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Reliable and detailed data on crime is a prerequisite for the development and implementation of effective crime prevention strategies. The recently released quarterly crime report of the SAPS Crime Information Management Centre (CIMC) is therefore an important yardstick for the monitoring of the incidence of crime, according to Dr Willem Schurink, manager of the Crime Prevention Programme of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). Dr Schurink added that the report was a positive contribution to a comprehensive, scientific understanding of the complexities of local crime and related phenomena. The HSRC welcomed the fact that the report recognized the lack of a comprehensive crime code list according to which varieties of crime categories such as domestic violence, family murder, date rapes, gang rapes, and rapes related to prostitution could be classified; viewed crime as a variety of heterogeneous factors and not as a single phenomenon, and emphasized the employment of various methods of collecting social science data (e.g. archival research, survey research and field research), as well as various methods for analysing such data.
Regret was, however, expressed about omissions in the report, especially on statistics dealing with crimes against children. "Article 28 of the Constitution demands protection of children against maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation. Crimes against children and women have been declared a national priority by Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi. It is therefore incomprehensible that serious crimes against children, such as sexual offences, assault and murder, are omitted from the report," said Mrs Evanthe Schurink, manager of the HSRC's Child and Family Welfare Programme. She also complained about the confusing way in which statistics relating to crimes against children were lumped together under one heading, namely Cruelty towards and ill-treatment of children, which posed a major problem in understanding what these crimes entailed. Mrs Schurink stated that omitting crime statistics on sexual offences against children was a serious oversight in the report. She based her criticism on the growing increase in sexual offences against children and on the fact that a previous quarterly report of the CIMC mentioned that it was 'worrying to note that in 37,2% of the total number of rape and attempted rape cases reported during the period January to?June, the victims had been younger than 18 years of age'. "Another shortcoming is the fact that the activities of the Child Protection Unit (CPU) are not reflected in the report," she added. According to Mrs Schurink reported crime figures show that child maltreatment (especially child sexual abuse) is a serious and growing problem. CPU projections also show that if crimes against children continue at the current rate of about 30% a year, the CPU will annually have to deal with more than a million child abuse cases by the year 2000. However, due to a lack of systematic research into the underreported incidence of child victimization in the country, the true extent of crimes against children is unknown. "The SAPS report acknowledges that statistics underrepresent the true extent of crime and an agreement has been reached with the HSRC to conduct surveys on the underreporting of crime," she said. Mrs Schurink furthermore cautioned that the CIMC should be child sensitive in compiling the proposed crime code list. She also recommended that more comprehensive statistics of crimes against children be kept since these would clearly reflect the patterns of the various categories of crimes committed against children. "Despite the high incidence of crimes against children, no statistical profile of the offender, victim or of the circumstances in which the crime occurred has been constructed. Such a profile is crucial to understanding the pattern of various crimes committed against children (such as murder, rape, serious assault, common assault) and to developing prevention strategies," Mrs Schurink said.
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