NCJ Number
204933
Date Published
2004
Length
25 pages
Annotation
This chapter explores the emergence of a bureaucratic criminology in South Africa in the 1990’s.
Abstract
South Africa’s criminal justice history has been seeped in racism since the 1950’s when the Afrikaner Nationalist party had the ear of those in power. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, radical criminology came of age, but was faced the reality of an extant South African criminal justice system. In 1994, the new South African government espoused community and restorative justice ideologies and put forth reform efforts. This time, however, the criminology that had access to power was the antithesis of the racist criminology of the 1950’s. Moreover, funding was provided by donor nations, each of which espoused their own versions of criminology, which ultimately resulted in the emergence of a bureaucratic criminology in South Africa. The primary goal of this bureaucratic criminology is to ensure that the remodeled state apparatus is focused on catching and punishing criminals efficiently. The authors argue that this bureaucratic criminology has had more of an influence than the radical criminology of the early 1990’s, which espoused the ideal of a more egalitarian and communitarian society. The chapter examines reform efforts in police and policing ideologies during the 1990’s under the new regime of international influence. Policing reform efforts were based on notions of community policing, police accountability, and the language of human rights; however, results are mixed concerning the degree of change that has actually been effected in policing practice. Reforms in the South African prison system focused on the scope and nature of prisoners’ rights. However, after years of legal developments in this arena, only limited impact has been realized in terms of prisoner treatment and rights. Reforms to the judiciary, on the other hand, have generally been positive and have seemed to be less of a product of imported ideas from donor nations and more of a uniquely South African contribution to social justice. The final example offered of the interplay of imported criminological ideas into South Africa lies in its youth justice system. Problems of the ill-treatment and widespread imprisonment of children proved difficult to reform, yet South African reformers continue to put great effort into reforms by borrowing and building upon international initiatives in this area. Notes, references, cases, statutes