NCJ Number
120525
Date Published
1987
Length
250 pages
Annotation
Evidence suggests that detainees held under security laws in South Africa are frequently subjected to torture, despite government claims to the contrary.
Abstract
It is believed that about 40,000 detainees have been victimized by Apartheid's legislation and that detention is a political act designed to contain democratic political opposition to the white minority South African regime. It is also felt that the past 35 years have seen a substantial erosion of court independence and jurisdiction and an increase in executive power. Conditions for those held under security law detention are harsh. Torture, in terms of both physical and psychological abuse, seems to be a relatively standard procedure. The psychological outcome of detention and tortue is similar to post-traumatic stress caused by other highly stressful situations such as automobile and aircraft crashes, military combat, rape, prisoner-of-war or concentration camps, and natural disasters. The most substantial problem with respect to post-traumatic stress is the possibility that noxious stressors such as torture may not produce a unitary syndrome, but rather separable disorders dependent on the precise nature of stressors involved. Recommendations to improve human rights and criminal justice in South Africa are offered that are based on medical, legal, and psychological ethics. Tabular data from an empirical study of detention in South Africa are appended. 507 references, 15 tables, 2 figures.