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Can We Be Safe: The Future of Policing in South Africa
In 1994, we had a vision for the country beyond our apartheid past, based on a shared vision from the Freedom Charter of 1955. Today, we need an ambitious new vision for policing in South Africa, based on an ambitious new vision for the future of all of our society.
In South Africa, both ‘crime’ and ‘safety’ are loaded terms. Ziyanda Stuurman unpacks the complex and fraught history of policing, courts and prisons in South Africa. Looking at our perceptions of crime and criminals, she shows who actually bears the burden of crime in our country. In her analysis of the problems nationally and in putting those problems in context with the rest of the world, she concludes that more resources won’t necessarily lead to more safety.
What then, will?
Stuurman argues for a radical overhaul of our criminal justice system to ensure that citizens not only feel safe, but are in fact kept safe.
How badly do we want to be safe and are we willing to do what is necessary?
In South Africa, both ‘crime’ and ‘safety’ are loaded terms. Ziyanda Stuurman unpacks the complex and fraught history of policing, courts and prisons in South Africa. Looking at our perceptions of crime and criminals, she shows who actually bears the burden of crime in our country. In her analysis of the problems nationally and in putting those problems in context with the rest of the world, she concludes that more resources won’t necessarily lead to more safety.
What then, will?
Stuurman argues for a radical overhaul of our criminal justice system to ensure that citizens not only feel safe, but are in fact kept safe.
How badly do we want to be safe and are we willing to do what is necessary?
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Published June 23, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 3, 2021
Such an important book. Read my interview and review here: https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/ziyanda...
June 14, 2021
#canwebesafe - Ziyanda Stuurman
#tafelberg
#nbpublishers
In this book the author examines the history of policing, courts and the prison system in South Africa in an effort to analyse the current state of crime and safety - loaded as these terms are. The transformation of the SAP from a force into a service; the introduction of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the aim to convert power that was previously used as a government weapon to enforce political ideas into community and human right-based policing, are also introduced.
Sadly, all of the aforementioned, noble as the ideas might have been, are failing dismally. The SAPS is distrusted by the majority of South Africans; the SANDF are often called to assist; too much reliance is placed on so-called ‘operations’ amounting to no more than general dragnets resulting in mass arrests and the subsequent withdrawal of the forces - leaving the community no safer than before and often actually causing further violence. The IPID stats, especially, are cause for alarm; between April 2012 and March 2019 they received 42 365 criminal complaints against SAPS members; only 531 of those were successfully prosecuted.
The author also discusses related issues, such as access to justice; inappropriate sentences; over crowded prisons and the lack of rehabilitation and restorative justice and concludes with several suggestions of how the systems can and should be improved by a total overhaul; not merely an increase in resources.
Two points of criticism should be mentioned. Firstly, although the subtitle of the book refers to the future of policing, at least 60% of the text focuses on the past. The background and history of institutions and systems are obviously essential in a critical text, but I do feel that too much focus is placed on the past. Secondly, there is (except for brief criticism regarding the lenient sentences prescribed by POCA) basically no reference to the role that inefficient and outdated legislation play in the current criminal and justice crisis. A critical analysis thereof would and should have influenced the recommendations for reform.
The book is recommended for readers of current affairs; especially those willing to apply introspection and critical thinking in an effort to improve the lives of all.
3 stars from #Uitdieperdsebek
#tafelberg
#nbpublishers
In this book the author examines the history of policing, courts and the prison system in South Africa in an effort to analyse the current state of crime and safety - loaded as these terms are. The transformation of the SAP from a force into a service; the introduction of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID) and the aim to convert power that was previously used as a government weapon to enforce political ideas into community and human right-based policing, are also introduced.
Sadly, all of the aforementioned, noble as the ideas might have been, are failing dismally. The SAPS is distrusted by the majority of South Africans; the SANDF are often called to assist; too much reliance is placed on so-called ‘operations’ amounting to no more than general dragnets resulting in mass arrests and the subsequent withdrawal of the forces - leaving the community no safer than before and often actually causing further violence. The IPID stats, especially, are cause for alarm; between April 2012 and March 2019 they received 42 365 criminal complaints against SAPS members; only 531 of those were successfully prosecuted.
The author also discusses related issues, such as access to justice; inappropriate sentences; over crowded prisons and the lack of rehabilitation and restorative justice and concludes with several suggestions of how the systems can and should be improved by a total overhaul; not merely an increase in resources.
Two points of criticism should be mentioned. Firstly, although the subtitle of the book refers to the future of policing, at least 60% of the text focuses on the past. The background and history of institutions and systems are obviously essential in a critical text, but I do feel that too much focus is placed on the past. Secondly, there is (except for brief criticism regarding the lenient sentences prescribed by POCA) basically no reference to the role that inefficient and outdated legislation play in the current criminal and justice crisis. A critical analysis thereof would and should have influenced the recommendations for reform.
The book is recommended for readers of current affairs; especially those willing to apply introspection and critical thinking in an effort to improve the lives of all.
3 stars from #Uitdieperdsebek
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October 5, 2021An important book that explores our ideas of safety, the way that these ideas are shaped and sullied by political rhetoric, and the urgent need for reforming our police system. Stuurman asks us to ask ourselves what actions and police behaviours comfortable excusing in the name of safety (the policing of poverty, racial profiling, inequality or resources) and whether we should, potentially, consider scrapping it all and starting again.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews