed countries. Ranking below countries such as Canada, Australia and France, some 5065 crimes were recorded in South Africa per 100000 of the population (Figure 1). Care needs to be taken with these figures, however. It is likely that in a country such as Canada more victims report crime, and more reported crimes are recorded by the police, than in South Africa or other developing countries such as Brazil or Colombia.

Figure 1: Total number of offences recorded per 100 000 of the population, 1998



Source: Interpol 1998, CIAC 1998

Violent crime

Murder is the most suitable crime to compare between countries. There are few definitional disputes about what constitutes a murder and most murders are recorded because the evidence of the crime, in the form of the body of the victim, is rarely concealed permanently. In 1998 South Africa had the highest recorded per capita murder rate of the countries selected in the 1998 Interpol report. In 1998 there were 59 recorded murders in South Africa per 100000 of the population, followed by Colombia with 56 murders per 100000. While Nambia’s murder rate was high (45 per 100000) the murder rate in Swaziland was approximately a third of South Africa’s and Zimbabwe’s less than one-sixth (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Number of murders recorded per 100 000 of the population, 1998



Source: Interpol 1998, CIAC 1998

During 1998 South Africa also had high recorded rates of robbery and violent theft. 208 robberies and violent thefts were recorded in South Africa per 100000 of the population, followed by Swaziland and Spain (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Number of robberies and violent thefts recorded per 100 000 of the population, 1998



Source: Interpol 1998, CIAC 1998

Australia had the highest level of recorded serious assaults of the countries selected with 714 per 100000 of the population, followed by South Africa (550 per 100000). Swaziland and Namibia follow at positions four and five respectively (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Number of serious assaults recorded per 100 000 of the population, 1998



Source: Interpol 1998, CIAC 1998

The Interpol figures reveal that South Africa is plagued by high levels of violent crime. This is confirmed by CIAC crime data between 1994 and 1999 according to which one out of three crimes recorded in South Africa involves violence or the threat of violence. (See Nedbank ISS Crime Index Vol 4, No 3, pp. 1—4.) According to Interpol, Australia had high levels of recorded serious assaults in 1998, but had lower levels of robbery and violent theft and very low levels of murder. Colombia had high levels of recorded murders — possibly because of the low-intensity civil war that has been raging in that country for some time — but low levels of recorded robbery and violent theft and serious assaults. It is only in South Africa where recorded levels of all three categories of serious violent crimes were exceptionally high of the countries covered in the Interpol report.

Property and commercial crime

In terms of recorded property and commercial crime South Africa compares favourably to most developed countries but unfavourably to developing countries. In 1998 South Africa had the fourth highest (848 per 100000 of the population) ratio of burglaries after Australia, Canada and Hungary (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Number of burglaries recorded per 100 000 of the population, 1998

Source: Interpol 1998, CIAC 1998
Australia, Canada, France and Spain had higher recorded ratios of vehicle theft than South Africa (Figure 6). Similar patterns also exist for recorded fraud and general theft. A reason why the wealthier developed countries have such high levels of recorded property and commercial crime is the existence of relatively large volumes of property which can be stolen in those countries in comparison to the poorer developing countries.

Figure 6: Number of vehicle thefts recorded per 100 000 of the population, 1998


Source: Interpol 1998, CIAC 1998

The use of a per capita ratio when measuring property crimes does not give a true reflection on the extent of crime. An appropriate indication to measure property crime is to measure it in relation to the number of units of property. For example, in 1998 some of 253 cars were stolen per 100000 of the population in South Africa. In France 546 cars were stolen per 100000 of the population. What is omitted in these figures is that there are about seven times as many cars in France than in South Africa. This means that the chance of a car being stolen in South Africa is about twice as high compared to France. Measured in this way levels of recorded property crime for South Africa would tend to be higher when compared to most developed countries.

Conclusion

Based on Interpol figures South Africa has high but manageable levels of property crime but an extraordinary high level of violent crime. It is South Africa’s high level of violent crime which sets the country apart from other crime ridden societies. This finding is supported by CIAC data indicating that since 1994 recorded violent crime has been escalating at a faster rate than any other crime category. It is primarily violent crime which fuels people’s fear of crime. To lose its label as crime capital of the world, violent crime levels have to drop substantially in South Africa.

Source documents:

A Louw (1999) Who Suffers Most? The National Victim of Crime Survey, Crime & Conflict, No. 16.

B Naude (2000) To Catch a Cheat: Comparing Corruption and Fraud Victimisation Data, Crime & Conflict, No. 21.

Sibusiso Masuku
Institute for Security Studies