Solution To Crime In South Africa

[Butch Hannan]

There are very few of us across the the whole spectrum of society who have not been impacted by violent crime. Much of this crime is committed by the same individuals. Quite often these individuals who happen to be out on bail have been recorded as committing in excess of thirty similar crimes. I would like to see the following steps taken.

1. No bail to be given for any person caught for violent crime such as murder, robbery, rape, hijacking etc.

2. Mandatory minimum sentences of 50 years to be imposed on conviction.

3. Bring back hard labour as part of the sentence.

4. Build a mega size prison in the middle of the Karoo to house all these individuals. This complex must have all the necessary courts, judges, attorneys etc inside the complex.

5. All individuals apprehended for these types of crime to be moved to this complex. Remove them completely from society.

6. Take the vote away from people serving prison sentences. Why should they enjoy this right when they have transgressed against the constitution.

I bet that our crime rate would drop significantly if these steps were implemented.

Butch Hannan

[Dave A]

Innocent until proven guilty

1. No bail to be given for any person caught for violent crime such as murder, robbery, rape, hijacking etc.

You might not feel the same way if you're arrested for a crime you did not commit.

I think bail is there for good reason. The real problem on this one is the time it takes to get these matters to court.

6. Take the vote away from people serving prison sentences. Why should they enjoy this right when they have transgressed against the constitution.

I think that would be entirely reasonable.

[Chatmaster]

I would love to respond to your ideas but I believe that the real problem is located within the traditions that have been grown within the mentality of a large majority of South Africans. There are several things that needs to be fixed before we get to a realistic solution for crime and imo it consists out of several steps that needs to be taken, some simultaneously. But I would like to expand on this when I have more time.

• Instill a new culture whereby nothing is for free but are rather worked for.
• Compassion and understanding for other people
• Undo the damage of BEE and AA within the justice system, from the SAPS to the Prisons
• Political nutrality within the SAPS
• Improved training and discipline within the Police
• Better training and improved discipline within the Metro Police forces
• Better selection of leadership within the Police and Metro Police forces
• Proper border control
• An absolute ban on employing political alies within senior positions of the SAPS, our Police Commissioner is a freaking teacher and doesn't belong in his position
• A VERY serious look at getting our SAPS training back up where it was 20 years ago starting at the SAPS College in Pretoria
• NO political interference witin any Police force, they are supposed to be politically neutral
• Honest and open reflection of the true stats of crime within the country
• Improved Firearm regulation and required training for licensed gun owners
• The acceptance of the FACT that South Africa has a unique crime situation and that the true experts is located locally and not abroad. No other country, Not the US, AUS, UK, NZ etc can teach us much about crime, we are in many regards unique as we have the most aggressive crimes in the free modern world.

Every day there is:

• 50 Murders
• 51 Residential Robberies
• 76 Rapes
• 41 Car Hijackings

The fact remains that only

• 40% of all crimes reaches the courts
• 68% of Rapes never reaches the courts
• Only 5% of rape cases ends with a conviction
• 61% of Murder cases never goes to court
• Only 11% of murder cases ends with a conviction
• 89% of Agrevated robbery cases never goes to court! ONLY 3% ends with a conviction!!!!

You tell me where the problem lies!

The list is very long and not nearly complete and I would love to expand on this some time.

[Butch Hannan]

Dave,

I am referring to people who are caught red handed committing violent crimes. Bail should not be an option for these people. They need to be removed from society.

[Butch Hannan]

Roelof I want to thank you for the statistics which to say the least are rather frightening. I agree 100% with your suggestions but unfortunately with the lack of will and speed that Government works at this is very long term. I really doubt whether the country can afford this. We need a very "quick fix". We need to get the violent criminal elements off the streets behind lock and key. My family and I were the victims of crime in a rented holiday house at Shelley Beach about three years ago. My wife has only now recently stopped hiding every knife in the house at night.

The stats that you give are to a large degree caused by criminals out on bail. It is on record that some of these individuals have been involved in excess of 30 crimes of a similar nature. Whoever said crime does not pay obviously does not live in South Africa!!

Let us use whatever means we have to get them out of society!!

