Blog South Africa

Crime and murder has been rife in South Africa over the past decade or so, but it seems to me that murder is now reaching epidemic proportions. Other serious crime also seems to have escalted out of all proportion – take a look at the beating up of baby Marzaan Kruger.

These terrible things got so much worse when South Africa stopped using the death penalty.

Some Arguments for the Death Penalty

- Some argue that the death of a criminal gives closure to their victim’s (if they are still alive) and their families.

- The death penalty serves as a deterrent to criminals who may be considering committing a capital offence.

- One of the main principals of punishment and the judicial system is that the penalty fits the crime. If someone violently murders another individual or numerous people, then it makes sense for the punishment to be death.

- Some anti-death penalty campaigners describe examples of people on death row, or people have already been killed have then been proved innocent. Today, the accuracy of modern forensics and DNA testing makes it very unlikely for an innocent person to be put on death row. Furthering this point, it is argued that the number of innocent people that may be killed is equalised by the number of actual criminals that are set free.

- Putting people in prison, as opposed to executing them gives them a chance of parole (or the small chance of escape), meaning they can commit more crimes. Capital punishment means there is no chance of the criminal committing another crime.

Some Arguments Against the Death Penalty
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Tags: Crime by James
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Brittany Mitchell, the KwaZulu-Natal teenager who was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder after she tried to have the mother of her former boyfriend killed, will not face a trial, instead she will have to go to Anger Management classes, a life skills course and do 100 hours of community work.

Now it must be noted that the withdrawal, or diversion, of charges is used to prevent minors or adults with minor offences from going through court procedures and rather receive rehabilitative assistance.

So what exactly is classified as a “minor offence” these days if conspiracy to commit murder falls in that category?

This worrying court decision is quite rampant in the UK these days, where so many people have been pretty much “let off” without barely a slap on the wrist. The result of this in the UK has been a rise in crime, particularly amongst the youth. These young offenders have grown up knowing that nothing will be done to them, regardless of the crime committed.

We can already see this attitude amongst the youth of South Africa. Over the past ten years we have seen a massive rise in serious youth crime, including murder, rape and violence. It is court decisions such as this that can only fuel this “untouchable” belief amongst the youth and further fuel this out-of-control behaviour.

My personal feeling is that we need to bring back firm discipline to the schools and homes, as well as firm action by the courts. Kids need to know that there are boundaries and that when they cross them, there are severe consequences!

Tags: Crime, Society & Culture by James
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Today saw the resumption of the High Court trial of former DJ Heinrich van Rooyen – nearly two years after he was arrested for the rape and murder of two young women.

The trial should be interesting with some similar faces as in the van der Vyver trial. The chief investigating officer is none other than Director Attie Trollip and the lead prosecutor is state advocate Christhenus van der Vyfjer.

Many people who have been following the Inge Lotz murder trial, will also be closely scrutinizing the van Rooyen trial to see how the ‘team’ handles the prosecution and what went on in the investigation.

Both Trollip and van der Vyfjer have received some negative press regarding the van der Vyver investigation and trial. On the other hand other people have lauded their work. As the van der Vyver trial is not yet over, it is difficult to see what the judge and accessors think.

The van Rooyen case also features private investigators, alibis and of course the bantering between state and defence.

The judge in the van Rooyen trial is Justice Nathan Erasmus and the defence team is made up of Lunen Meyer and advocate Terry Price.

Tags: Crime by James
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