Notes

Published in Monograph No 101, July 2004

National Victims of Crime Survey
South Africa 2003

Patrick Burton, Anton du Plessis, Ted Leggettt, Antoinette Louw, Duxita Mistry, Hennie van Vuuren

D Cantor and J P Lynch, Self-Report Surveys as Measures of Crime and Criminal Victimization, Criminal Justice 2000: Measurement and Analysis of Crime and Justice, Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice 4(85), Washington DC, 2000.
U Zvekic, Criminal Victimisation in Countries in Transition, UNICRI Publication 47, Rome, 1998, also J Van Kesteren, P Mayhew and P Nieuwbeerta, Criminal Victimisation in Seventeen Industrialised Countries: Key findings from the 2000 International Crime Victims Survey, Research and Documentation Centre (WODC), Netherlands Ministry of Justice Series: Onderzoek en Beleid, No 187, The Hague, 2001.
See P Burton and M Sekhonyane, Crime and Policing in Meadowlands, Soweto, ISS Monograph (forthcoming), ISS, Pretoria.
See among others J van Dijk, Crime and Victim Surveys, Paper presented at the 8th International Symposium on Victimology held in Adelaide, South Australia, 21-26 August 1994.
A Louw, Crime in Pretoria : results of a city victim survey, ISS Monograph, ISS, Pretoria, August 1998.
See S Stavrou, Victimisation surveys: A methodology paper, paper commissioned by the UNDP Dar-es-Salaam Safer Cities Project, February 2001.
SSA, Victims of Crime Survey, Statistics South Africa, Pretoria, 1998.
CMB Naude, JH Prinsloo and HF Snyman, The Third International Crime (Victim) Survey in Johannesburg, South Africa, 2000, unpublished research report, Department of Criminology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, 2001.
J Van Kesteren, et al, op cit.
E Pelser, J Schnetler and A Louw, Not Everybody’s Business: Community Policing in the SAPS’ Priority Areas, ISS Monograph Series No 71, ISS, Pretoria, March 2002; and P Burton, Assessment of public and client opinion of the National Prosecuting Authority, unpublished data report, ISS, Pretoria, 2001.
S Rule (ed), Public opinion on National Priority Issues: Elections ’99, HSRC Publishers, Pretoria, 1999.
AM Habib and CM de Vos, Public attitudes in contemporary SA: insights from an HSRC survey, Cape Town, Human Sciences Research Council, 2002.
The fear of crime and perceptions of safety and security warrant further research and to this end ISS intends undertaking focus group discussions in the near future.
Respondents were asked for only one response to this question. Multiple answers were not allowed. If more than one crime had been discussed, the one crime type that dominated the conversation, at the last conversation (if discussed on more than one occasion in the two week period), was recorded.
See T Leggett, Rainbow Tenement: Crime and policing in inner Johannesburg, ISS Monograph Series, No 71, ISS, Pretoria, April 2003; and P Burton and M Sekhonyane, op cit.
SSA, op cit.
The questions on walking to fetch water and firewood were only asked of respondents who would normally have to undertake such activities. People living in suburban Johannesburg, for example, would not have been asked about these two activities.
See A Dawes, Social contexts, child development and anti-social behaviour, presentation to the Open Society Foundation Crime Prevention and Development Seminar, 26–27 June, 2003.
It should be noted that while the original intention was to exclude various forms and understandings of private security companies and thus provide an indicator of vigilante activity, the distinction between paying and non-paying activities is not particularly helpful, as probably the most famous South African vigilante group in South Africa, Mapogo-a-Matamaga, charges a joining fee. This means that when respondents refer to these charges, they may well be referring to Mapogo, not to a commercial security company.
A Louw and M Sekhonyane, Violent Justice: Vigilantism and the State’s Response, ISS Monograph Series No 72, Pretoria, 2002.
See E Pelser, et al, op cit; and P Burton and M Sekhonyane, op cit.
E Pelser, et al, op cit.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Since the 1997/1998 financial year, 28 new police stations, 13 satellite stations and 9 contact points have been established according to personal communication from SAPS Efficiency Services, March 2004.
SSA, op cit.
S Rule, op cit.
These trends broadly reflect findings identified in previous studies, where Indians in particular feel most strongly about crime and punitive actions as government priorities, while black South Africans focus more on the need to generate employment as a government priority (see S Rule, ibid).
This is possibly due to the fact that in small or rural towns the magistrate’s court is often on the same premises as the town hall, local police station etc.
As with the reporting of crime incidents, the media also report extensively on case outcomes and failures rather than on successes.
See T Leggett, The facts behind the figures: crime statistics 2002/3, in SA Crime Quarterly, No 6, ISS, Pretoria, December 2003.
See P Burton and M Sekhonyane, op cit.
Crime Information Analysis Centre, crime statistics for 2002/3 published on the internet, 2004, at: http://www.saps.gov.za/8_crimeinfo/200309/index.htm
J Van Kesteren, et al, op cit.
For more details see SA Department of Public Service and Administration, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Country Corruption Assessment Report: South Africa, Pretoria, April 2003, p 15.
Afrobarometer–Idasa, The Changing Public Agenda? South Africans’ Assessments of the Country’s Most Pressing Problems, Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No 5, July 2003.
See R Chalmers (ed), Corruption worse than before 1994, Business Day, BDFM, Johannesburg, 23 March 2004.
See G Newham and L Gomomo, Bad cops get a break: The closure of the SAPS Anti-Corruption Unit, in SA Crime Quarterly No 4, ISS, Pretoria, June 2003.
R15bn welfare money missing, News24.com, 25 February 2004, <http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_1489313,00.html> accessed on 11 May 2004.
The survey results indicate that the type of housing is not associated with victimisation, so shack dwellers are as vulnerable to burglary as are those in permanent homes.
Crime Information Analysis Centre, unpublished reports on SAP 6 statistics, Pretoria, 2001. The year 2000 is the last year in which detailed figures on police cases dispositions were revealed to the public.
J Simmons and T Dodd, Crime in England and Wales 2002/3, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 07/03, London, Communications Development Unit, 2003.
CIAC, 2001, op cit.
Ibid.
Ibid.
T Leggett, The sieve effect: South Africa’s conviction rates in perspective, SA Crime Quarterly No 5, ISS, Pretoria, 2003.
SAPS, 2001/2 Annual Report, Pretoria, Government Printers, 2002.
CIAC, 2001, op cit.
Ibid.
This was the definition of robbery used in the 1998 national Victims of Crime survey, and was used again in the 1993 survey in order to ensure the comparability of the results in the two studies.
South African Institute of Race Relations, Fast Facts, Johannesburg, April 2002.
T Leggett, Rainbow tenement: Crime and policing in inner Johannesburg, op cit. Similar results were found by the same author in a survey in Cato Manor, Durban.