Butch Hannan

[tec0]

In all honesty it will take an event of apocalyptic proportions to end crime in this country. Now I don’t see it happening... You can call me a pessimist but it doesn’t change the fact that we are worth as much as the small change in our pockets.

Now that scares me, because we have no-way to protect ourselves against these criminals and as long as these words ring true you are on borrowed time. A good song I keep on thinking of when I read stuff like this is “Soldier Side by System of a Down” not my favourite band but sometimes they make you realise how pointless things are becoming. Another song you may want to check out is “Land Of Confusion by Disturbed” the song was originally done by Genesis but I like this version.

The point to this post is that crime will not go away with better prisons and better social structures. Crime will only go away if the criminals start to lose... Right now I don’t see that happening. No we go out at night armed with coffee and pepper-spray with a neighbourhood watch sticker and they get guns, fully automatic guns. Who do you think is more intimidating?

[desA]

The problem is that many of the petty cases end up clogging up the courts, leaving no time for the more serious matters.

In Asia, the police are left to clear the petty crime cases & to force the perpetrator to pay restitution. This can even be applied to matters where people have died. As long as the aggrieved family is adequately compensated by the perpetrator, a settlement is often arrived at & life goes on. If a settlement cannot be reached, then the matter is referred upwards to the courts.

In this sense, the local community plays a role in basic conflict resolution.

[tec0]

For any system to work we need the government to work first. See here is the problem: a man get pulled over by two cops only they are not cops they are criminals dressed as cops. This time he survived...

And yet our beloved police never found it in there infinite wisdom to perhaps tell people “Ok this is what were going to do in that street at that time. If there is somebody else at night claiming to be us then do-not pull over� No they would rather do nothing about this growing problem.

[Dave A]

In Asia, the police are left to clear the petty crime cases & to force the perpetrator to pay restitution. This can even be applied to matters where people have died. As long as the aggrieved family is adequately compensated by the perpetrator, a settlement is often arrived at & life goes on. If a settlement cannot be reached, then the matter is referred upwards to the courts.

Am I the only one thnking this would be a really bad idea in this neck of the woods? Based on track record, SA "street justice" is pretty brutal.

[AndyD]

Am I the only one thnking this would be a really bad idea in this neck of the woods? Based on track record, SA "street justice" is pretty brutal.

I don't see this working here either. The police are having a hard enough time doing their existing job and with the corruption that already exists I don't think giving them a role of judge and jury in compensation cases is a good idea.

[tec0]

Justice or rather the quality of being just or fair will make for a good corner stone. A fully functional workable problem solving government would be good foundation. Now what is good building material? Education, equality, good living standards and job creation comes to mind.

We know the questions, and we know the answers but something always goes wrong somehow, and everything stays the same...

[desA]

Perhaps, with all their apparent faults, the Thai police are more mature than the SAPS?

These people could be considered as law-enforcement extensions of their local community, rather than as employees of a huge, monolithic central SAPS service provider.

It is this local accountability aspect that is important.

[Butch Hannan]

This will never work in our country as our police force are not beyond reproach. There are quite a few of them involved in criminal activities.
I personally do not trust a policeman or traffic cop which is a very sad state of affairs.

Butch Hannan

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Solution to crime. There are many schools of thought, most looking at the roots. While I do not deny the root or cause approach is always good, I believe taht addressing the court system is the way to go. We need a more successful prosecution rate. It is no good spending money on more police, because it does not matter how many criminalsyou arrest, if tehy do not get punished. Prosecutors are overloaded and do not have investigative resources. A look at making the strike rate better plus harsh sentencing may be a good start.

[Peter Princeton]

In Asia, the police are left to clear the petty crime cases & to force the perpetrator to pay restitution. This can even be applied to matters where people have died. As long as the aggrieved family is adequately compensated by the perpetrator, a settlement is often arrived at & life goes on. If a settlement cannot be reached, then the matter is referred upwards to the courts.

In this sense, the local community plays a role in basic conflict resolution.

ok....so THAT is where the idea for the Judge Dredd movie came from.....

and yes, even in THAT movie there was corruption at hand...

not to mention bad judgement.