I was reading on someone elses blog about the death penalty in the States, and it turns out that in the last 31 years in America, of the 1099 people executed 57% were whites. A little more than half of that number were black. Does that mean that the death penalty has worked in terms of dissauding blacks from perpetrating crimes, and that whites think they are smart enough to beat the system, or does it mean that whites (in America) are at the lowest level in terms of the scum bucket.
Also quite shocking: 120 people were released from death throw. That doesn't mean they were innocent, maybe some were, but on appeal there was not enough to prove them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
I had a heated discussion on this topic, and my reasoning is simple: do you allow criminals to murder (50 murders a day in this country) and deprive your own community of defending itself (because that is exactly what it is, one small means of defending a community against out of control predators)?
The counterarguments are to be expected: what about the guy who gets sentenced to death in error?
Two things:
1) I'd argue that this individual is probably pretty sick and has a record of sick activity to get him facing this sort of sentence. In other words, you;re not talking about putting innocent or even seemingly innocent people on death row. You want the Criminal World's Top Achievers.
2) More lives are spared because the burglar or kidnapper decides not to also murder the woman he has just raped, reasoning, quite correctly, that if caught the most he could get is a life sentence. The death penalty may save thousands of potential lives in the sense that the criminal has pause - not in every case but in many cases - not to take the lives of people that come into harms way each and every day in this country.
In this sense, the saving in terms of lives saved - I'd argue - is incalculable, especially in South Africa.
Showing posts with label crime in the SA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crime in the SA. Show all posts
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Quote of the day
"But because you have one life, all the sentences will run concurrently and on top of the life sentence, you get a 20-year-sentence," Maluleke said.
The judge said it was a frustrating reality that the heaviest sentence one could receive in SA was life imprisonment.
From The Times.co.za
NVDL: This is a guy who never killed anyone, but did ruin the lives of a huge bunch of people. He conned his wife, he didn't need to be doing this, and in court blamed everyone, including his victims. It does seem absurd that one man gets a 1000 year sentence. It's like we live in such a criminally nuts country, and the best we can offer them is ongoing accomodation with TV and free meals. Think about it: the punishment for robbing and killing and raping is free food and accomodation for life.
The judge said it was a frustrating reality that the heaviest sentence one could receive in SA was life imprisonment.
From The Times.co.za
NVDL: This is a guy who never killed anyone, but did ruin the lives of a huge bunch of people. He conned his wife, he didn't need to be doing this, and in court blamed everyone, including his victims. It does seem absurd that one man gets a 1000 year sentence. It's like we live in such a criminally nuts country, and the best we can offer them is ongoing accomodation with TV and free meals. Think about it: the punishment for robbing and killing and raping is free food and accomodation for life.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Rich Man, Poor Man and Innocence Lost
The gruesome bridge connecting the poor to the rich in South Africa
Like many South Africans living in suburbia, I was horrified to read about a recent brutal attack on a family in Johannesburg, in a suburb much like the one I live in. A 7% rise in house attacks in South Africa may sound like an empty statistic, until one examines what a house attack actually involves. The amount of violence particularly against women, in the 330 daily robberies, is horrifying.
Read: 'I saw the worst of humanity'
‘There is a culture of violence in the country’
Crime in SA: Some recent key statistics
In the case of the Paterson’s* is not atypical in this sense. 5 African youths (with one waiting outside) attacked at around 10:30pm in the wealthy suburb of Sandown. After tying up the family, four men focused on abusing Bronwyn (shouting 'f***ing white bitch’, breaking her ribs, and stabbing her repeatedly with a scissors into the back of her neck), whilst a fifth – who said he had AIDS, raped the mother’s 17 year old daughter in a bathroom. Alan Paterson afterwards echoed the sentiments of many South Africans, saying: “I don’t have faith in our leaders…I want my family in a safe environment.”
The article then goes on to list many more horrifying attacks, including where an old woman’s fingers were snipped off with pruning scissors, a toddler murdered by a gang of four for crying, a woman burnt with scalding hot water who died weeks later and so on.
