Chapter 5

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF OFFENDERS

The following section provides an overview of details about offenders involved in the various crimes. It considers the main demographic information, including gender, race, age, vocation and employment. Detailed information on offenders is lacking in this study, because it is largely absent from dockets. It is self-evident that, in many cases, either the victim or the police simply did not have access to this information.

Gender

In most firearm-related crimes, offenders were male. It is interesting that women committed two out of the 25 offences by discharging a firearm in a built-up place.

Table 20: Gender profile of offenders (percentage)
Gender	Armed robbery	Common robbery	Hijacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Theft of firearm	Point- ing a firearm	Dis- charging a firearm in built-up place	Pos- session of illegal firearm	Assault	Negligent loss of firearm	Possession /use of firearm under influence of alcohol
Male	98.9	97.7	98.4	97.1	98.9	95.2	97.2	92	95	100	100	100
Female	1.1	2.3	1.6	2.9	1.1	4.8	2.8	8	5	0	0	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Offenders (n)	443	173	183	70	87	21	106	25	20	17	6	6

Table 21: Race profile of offenders (percentage)
Race	Armed robbbery	Common robbery	Hi- jacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Theft of firearm	Point- ing a firearm	Dis- charging a firearm in built-up place	Pos- session of illegal firearm	Assault	Negligent loss of firearm	Possession /use of firearm under influence of alcohol
African	78.7	88.9	77.5	8.8	12.7	72	18.7	21.7	50	33.3	0	0
Asian	4.3	1.8	0.5	0	8.9	4	29.9	13	0	22.2	50	0
Coloured	14.5	9.4	19.8	85.3	74.7	20	37.4	56.5	40	33.3	50	83.3
White	2.3	0	2.2	5.9	3.8	4	14	8.7	10	11.1	0	16.7
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Offenders (n)	441	171	182	68	79	25	107	23	20	18	6	5

Table 22: Age profile of offenders (percentage)
Race	Armed robbery	Common robbery	Hi- jacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Theft of firearm	Pointing a firearm	Dis- charging a firearm in built-up place	Pos- session of illegal firearm	Assault	Negligent loss of firearm	Possession- /use of firearm under influence of alcohol
>16 years	1.6	5.9	0	0	0	14.3	2.4	0	0	0	0	0
16-20 years	15.6	29.4	20	20	21.9	14.3	9.5	5	19	0	0	0
21-30 years	60.9	29.4	60	49.1	40.6	42.9	47.6	25	42.9	81.8	0	20
31-40 years	20.3	35.3	10	27.3	18.8	28.6	26.2	35	38.1	18.2	50	40
41-50 years	1.6	0	10	3.6	12.5	0	11.9	35	0	0	0	40
51-60 years	0	0	0	0	6.3	0	2.4	0	0	0	50	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Offenders (n)	64	17	10	55	32	7	42	20	21	11	6	5

Race

The information on the race of the offender provides little insight into the nature of firearm-related crime.

Age

The age of the offender was not always available for a number or reasons. Most notable was the fact that victims did not know their offenders, and often based their age on a broad estimate of what they saw, if they were present at the time of the incident, or in visual contact with the offenders. It is evident that most offenders were between the age of 16 to 30 years. The age of offenders contravening the Arms and Ammunition Act was usually higher than this average.

Vocational profile

Little information was available on the vocation of offenders in firearm-related crimes. Although the data does provide an indication of the offenders’ vocations (given the high degree of missing information on their vocations), this information should be used illustratively rather than factually. What the data illustrates is that there are a significant number of offenders involved in firearm-related crimes who are employed in the formal sector, and that conventional thinking that an offender is an unemployed person, must be challenged. More especially, the fact that scholars, housewives and retired people also commit crimes is a fact that should not be overlooked.

Employment status

Taking into account the limitations (as mentioned above) of the available information on the vocational profile of offenders, their employment status should be used for its descriptive value. Comparatively speaking, more offenders committing crimes in contravention of the Arms and Ammunition Act were employed than in other crime types.

Type of employment

Given the lack of information available in dockets on the offender’s type of employment, very little can be deduced from the table below, which was intended to provide this information. What it clearly indicates, is that no group of offenders are involved in a distinct type of profession.

Table 23: Vocational profile of offenders (percentage)
Vocation	Armed robbery	Common robbery	Hi- jacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Theft of firearm	Point- ing a firearm	Dis- charging a firearm in built-up place	Pos- session of illegal firearm	Assault	Neg- ligent loss of firearm	Possession /use of firearm under influence of alcohol
Attending school	5.9	16.7	0	1.7	0	16.7	0	0	20	0	0	0
School-going age, not attending	0	0	0	1.7	3.3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Full-time scholar/student	0	0	0	1.7	0	0	4.1	0	0	0	0	0
Housewife	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	4	0	0	0
Retired/ pensioner	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Unemployed	41.2	55.6	50	34.5	43.3	33.3	22.4	10	56	0	50	20
Employed, formal sector	35.3	22.2	41.7	34.5	33.3	50	59.2	80	8	100	50	80
Employed, informal sector	11.8	0	0	6.9	0	0	0	5	4	0	0	0
Self-employed	2.9	0	8.3	17.2	16.7	0	8.2	0	8	0	0	0
Other	2.9	5.6	0	1.7	3.3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Offenders (n)	34	18	12	58	30	6	49	20	25	9	6	5

Table 24: Employment status of offenders (percentage)
Status	Armed robbery	Common robbery	Hi- jacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Theft of firearm	Pointing a firearm	Dis- charging a firearm in built-up place	Pos- session of illegal firearm	Assault	Negligent loss of firearm	Possession- /use of firearm under influence of alcohol
Not looking for employment (such as scholars, students, retired)	5.9	16.7	0	5.2	3.3	16.7	10.2	5	24	0	0	0
Unemployed	41.2	55.6	50	34.5	43.3	33.3	22.4	10	56	0	50	20
Employed	5	22.2	50	58.6	50	50	67.3	85	20	100	50	80
Other	2.9	5.6	0	1.7	3.3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Offenders (n)	34	18	12	58	30	6	49	20	25	9	6	5

Table 25: Occupational profile of offenders
Occupation	Armed robbery	Common robbery	Hi- jacking	Murder	Attempted murder	Theft of firearm	Point- ing a firearm	Dis- charging a firearm in built-up place	Pos- session of illegal firearm	Assault	Negligent loss of firearm	Possession /use of firearm under influence of alcohol
Academic, Researcher, teacher	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bar/club owner	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Builder, contractor, foreman	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Business person	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Civil servant	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Clerk	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Factory worker	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Hawker, vendor	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Hotel industry worker	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Labourer	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Manager, assistant, supervisor	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Medical profession employee	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Messenger, office driver	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	0
Pilot, radar operator	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Prison warder	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Private security guard	1	0	0	3	1	0	4	2	0	1	0	0
Sales rep – mobile	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
SANDF	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
SAPS	1	1	0	4	1	0	5	3	2	2	3	0
Secretary	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shop assistant, cashier	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	1	0	0
Smuggler, drug dealer	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Taxi driver owner	0	0	2	4	3	0	2	0	1	0	0	0
Technician, mechanic	1	0	1	4	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0
Trade, craft person	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
Truck driver	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Waiter/waitress	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6	2	5	30	9	3	25	11	4	5	3	1