Chapter 4

THE INVOLVEMENT OF VICTIMS AND OFFENDERS IN CRIME

Information on the involvement of victims and offenders in a crime incident provides valuable insight into the dynamics of the role of a firearm in a crime, the outcome of the crime and possible policy lessons on how the impact of the crime could be minimised or avoided.

It was found that, in some cases, victims and offenders knew one another prior to the crime. For example, it was found that 26.3% of the people involved in murder incidents and 22.2% of those involved in assault cases knew one another.

In some firearm-related cases, the offender was not armed before or during the crime, for example, in theft of a firearm, home burglaries and the negligent loss of a firearm.

In this section, the demographic profiles of victims and offenders involved in the various firearm-related incidents are described. For example, in those cases where the offender is unknown to the victim before the crime is committed, there is often partial information on the offender. In such an instance, the victim identifies only those aspects of the offender that he or she recalls visually.

Similarly, in the section on the weapon involved in the crime, information on the weapon of both the victim and the offender was not always available, not only because of human error on the part of the police officer completing the docket, but also because of the incomplete available offender profile. Within these statistical limitations, the data is presented as it was gathered from the police dockets and analysis is undertaken within these parameters.

The number of people involved in an incident

The number of people involved in an incident has a direct bearing on the outcome. For example, if the offenders outnumber the victim(s), the victim would more easily be overpowered. Or, if the offender is armed, the victim may be less inclined to try and escape from the situation.

In table 16, the number of people involved in each crime is provided. It shows the ratio of victims to offenders, the number of offenders per case, the numbers of victims per case, the number of other people per case, and finally, the average number of people involved in a case. What this clearly demonstrates, is that in different crime types the number of victims and offenders vary. For example, it was found that, for each victim involved in an armed robbery, there were 1.7 offenders on average.

Incidents of robbery usually involved a higher proportion of offenders than other crime categories. The following crimes were normally committed by a single offender: the negligent loss of a firearm; the possession or use of a firearm under the influence of alcohol; assault; murder; and the pointing of a firearm.

Table 16: Number of people involved in incident
	Armed Robbery	Com- mon robbery	Hi- jacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Pointing a firearm	Theft of firearm	Dis- charging firearm in built-ip place	Pos- session of illegal firearm	Assault	Negligent loss of firearm	Pos- session /use of firearm under influence of alcohol
Offenders (n)	455	179	190	71	101	107	3312	26	29	19	6	6
Victims (n)	267	101	89	73	103	99	60	29	6	19	13	4
Other people (n)	2	3	0	4	3	4	0	4	7	1	0	1
Total people involved	724	283	279	148	207	210	9313	59	42	39	19	11
Cases (n)	223	87	80	57	93	92	63	32	17	18	6	7
Ratio victims: offenders	1.7	1.77	2.13	0.97	0.98	1.08	-	0.9	4.83	1	0.46	1.5
Offenders /case (ave)	2.04	2.06	2.38	1.25	1.09	1.16	-	0.81	1.71	1.06	1	0.86
Victims/case (ave)	1.2	1.16	1.11	1.28	1.11	1.08	-	0.91	0.35	1.06	2.1	0.57
Other people/case (ave)	0.01	0.03	0	0.07	0.03	0.04	-	0.13	0.41	0.06	0	0.14
People/case (ave)	3.25	3.25	3.49	2.6	2.23	2.28	-	1.84	2.47	2.17	3.16	1.57

Of the robbery incidents considered, 223 were armed robberies, 87 common robberies and 80 hijackings. There were more offenders for every one victim in the hijacking incidents (2.13 offenders for every 1 victim), than in common robbery (1.77) and armed robbery (1.7) incidents. Unlike the robbery incidents, in which the offenders usually outnumbered the victims, the ratio was even in murder incidents. In the 57 murder and 93 attempted murder incidents, there was usually one offender for every one victim.

Relationship between victim and offender

The relationship between the victim and the offender provides valuable insight into the nature of the crime and the role of the firearm employed in the crime. The fact that crime sometimes occurred among people who are acquainted with or know one another is significant. A crime involving a victim and an offender who know each other often raises questions whether the crime could have been prevented, or resolved differently. A crime involving a victim and an offender who are strangers complies more with conventional thinking about how crime occurs. It was found that 26.3% of the murder and 22.2% of the assault victims knew their offenders, while 21.9% of the victims of incidents involving the discharge of a firearm in public places and 15.2% of the victims of pointing a firearm knew the perpetrators.

