CMY3602

• Crime patterns


  The incidence of the different types of crime in a specific year
• Crime trends


  The increases and decreases in the different types of crime in a specific year
• Crime statistics


  Numbers that comprise all the information regarding crime, scientifically arranged and tabulated in order to give a total picture of the crime problem
• Crime classification


  The division or arrangement of crime data into specific classes, based on the fact that data on certain crimes show definite underlying similarities
• Specific crime categories (e.g. contact versus property-related crimes) are stipulated by the South African Police Service and crime statistics are interpreted and recorded nationally
• Crime classification


  The division or arrangement of crime data into specific classes based on the fact that data on certain crimes show definite underlying similarities
• Purpose and function of crime classification


  • To gain an impression of various types of crime, permitting crime to be broken down into particular groups to reveal primary commonalities and ensure a richer understanding of crime typologies
  • Familiarity with particular crimes is vital for detecting, combating and preventing them
• Failure to classify and/or recognise conservation crime as a unique crime category could promote rigid and ignorant perceptions of this type of crime among criminological scholars and conservation officials
• Criteria for efficient crime classification

  • Uniform criteria
  • Comprehensiveness
  • Simplicity
  • No ambiguity
  • Durability
  • Feasibility
  • Applicability
• Crime classification methods and approaches


  • Bonger's classification: economic, violent, sexual and political crimes
  • Stumpfl's classification: heavy and light criminality, crimes committed at an early and late age, conflict and habitual crimes
  • Carey's classification: violent crimes, conventional and professional crimes, political crimes, crimes against the social order and white-collar crime
  • Schafer's life trend typology: occasional criminals, habitual criminals, abnormal criminals and conventional criminals
  • Reid's typology: violent crimes, property crimes, business crimes, organised crime and terrorism
• SAPS crime categories


  • Contact crimes
  • Contact-related crimes
  • Property-related crimes
  • Crimes heavily dependent on police action for detection
  • Other serious crime
• DCS crime categories


  • Economic
  • Aggressive
  • Sexual
  • Narcotics
  • Other
• Interpretation problems may exist regarding the DCS's "broad" crime categories as they do not provide further specification on the type of crime committed
• Unless an offender's SAPS 69 (official police document outlining specific current crimes committed as well as previous crimes) accompanies the offender to prison and is placed in the DCS's file system, little is known about the nature, extent and circumstances of the crime(s)
• Crime types


  • 1 THEFT (OTHER)
  • 2 FRAUD
  • 3 SHOPLIFTING
• With regard to reported cases, Makhada and Roelofse (2013:93) analysed cases of burglary in the Musina area, Limpopo Province. The aim was to establish whether Zimbabweans were the main perpetrators of burglaries.
• Of all cases reported to the police, about 76% were closed as undetected. Reasons given were that the suspects were unknown; no arrest had been made and that the available resources could not trace and detect the suspects in question.
• The implication is that there is a high probability that perpetrators may not be arrested and this may encourage perpetrators to commit more crime. On the other hand this may also discourage victims from reporting cases (Makhada & Roelofse 2013:93).
• Crime classes


  • A. CONTACT CRIME
  • B. CONTACT-RELATED CRIMES (crimes against property)
  • C. PROPERTY-RELATED CRIME
  • D. CRIME HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON POLICE DETECTION
  • E. OTHER SERIOUS CRIME
• Crime types within classes


