The Criminal Justice Monitor tracks selected indicators of crime and the performance of the criminal justice system on a bi-annual basis. Statistics cover serious crimes reported to the police and the core criminal justice system departments. The Monitor relies on the latest available statistics as supplied by official sources. Where these are unavailable at the time of publication, ad hoc indicators are used.
The Monitor tracks the following indicators:
    Crime: volumes, rates, and the rate of change between years
    Public perceptions of safety
    Police: clearance rates, number of personnel, police fatalities
    Courts: prosecution and conviction rates
    Prisons: numbers of prisoners, number of escapes

Changing crime levels

The 5 crime categories below cover the 20 most serious crimes that account for 99.3% of the volume of all serious crime recorded by the police.

Since 1996, the overall crime level has been increasing each year in South Africa. The latest statistics for 1999 indicate a continuation of this trend (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Number of crimes reported to police, 1994 - 1999


Between 1994 and 1999 crime generally increased by 15% (Figure 2). During this time the country’s population increased by 11%. Several serious crimes increased at a faster rate than the average between 1994 and 1999 such as rape, car hijacking, serious assault, housebreaking and common robbery.

Statistics for 1999 indicate that crime levels, measured from one year to the next, are increasing at a faster rate than any other time since 1994. Between 1995 and 1996 crime decreased by 0.3%. Since then, the year-on-year increase has been 1.1% (1996-97) and 4.7% (1997-98) reaching a high of 7% (1998-99).

One third of all recorded crimes are violent (including murder, attempted murder, robbery, assault and rape). At 32.5%, the number of violent crimes, as a proportion of all reported crimes in 1999, remained constant compared to previous years (Figure 1).

Figure 2 % change in selected crimes reported to police between 1994 and 1999
Source: SAPS CIAC. 1999 figures calculated by ISS on the basis of crime ratios supplied by CIAC.

Murder is the only serious crime that has shown a clear decrease since 1994 (Figure 3). The number of murders decreased by 11% between 1994 and 1999 (Figure 2). As a ratio of the population, the number of murders decreased from 69.3 per 100 000 people in 1994 to 55.3 per 100 000 in 1999 (Figure 4).

Figure 3 Number of murders recorded by the police, 1994 - 1999

Source: SAPS CIAC, figures for 1999 were calculated by the ISS on the basis of crime ratios supplied by CIAC.

Figure 4 Murders and rapes per 100 000 of the population, 1994 - 1999

Source: SAPS CIAC

The only serious property crime to show a steady increase since 1994 is burglary of residential premises (Figure 5).

Figure 5 Number of residential burglaries recorded by the police, 1994 - 1999

Source: SAPS CIAC, figures for 1999 were calculated by the ISS on the basis of crime ratios supplied by CIAC.

Robbery with aggravating circumstances (which includes car hijacking) has increased since 1996 (Figure 6). Car hijackings constitute about 16% of this category of robbery, and the increase in hijacking from 12 860 incidents in 1996 to 15 457 in 1999 no doubt contributes to the increase in robbery with aggravating circumstances generally.

Figure 6 Number of robberies with aggravating circumstances recorded by the police, 1994 - 1999

Source: SAPC CIAC, figures for 1999 were calculated by the ISS on the basis of crime ratios supplied by CIAC.

How safe the public feel

Compared to 1998 slightly more (1%) South Africans ‘felt safe or very safe on most days’ in 1999. The number of South Africans feeling ‘unsafe or very unsafe’ decreased slightly from 49% in 1998 to 47% in 1999 (Figure 7).

Figure 7 Changing perceptions about feelings of own safety, 1994 - 1999

Source: HSRC national survey

The South African Police Service

Some 1 325 police officers were murdered between January 1994 and June 1999 (Figure 8). Of these 468 were murdered while on duty, and the remainder (857) while off duty.

Figure 8 Number of police officials killed on and off duty, Jan 1994 - June 1999

Source: SAPS CIAC

Most police officers were murdered in Gauteng (514), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (369).

The private security industry

The number of active security officers registered with the Security Officers’ Interim Board increased from just over 115 000 in September 1997 to 163 545 in January 2000. An increase of almost 42% in just over two years (Figure 9).

Figure 9 Number of registered security officers in South Africa

Source: Security Officers' Interim Board

Over a similar period the number of uniformed members of the SAPS decreased from 98 300 to about 89 500 — a decrease of 9%.

The number of active security service providers registered with the Security Officers’ Interim Board increased from 4 437 in September 1997 to 4 856 in January 2000 — an increase of 9.5%.

Prisons

 Between January 1995 and December 1999 some 4 367 prisoners escaped from South Africa’s prisons (Figure 10).

Figure 10 Number of prisoners escaped, Jan 1995 - Dec 1999

Source: Department of Correctional Services

The number of yearly escapees has been decreasing since 1996. In 1995 some 1 177 prisoners escaped, 1996 (1 244), 1997 (989), 1998 (498), 1999 (459).

South Africa’s 236 prisons (of which four are under renovation and therefore only partly occupied) have been built to accommodate 99 300 inmates, but in December 1999 were holding 165 970.

Between June 1994 and December 1999 the number of sentenced prisoners increased by 31%. The number of awaiting trial prisoners increased by 215% (Figure 11).

Figure 11 Changes in prisoner numbers, 1994 - 1999

Source: Department of Correctional Services

Between June and December 1999 the number of awaiting trial prisoners as a proportion of total prisoner numbers increased from 35% to 37%.