Note: The violent crimes included are: Murder; Attempted Murder; Rape; Assault GBH; Indecent Assault; Common Assault; Common Robbery; Robbery; Carjacking; and Robbery at Residential Premises.
Note: If crime figures for 2007/2008 are compared to those recorded during 2006/2007, the following facts transpire:
The following violent crimes have decreased:
- Murder - 3.7%
- Attempted Murder - 6.7%
- Rape - 7.9%
- Assault GBH - 3.6%
- Indecent Assault - 0.7%
- Common Assault - 5.7%
- Common Robbery - 8.7%
- Robbery with Aggravating Circumstances -6.5%
The following violent crimes have increased:
- Carjacking 4.4%
- Robbery at Residential Premises 13.5%
The measures of violent crime come from three sources:
- The South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za
- The Department of Correctional Services: http://www.dcs.pwv.gov.za
- Institute for Security Studies: 2007 Crime Statistics: Report on the Crime Situation in South Africa: http://www.issafrica.org
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/crime_stats_2008.htm
Note: Interpol figures that were released in 2002 established South Africa as having the world’s highest murder rate, with 114.8
murders per 100, 000 inhabitants.[1]
: Over the past six years there have been 119, 305 reported murders in South Africa. There have been more murders committed in South Africa over the past 30 months than there were in the United Kingdom in the period dating back to 1898.[2]
Figure 2 indicates an overall decline in incidents of attempted murder between 2001/2002 and 2007/2008, with levels reaching a peak in the period 2002/2003.
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/crime_stats_2008.htm
* The implementation of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, Act 32 of 2007 on 16 December 2007 resulted in changes to the definitions of certain sexual offences (inter alia providing for male rape, which was previously recorded under indecent assault). This has an impact on the statistics pertaining to sexual offences. The statistics reflected in the table above with regard to Rape thus only have a bearing on the period April to December of the different financial years under review to allow for some sort of comparison.
Figure 3 shows an overall decline in incidents of rape between 2001/2002 and 2007/2008. The periods 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 saw an increase in these incidents.
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.issafrica.org
Figure 4 shows that there has been a steady decline in incidents of assault GBH since 2001/2002.
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/crime_stats_2008.htm
* The implementation of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, Act 32 of 2007 on 16 December 2007 resulted in changes to the definitions of certain sexual offences (inter alia providing for male rape, which was previously recorded under indecent assault). This has an impact on the statistics pertaining to sexual offences. The statistics reflected in the table above with regard to Indecent Assault thus only have a bearing on the period April to December of the different financial years under review to allow for some sort of comparison.
Figure 5 indicates that incidents of indecent assault have increased overall since 2001/2002.
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2007/categories.htm
Figure 6 shows an overall decline in common assault between 2001/2002 and 2006/2007.
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/crime_stats_2008.htm
Figure 7 indicates an overall decline in incidents of common robbery since 2001/2002, with a peak in these incidents occurring in the period 2002/2003..
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/crime_stats_2008.htm
As can be seen in Figure 8, rates of robbery with aggravating circumstances have increased since 2001-2002, peaking in 2003-2004.
Robbery with Aggravating Circumstances includes the following subcategories of Robbery: Carjacking; truck highjacking; robbery at residential premises (house robbery); robbery at non- residential premises (business robbery); cash-in-transit (CIT) robbery; bank robbery; and other aggravated robberies not mentioned elsewhere in this list, which are mainly aggravated robberies occurring on the streets and in other public spaces.
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/crime_stats_2008.htm
Figure 9 indicates that carjackings have declined overall since 2001/2002. However, these incidents have shown a gradual increase since 2004/2005.
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/crime_stats_2008.htm
Figure 10 shows an increase in residential robberies since 2001/2002, with a 13.5 per cent increase in the last year (2007/2008). These incidents have in fact been increasing over consecutive years since they were first indicated as a separate crime category in 2002/2003.
Source: South African Police Service: http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2008/crime_stats_2008.htm
[1] Marc Weinberg. South Africa’s Violent Crime Escalates in 2007
Available Online: http://www.bigg.net/n66639-South_Africas_Violent_Crime_Rate_Escalates_in_2007.html.