Summary KRM 120 chapter 4

Criminology 120
Semester test notes
Chapter: 4  The extent of crime in South Africa:
Mini glossary:
1. Crime  human conduct that is in violation of Criminal Law.
2. Dark figure of crime  the number of unreported crimes that are not reflected in official
crime statistics.
3. Official crime statistics  those crimes reported to the SAPS that resulted in prosecutions
and convictions.
4. INTERPOL  The international criminal police organization. This is an organization that
facilitates international police cooperation.
5. Crime trends  the increases and decreases in the rate of a specific crime (murder, rape,
burglary) over a period of time, usually a year.
Crime trends:
o Once looking at the definition of crime trends, it can be concluded that these increases and
decreases in the rates of specific crimes are influenced by factors such as economic climate
within a country, the level of education and the average age of the victims and perpetrators.
Crime statistics:
o Criminologists may use crime statistics in order to verify theories on crime.
o Crime statistics also contribute to the extending and developing of theories.

Crime statistic sources:
o 2 types of sources of crime stats:
1) Official sources:
 This relates only to those crimes reported to the SAPS that resulted in
prosecutions and convictions.
 Crimes that are NOT reported and do NOT lead to prosecution are also
NOT included in the official statistics.
 Sources of official stats:
a) Statistics SA
b) SAPS
c) Department of correctional services
d) Judicial inspectorate of prisons
e) The UK home office
f) Federal bureau of investigation
2) Non-official sources:
 These sources include self-report studies, victimization studies,
biographies and observation studies.
 Information from these sources hep fill the gaps in official statistical data
and when added to official figures, provide more accurate crime
statistics.
 Sources of non-official stats:
a) Institute for security studies
b) Statistics SA

, c) International crime victim surveys
o Criminal justice funnel  the attrition rate of crime or the sieve effect. This is when a large
number of offenders’ escape prosecution at every phase of the criminal justice system. These
are a considerable amount of offenders that are never detected, known as the “secret
deviants”.
Criminal justice process that should take place for every crime committed:




a crime is
court makes a decision.
committed
guilty= punishment (fine,CC)
and placed on official court
records.
police investigate
innocent= release and dont
appear on official court the crime
records.
criminal
justice
process:
alleged offender is offender is sought
brought before court and arrested
for a hearing

if enough evidence is
gathered, investigator
communicates with victim
and state prosecutor




Recording the crime:

o Many victims report complaints to the SAPS who in turn open a police docket (SAPS 3M).
o This specific case is recorded on the Criminal Administration System (CAS).
o A detective will be allocated to the case and then launches an investigation.
o Many of the cases are withdrawn, never solved or get thrown out of the court because of
poor evidence, the SAPS will still apply manpower and resources to investigating all
complaints.
o Problems/hindrances identified to complicate the recording of official crime stats:
1. Inconsistent recording procedures:
 People generally tend to judge a situation on face value or according to cultural
norms, therefore cultural standards, the level of police professionalism and the
personnel composition of the SAPS may contribute to the same bahaviour being
interpreted and recorded differently by different police officials.
 The way in which crimes are classified and recorded may also influence the
validity and reliability of the crime statistics.