With 120 000 house robberies a year in South Africa, 9 500 murders, just under 23 000 reported rapes and almost 97 000 aggravated assaults, South Africa does indeed sound like a war zone. Around 3 times more South Africans have died in their homes each year than Americans die doing war duty in Iraq.
The attackers of the Paterson’s were primarily motivated by money. They fled with their two vehicles, jewellery, cameras, TVs, DVD player etc. Yet it is interesting that whilst perpetrating one crime (robbery) they, true to the South African trademark of violent crime, took time out to traumatize the white women. This cruel and unnecessarily spiteful behavior provides, I believe, a vital clue towards understanding the madness being perpetrated. Antony Altbeker says that violence is a momentary method ‘for criminals to show control and get their way’ during lifetimes dominated by violence, force and the meaninglessness of desperate circumstances.
Wealthy white people living in South Africa may feel disconnected and irrelevant to the plight of the poor surviving on the outskirts and slums of the suburbs. They may not see them during daily trips to work, the gymnasium or gardening. They may be faintly aware of the suffering every time Nelson Mandela makes a speech, or on a TV news bulletin. But the same message has been broadcast over and over again, and understandably to an extent, South Africans aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to tackling the problems a substantial fraction of each people face.
What’s more, the same proportion that is poor is also the hardest hit by the twin plagues of crime and AIDS. Being unemployed, dying, poor and wretched – the recipe stews, an outlet is sought for massive social neglect. Why do we suffer, while others, with so much, continue to live in selfish self absorbed luxury?
Whilst the victims of crime in suburbia may hurt and howl about the egregious harm been done against them, the bulk of these crimes are perpetrated in the slums, in the kettle dark shacks, the poor attacking their defenseless peers. Many of these crimes go unheard, unreported and naturally, unpunished.
Are the wealthy suburbanites, white and black, truly disconnected to the poor? The schism is tremendous. The wealthy are incredibly wealthy by African standards and even world standards. Many suburbanites in South Africa conventionally have domestic workers who clean their homes, wash and iron their clothes and look after their children. Gardeners are also commonly employed at low wages to trim lawns and water flower beds. Not a few houses have swimming pools. In the United Kingdom, only the elite can afford all these home comforts.
But in South Africa’s these comforts lower a curtain against the plight of groaning masses. And occasionally this curtain is sliced through by a band of thugs. It is in this way that the poor and the rich are connected. Whilst the rich attempt to ignore the poor, and poor cannot but obsess, hate and envy the wealthy. A glimpse, a taste of this other life, is what satiates their starved appetites, albeit a temporary satisfaction.
Meanwhile, those South Africans in suburbia – who through luck or security have managed to avoid becoming victims – watch television; children play computer games, mothers and daughters dress provocatively for a select audience. Violence for these South Africans belongs in films, where heroes like Schwarzenegger
kill in one moment, and hug little children the next. In computer games like Soldier of Fortune, teenagers can shoot victims and watch their faces spatter with blood. Money is spent on satellite television, the internet, cell phones, clothes and movies.
Meanwhile the poor sit around the flames of a roadside fire. They see families in the glassy bubbles of vehicles that pass by. They see the glow of the car radio, filling the inside of the bubble with soothing music. No one in those vehicles look at them. When they go inside their houses, they sit around the bright colors of the television. No one looks outside. The poor are forever outside, looking in, or finding a way to break in.
No, the poor in South Africa are not disconnected from the wealthy. They just wish they were, and this is part of the problem.
*From ‘I saw the worst of humanity’, Sunday Times, P13, by Henriette Geldenhuys.
Like many South Africans living in suburbia, I was horrified to read about a recent brutal attack on a family in Johannesburg, in a suburb much like the one I live in. A 7% rise in house attacks in South Africa may sound like an empty statistic, until one examines what a house attack actually involves. The amount of violence particularly against women, in the 330 daily robberies, is horrifying.