Table 17: Relationship between victim and offender (percentage)
Person	Armed robbery	Common robbery	Hijacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Theft of firearm	Pointing a firearm	Discharging firearm in built-up place	Possession of illegal firearm	Assault
Well-known	0.4	0	1.3	26.3	9.7	4.8	15.2	21.9	0	22.2
Unknown	97.8	98.9	97.5	54.4	74.2	90.5	76.1	68.8	100	72.2
Acquainted	1.8	1.1	1.3	19.3	16.1	4.8	8.7	9.4	0	5.6
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Cases (n)	223	87	80	57	93	63	92	32	17	18

Table 18: Activity of victim prior to in incident (percentage)
	Armed Robbery	Com- mon robbery	Hi- jacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Point- ing a firearm	Theft of firearm	Dis- charging firearm in built-up place	Pos- session of illegal firearm	Assault	Negli- gent loss of firearm	Pos- session /use of firearm under influence of alcohol
At home	8.2	4.7	5	42.1	31.9	8.5	20.7	51.6	6.7	22.2	15.8	16.7
Visiting friends/ relatives	0.5	4.7	8.8	7	13.2	10.2	2.2	0	0	5.6	0	16.7
Transit between place of work/education	7.7	8.1	11.3	1.8	5.5	3.4	6.5	0	0	11.1	0	0
Place of work/ education	45.9	23.3	30	1.8	8.8	52.5	27.2	19.4	33.3	11.1	21.1	0
At shops	11.8	12.8	7.5	8.8	4.4	5.1	6.5	0	0	5.6	15.8	0
Transit between entertainment/ recreation	2.7	8.1	7.5	0	1.1	0	0	0	6.7	5.6	0	0
At place of recreation/ entertainment	5.9	11.6	5	10.5	15.4	11.9	6.5	9.7	6.7	16.7	15.8	16.7
Transit to/ from home	9.5	11.6	15	8.8	7.7	1.7	8.7	3.2	0	22.2	15.8	16.7
Waiting in street /on foot	0.5	2.3	1.3	15.8	8.8	0	6.5	3.2	0	0	0	16.7
SAPS on patrol/ search	0	1.2	0	0	1.1	0	1.1	3.2	40	0	15.8	16.7
In transit	6.4	10.5	7.5	1.8	1.1	5.1	10.9	6.5	6.7	0	0	0
Other	0.9	1.2	1.3	1.8	1.1	1.7	3.3	3.2	0	0	0	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Cases (n)	220	86	80	57	91	59	92	31	15	18	6	6

Victims’ activities prior to the crime

Since the sampling point largely determined the area where incidents occurred, greater insight into the nature of the crime is gained by considering what the victim was doing prior to the crime. Before the incident occurred, many victims were involved in activities at their place of work or education. It was found that the largest proportion of crimes occurred at the workplace or at educational institutions in the case of armed robbery (45.9%), common robbery (23.3%), hijacking (30%), theft of a firearm (52.5%), pointing of a firearm (27.2%) and negligent loss of a firearm (21.1%). Murder (42.1%), attempted murder (31.9%) and the discharge of a firearm in a built-up place (51.6%) are most commonly experienced in residences.

Table 19: Activity of offender prior to in incident (percentage)
	Armed robbery	Common robbery Hijacking	Hi- jacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Theft of firearm	Pointing a firearm	Dis- charging firearm in built-up place	Possession of illegal firearm	Assault	Possession of firearm under influence of alcohol
Walking around	38.3	41.7	40	31.8	51	0	17.7	25	28.6	18.8	25
Standing/sitting	30.8	22.9	40	13.6	18.4	44.4	27.4	20	7.1	62.5	50
Entering business	11.7	10.4	0	0	2	11.1	4.8	0	0	0	0
In transit	6.7	8.3	6.7	11.4	6.1	11.1	24.2	15	21.4	6.3	0
Hiding out/
surprised	5	10.4	11.1	0	2	0	0	0	7.1	0	0
At home	1.7	0	0	22.7	10.2	11.1	11.3	35	14.3	0	25
Other	5.8	6.3	2.2	20.5	10.2	22.2	14.5	5	21.4	12.5	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Cases (n)	120	48	45	44	49	9	62	20	14	16	4

Offenders’ activities prior to the crime

The crux of a criminal incident is usually that a victim is taken by surprise. If the surprise element was absent, the victim could presumably take some action to avoid or prevent the crime. Thus, in many of the dockets, the person reporting the crime did not mention what the offender was doing prior to the crime, as he or she was not aware of the offender’s actions.

What is interesting, is the high incidence of the pointing of a firearm that occurred on the road, while the offender was in transit (24.2%), and the high number of contraventions of the Arms and Ammunition Act that occurred at the victim’s (and often the offender’s) home.