  • A1 MURDER
  • A2 ATTEMPTED MURDER
  • A3 ROBBERY WITH AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES
  • A4 COMMON ROBBERY
  • A5 ASSAULT GBH
  • A6 COMMON ASSAULT
  • A7 SEXUAL OFFENCES
  • B1 ARSON
  • B2 MALICIOUS DAMAGE TO PROPERTY
  • C1 BURGLARY-RESIDENTIAL
  • C2 BURGLARY-NON-RESIDENTIAL
  • C3 THEFT OF MOTOR VEHICLE/CYCLE
  • C4 THEFT FROM MOTOR VEHICLE
  • C5 STOCK THEFT
  • D1 ILLEGAL POSSESSION OF FIRE-ARMS AND AMMUNITION
  • D2 DRUG-RELATED CRIME
  • D3 DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE
  • E1 THEFT (OTHER)
  • E2 FRAUD
  • E3 SHOPLIFTING
• Conviction rate of burglaries
• In respect of conviction rates, Makhada and Roelofse (2013:98) analysed the SAPS Annual Report (2008/2009) and found that the conviction rates for residential burglaries were at 21,8% (2007/2008) and 23,02% (2008/2009). For non-residential burglaries the conviction rates were at 22,7% (2007/2008) and 23,4% (2008/2009).
• In the case study of both the residential and non-residential burglaries it was found that in on 10 out of 237 cases reported the evidence gathered and presented in court resulted in convictions (Makhada & Roelofse 2013:98).
• The use of forensic analysis
• In 27% of recorded cases perused for the study of forensic evidence, the suspects' fingerprints and tool marks were found at the crime scene although the suspects had not been arrested (Makhada & Roelofse 2013:98).
• In 7,59% of the cases reported the owners had cleaned and/or had fixed their properties before forensic officers arrived. This was due to the fact that they were scared that the suspects would come back. Others claimed that they were not aware that they ought not to have cleaned and fixed the buildings before the forensic expert had come.
• A factor that may have caused the owners to clean or fix their property was the time lapse between the time when the crime was reported and the time when the forensics team arrived at the crime scene. This fact was not specified in the case dockets (Makhada & Roelofse 2013:99).
• In 6,32% of cases, the police failed to summon forensic analysts to the crime scenes of burglaries (Makhada & Roelofse 2013:98).
• Unavailability of witnesses
• According to the research, only in 33,75% of the reported cases were there witnesses who had information. A number of witnesses were not prepared to testify in court while others did not turn up in court. Unfortunately, no reason for witnesses not testifying was given in the case dockets (Makhada & Roelofse 2013:100).
• Conviction rate for each crime class and type
• According to Kotzé and Strydom (2008:20) and Pretorius (2008:81), crime is one of South Africa's most serious problems. South Africa is experiencing high crime rates, including violent crimes such as murder, attempted murder, robbery, assault (common and grievous bodily harm (GBH)), hijackings, mutilation of victims and rape.
• In South Africa, the focus on serious and priority crimes has constantly shifted since the 1980s. During the 1980s, bank robberies and political crimes (i.e. violent unrest and politically motivated killings) were perceived as serious crimes; during the 1990s the focus shifted to vehicle hijackings, taxi violence, crimes involving firearms, and women and child abuse. With the new millennium, attention shifted to crimes such as cash-in-transit and armed robberies, and currently the focus of South Africa's crimes include ATM bombings, terrorism, missing persons, human and child trafficking, environmental crimes and corruption.
• Serious crime categories in South Africa


  • Contact crimes
  • Contact-related crimes
  • Property-related crimes
  • Crimes heavily dependent on police action for detection
  • Other serious crimes
  • Subcategories of aggravated robbery
• Contact crime frequently affects victims in one or a combination of the following ways: death as an immediate or delayed result of the degree of violence used, injuries of various degrees, including permanent, disabling injuries, psychological trauma, which may also be of a permanent nature, loss of and/or damage to property.
• Contact crime figures for 2012/2013 compared to data recorded during 2011/2012 show an overall increase of 2,10%. Noteworthy during the current reporting period (2012/2013) is an increase of 4,63% in robbery (aggravating) and 4,16% in the incidence of murder.
• Detailed docket, geographical and timeline analyses of contact crimes corroborate that at least two-thirds of all contact crimes are strongly related to alcohol and other substance abuse and are mainly associated with informal settlements in mega-townships.
• Although accounting for only 5,0% of contact crime and 2,0% of all serious crimes, the increases in some of these subcategories are of extreme concern. When 2012/2013 crime figures are compared with those of 2011/2012, the following increased statistics are noteworthy. The trio crimes (robbery at business premises, robbery at residential premises, carjacking and truck-hijacking) increased (44 317–42 = 2 125) by 5,04%.
• It is interesting to note that 66% of all aggravated robberies are street/public robberies and that most of these robberies occur in central business areas and the black mega townships (e.g. Khayelitsha, KwaMashu, Umlazi and Nyanga). Ordinary people are robbed of their money, cell phones or other valuables at gun or knifepoint. Car hijackings and house robberies most frequently occur in the more affluent suburbs of Gauteng (e.g. Sandton, Honeydew, Douglasdale, Brooklyn and Garsfontein).
• Some contact crimes are social or domestic in nature and occur in social environments (i.e. in the privacy of homes). Social contact crimes include sexual offences, for example rape, assault (whether GBH, common or indecent), murder and attempted murder. These crimes generally occur between people who know each other (i.e. friends, acquaintances and relatives).