Read: 'I saw the worst of humanity'
‘There is a culture of violence in the country’
Crime in SA: Some recent key statistics
In the case of the Paterson’s* is not atypical in this sense. 5 African youths (with one waiting outside) attacked at around 10:30pm in the wealthy suburb of Sandown. After tying up the family, four men focused on abusing Bronwyn (shouting 'f***ing white bitch’, breaking her ribs, and stabbing her repeatedly with a scissors into the back of her neck), whilst a fifth – who said he had AIDS, raped the mother’s 17 year old daughter in a bathroom. Alan Paterson afterwards echoed the sentiments of many South Africans, saying: “I don’t have faith in our leaders…I want my family in a safe environment.”
The article then goes on to list many more horrifying attacks, including where an old woman’s fingers were snipped off with pruning scissors, a toddler murdered by a gang of four for crying, a woman burnt with scalding hot water who died weeks later and so on.
With 120 000 house robberies a year in South Africa, 9 500 murders, just under 23 000 reported rapes and almost 97 000 aggravated assaults, South Africa does indeed sound like a war zone. Around 3 times more South Africans have died in their homes each year than Americans die doing war duty in Iraq.
The attackers of the Paterson’s were primarily motivated by money. They fled with their two vehicles, jewellery, cameras, TVs, DVD player etc. Yet it is interesting that whilst perpetrating one crime (robbery) they, true to the South African trademark of violent crime, took time out to traumatize the white women. This cruel and unnecessarily spiteful behavior provides, I believe, a vital clue towards understanding the madness being perpetrated. Antony Altbeker says that violence is a momentary method ‘for criminals to show control and get their way’ during lifetimes dominated by violence, force and the meaninglessness of desperate circumstances.
Wealthy white people living in South Africa may feel disconnected and irrelevant to the plight of the poor surviving on the outskirts and slums of the suburbs. They may not see them during daily trips to work, the gymnasium or gardening. They may be faintly aware of the suffering every time Nelson Mandela makes a speech, or on a TV news bulletin. But the same message has been broadcast over and over again, and understandably to an extent, South Africans aren’t sure where to begin when it comes to tackling the problems a substantial fraction of each people face.
What’s more, the same proportion that is poor is also the hardest hit by the twin plagues of crime and AIDS. Being unemployed, dying, poor and wretched – the recipe stews, an outlet is sought for massive social neglect. Why do we suffer, while others, with so much, continue to live in selfish self absorbed luxury?
Whilst the victims of crime in suburbia may hurt and howl about the egregious harm been done against them, the bulk of these crimes are perpetrated in the slums, in the kettle dark shacks, the poor attacking their defenseless peers. Many of these crimes go unheard, unreported and naturally, unpunished.
Are the wealthy suburbanites, white and black, truly disconnected to the poor? The schism is tremendous. The wealthy are incredibly wealthy by African standards and even world standards. Many suburbanites in South Africa conventionally have domestic workers who clean their homes, wash and iron their clothes and look after their children. Gardeners are also commonly employed at low wages to trim lawns and water flower beds. Not a few houses have swimming pools. In the United Kingdom, only the elite can afford all these home comforts.
But in South Africa’s these comforts lower a curtain against the plight of groaning masses. And occasionally this curtain is sliced through by a band of thugs. It is in this way that the poor and the rich are connected. Whilst the rich attempt to ignore the poor, and poor cannot but obsess, hate and envy the wealthy. A glimpse, a taste of this other life, is what satiates their starved appetites, albeit a temporary satisfaction.
Meanwhile, those South Africans in suburbia – who through luck or security have managed to avoid becoming victims – watch television; children play computer games, mothers and daughters dress provocatively for a select audience. Violence for these South Africans belongs in films, where heroes like Schwarzenegger
kill in one moment, and hug little children the next. In computer games like Soldier of Fortune, teenagers can shoot victims and watch their faces spatter with blood. Money is spent on satellite television, the internet, cell phones, clothes and movies.
Meanwhile the poor sit around the flames of a roadside fire. They see families in the glassy bubbles of vehicles that pass by. They see the glow of the car radio, filling the inside of the bubble with soothing music. No one in those vehicles look at them. When they go inside their houses, they sit around the bright colors of the television. No one looks outside. The poor are forever outside, looking in, or finding a way to break in.
No, the poor in South Africa are not disconnected from the wealthy. They just wish they were, and this is part of the problem.