NOTES

Published in Monograph No 101, July 2004 National Victims of Crime Survey South Africa 2003

Patrick Burton, Anton du Plessis, Ted Leggettt, Antoinette Louw, Duxita Mistry, Hennie van Vuuren

D Cantor and J P Lynch, Self-Report Surveys as Measures of Crime and Criminal Victimization, Criminal Justice 2000: Measurement and Analysis of Crime and Justice, Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice 4(85), Washington DC, 2000.

See P Burton and M Sekhonyane, Crime and Policing in Meadowlands, Soweto, ISS Monograph (forthcoming), ISS, Pretoria.

See among others J van Dijk, Crime and Victim Surveys, Paper presented at the 8th International Symposium on Victimology held in Adelaide, South Australia, 21-26 August 1994.

A Louw, Crime in Pretoria : results of a city victim survey, ISS Monograph, ISS, Pretoria, August 1998.

See S Stavrou, Victimisation surveys: A methodology paper, paper commissioned by the UNDP Dar-es-Salaam Safer Cities Project, February 2001.

SSA, Victims of Crime Survey, Statistics South Africa, Pretoria, 1998.

CMB Naude, JH Prinsloo and HF Snyman, The Third International Crime (Victim) Survey in Johannesburg, South Africa, 2000, unpublished research report, Department of Criminology, University of South Africa, Pretoria, 2001.

J Van Kesteren, et al, op cit.

S Rule (ed), Public opinion on National Priority Issues: Elections ’99, HSRC Publishers, Pretoria, 1999.

AM Habib and CM de Vos, Public attitudes in contemporary SA: insights from an HSRC survey, Cape Town, Human Sciences Research Council, 2002.

The fear of crime and perceptions of safety and security warrant further research and to this end ISS intends undertaking focus group discussions in the near future.

Respondents were asked for only one response to this question. Multiple answers were not allowed. If more than one crime had been discussed, the one crime type that dominated the conversation, at the last conversation (if discussed on more than one occasion in the two week period), was recorded.

See T Leggett, Rainbow Tenement: Crime and policing in inner Johannesburg, ISS Monograph Series, No 71, ISS, Pretoria, April 2003; and P Burton and M Sekhonyane, op cit.

SSA, op cit.

The questions on walking to fetch water and firewood were only asked of respondents who would normally have to undertake such activities. People living in suburban Johannesburg, for example, would not have been asked about these two activities.

See A Dawes, Social contexts, child development and anti-social behaviour, presentation to the Open Society Foundation Crime Prevention and Development Seminar, 26–27 June, 2003.

A Louw and M Sekhonyane, Violent Justice: Vigilantism and the State’s Response, ISS Monograph Series No 72, Pretoria, 2002.

See E Pelser, et al, op cit; and P Burton and M Sekhonyane, op cit.

E Pelser, et al, op cit.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Since the 1997/1998 financial year, 28 new police stations, 13 satellite stations and 9 contact points have been established according to personal communication from SAPS Efficiency Services, March 2004.

SSA, op cit.

S Rule, op cit.

These trends broadly reflect findings identified in previous studies, where Indians in particular feel most strongly about crime and punitive actions as government priorities, while black South Africans focus more on the need to generate employment as a government priority (see S Rule, ibid).

This is possibly due to the fact that in small or rural towns the magistrate’s court is often on the same premises as the town hall, local police station etc.

As with the reporting of crime incidents, the media also report extensively on case outcomes and failures rather than on successes.

See T Leggett, The facts behind the figures: crime statistics 2002/3, in SA Crime Quarterly, No 6, ISS, Pretoria, December 2003.

See P Burton and M Sekhonyane, op cit.

Crime Information Analysis Centre, crime statistics for 2002/3 published on the internet, 2004, at: http://www.saps.gov.za/8_crimeinfo/200309/index.htm

J Van Kesteren, et al, op cit.

For more details see SA Department of Public Service and Administration, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Country Corruption Assessment Report: South Africa, Pretoria, April 2003, p 15.

Afrobarometer–Idasa, The Changing Public Agenda? South Africans’ Assessments of the Country’s Most Pressing Problems, Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No 5, July 2003.

See R Chalmers (ed), Corruption worse than before 1994, Business Day, BDFM, Johannesburg, 23 March 2004.

See G Newham and L Gomomo, Bad cops get a break: The closure of the SAPS Anti-Corruption Unit, in SA Crime Quarterly No 4, ISS, Pretoria, June 2003.

R15bn welfare money missing, News24.com, 25 February 2004, <http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/Politics/0,,2-7-12_1489313,00.html> accessed on 11 May 2004.

The survey results indicate that the type of housing is not associated with victimisation, so shack dwellers are as vulnerable to burglary as are those in permanent homes.

Crime Information Analysis Centre, unpublished reports on SAP 6 statistics, Pretoria, 2001. The year 2000 is the last year in which detailed figures on police cases dispositions were revealed to the public.

J Simmons and T Dodd, Crime in England and Wales 2002/3, Home Office Statistical Bulletin 07/03, London, Communications Development Unit, 2003.

CIAC, 2001, op cit.

Ibid.

Ibid.

T Leggett, The sieve effect: South Africa’s conviction rates in perspective, SA Crime Quarterly No 5, ISS, Pretoria, 2003.

SAPS, 2001/2 Annual Report, Pretoria, Government Printers, 2002.

CIAC, 2001, op cit.

Ibid.

This was the definition of robbery used in the 1998 national Victims of Crime survey, and was used again in the 1993 survey in order to ensure the comparability of the results in the two studies.

South African Institute of Race Relations, Fast Facts, Johannesburg, April 2002.

T Leggett, Rainbow tenement: Crime and policing in inner Johannesburg, op cit. Similar results were found by the same author in a survey in Cato Manor, Durban.

Published in Monograph No 101, July 2004

National Victims of Crime Survey
South Africa 2003