*From ‘I saw the worst of humanity’, Sunday Times, P13, by Henriette Geldenhuys.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Organised Crime in Johannesburg
On the 1st of December, at around 3pm we headed towards Ellis Park for the 46664 concert. Within a very short space of time the following happened:
- we were herded by a flock of youths wearing orange 'Crime Stop' jackets
- within a few hundred metres of a traffic light three black men approached my car (I was idling beside the sidewalk, waiting for a friend to catch up). The hair's on the back of my neck went up. They really appeared poised to strike, as they had stepped off the sidewalk, and were about a foot away from the passenger window. Unluckily for them there were no cars in front of me and none behind. After a few seconds they crossed the road.
- Not 200 metres further a car overtook another car around a blind corner. I hit the brakes, coming to a sudden, dead stop, so suddenly that the engine died - and the passing car just missed me.
- having found a parking place, a black man approached me and sternly said: "I told you to park there. You must park there now."
He was wearing an orange 'Crime Stop' plastic jacket. His attitude was aggressive and gruff. I told him I could park where I liked. He then handed me a ticket instructing me to pay him R50, and in capitalletters: Pay NOW!
I asked my buddy if he had paid and he replied with a snigger: "Are you kidding? Give this guy R50 so he can walk away and soon as we're gone and have a few beers."
On the way to Ellis Park I saw rats running along the pavement, the smell of human excrement and ganja, and in a drain in a road (the metal plate had been removed) someone had disposed of a computer. I was worried about walking back along this route at midnight after the concert, and I was concerned that my car would be waiting for me minus radio, wheels and engine.
When I did return - mercifully a blonde lady gave us a lift back - the car was in one piece, and our guard had, suprise surprise, disappeared. In his place was a pushy fellow who harassed us all the way to the car. He got R2 and change for his trouble.
Why do I say organised crime? Because the strategy to bully someone to pay you R50 essentially for nothing, and having photocopied tokens, is obviously organised, as well as having a team of guys direct traffic. Also the 'Crime Stop' jackets had to be procured from somewhere. Quite ironic: 'Crime Stop'. Ja, where the crime stops the extortion starts.
The attempt to get to Ellis Park that Saturday is by far the scariest experience I've had since moving to Johannesburg in late July.
To put into perspective how nuts the situation is: imagine a lot of traffic is moving along a highway near your home. The people in these cars are of a different race to you for the most part; perhaps Asians or hispanics. You go out of your house, angrily shout at them telling them where to park in your own street, and demand immediate payment. It's crazy.
Friday, November 23, 2007
City Homicides Still Dropping, to Under 500
“What are you going to do, send cops to every house?” said Peter K. Manning, the
Brooks professor of criminal justice at Northeastern University in Boston. “We know that historically, homicide is the least suppressible crime by police action,” he added. “It is, generally speaking, a private crime, resulting from people who know one another and have relationships that end up in death struggles at home or in semipublic places.”
For the rest of this astute New York Times article, go here.New York City is on track to have fewer than 500 homicides this year, by far the
lowest number in a 12-month period since reliable Police Department statistics
became available in 1963.But within the city’s official crime statistics is a figure that may be even more striking: so far, with roughly half the killings analyzed, only 35 were found to be committed by strangers, a microscopic statistic in a city of more than 8.2 million.
By AL BAKER
If that trend holds up, fewer than 100 homicide victims in New York City this year
will have been strangers to their assailants. The vast majority died in disputes
with friends or acquaintances, with rival drug gang members or — to a far lesser
degree — with romantic partners, spouses, parents and others.
The low number of killings by strangers belies the common imagery that New Yorkers are vulnerable to arbitrary attacks on the streets, or die in robberies that turn fatal.
In the eyes of some criminologists, the police will be hard pressed to drive the killing rate much lower, since most killings occur now within the four walls of an apartment or the confines of close relationships.
NVDL: This is exactly South Africa's problem. What makes it so hard to solve is that a terrifically high fraction of crimes are perpetrated by South Africans that know each other; thus, in homes. The majority of violence against the vulnerable (women and children) is also perpetrated in homes.
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