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Summary CMY3702 - Crime Typologies (CMY3702)
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CMY3702 – CRIME TYPOLOGIESTHEME 1 – CRIME TAXONOMY
Introduction:
Legal classifications of crime and criminal codes are established by a society, depending on
what it perceives as socially damaging, and to serve as a stern threat to members of that
society
In SA, legislation determines what constitutes a criminal act
o However, specific crime categories are stipulated by the SAPS and crime statistics
are interpreted and recorded nationally
The identification of crime as the most important social problem in the study of social
sciences led to its becoming one of the most important themes in the study of social
science
Definitions of Concepts:
Crime
o A transgression of the law and if the transgressor is found guilty by the court, the
state may impose punishment
Crime patterns
o Describe the incidence of the different types of crime in a specific year
Crime trends
o The increases and decreases in the different types of crime in a specific year
Crime statistics
o The numbers that comprise all the information regarding crime, scientifically
arranged and tabulated in order to give a total picture of the crime problem
Crime classification
o Refers to the division or arrangement of crime data into specific classes
o Classification is based on the fact that data on certain crimes show definite
underlying similarities
Crime Classification:
Necessary to determine:
o Common factors shared by certain crimes
o A data record of types of crimes
o Activities that constitute crimes
o Answers as to why people commit particular crimes
o Crime prediction
The purpose and function of crime classification are to gain an impression of various types
of crime, permitting crime to be broken down into particular groups to reveal primary
commonalities and ensure a richer understanding of crime typologies
Classification can describe and explain an unchanging phenomenon in a community,
facilitating it identification, clarification and prediction
Provides a basis for the treatment and prevention of the specific phenomena
Failure to classify and/or recognise conservation crime as a unique crime category could
promote rigid and ignorant perceptions of this type of crime among criminological scholars
and conservation officials
Efficient crime classification should encompass the following:
o Uniform criteria
o Comprehensiveness
o Simplicity
o No ambiguity
, o Durability
o Feasibility
o Applicability
Contemporary Crime Categories:
Herbig lists a number of different methods for and approaches to clime classification:
o Bonger’s classification
Economic, violent, sexual, and political crimes
o Stumpfl’s classification
Heavy and light criminality, crimes committed at an early and late age, conflict
and habitual crimes
o Carey’s classification
Violent, conventional and professional, political, crimes against the social
order, white-collar crimes
Schafer’s life trend typology
Occasional criminals, habitual criminals, abnormal criminals, and
conventional criminals
Reid’s typology
Violent, property, business, organised and terrorism
South African Crime Categories:
SAPS DCS
Contact crimes: Economic:
- Common robbery - Fraud
- Rape - Housebreaking and entering
- Attempted murder - Theft
- Robbery (aggravated)
- Assault (common)
- Murder
- Assault (GBH)
- Indecent assault
Contact-related crimes: Aggressive:
- Arson - Murder
- Malicious damage to property - Armed robbery
Property-related crimes: Sexual:
- Burglary at residential and business - All sex-related crimes
premises
- Theft of motor vehicles or from motor
vehicles
Crimes heavily dependent on police action for Narcotics:
detection: - Drug-related crimes
- Illegal possession of firearms and
ammunition
- Drug-related crimes
- Driving under the influence
Other serious crime: Other:
- All theft not mentioned elsewhere - Public disorder
- Commercial crime - Some traffic crimes
- Shop-lifting - By-law offences
SAPS:
Mandela appointed Fivaz as the first national commissioner
Highlights of Jacki Selebi (national commissioner in 2000) tenure:
, o He provided strict leadership and demanded certain things
o His management team felt intimidated by his threats of being ired
o His provincial management used him as a role model to intimidate their subordinates
to achieve their targets or face dismissal
o He closed area structures and specialised units and increased the appointment of
black senior officers
o He was a leader who made decisions on his own and told his subordinates what to
do
o He became acquainted with all the top criminals being investigated for being
involved in syndicate crimes by the SAPS Organised Crime Unit
TC Williams – 2007-2009
Bheki Cele
Mkhwanazi
Phiyega – 4th national Commissioner of the SAPS
Police Reports:
Why complaints may be incomplete
o Failure of witnesses to testify (page 8)
o Acquittal of suspects (page 8-10)
Police Crime Detection Rate:
Of all cases reported to the police, about 76% were closed as undetected
o Reasons given were
The suspects were unknown
No arrest had been made
That the available resources couldn’t trace and detect the suspects in
question
o The implication is that there is a high probability that perpetrators may not be
arrested and this may encourage perpetrators to commit more crime
This may also discourage victims from reporting cases
Court Conviction:
Conviction of burglaries – page 12
The use of forensic analysis – page 12
Unavailability of witness – page 12
Serious Versus Priority Crimes in SA:
Currently the focus of SA’s crimes include ATM bombings, terrorism, missing persons,
human and child trafficking, environmental crimes, and corruption
South African Serious Crime Categories:
Categories
o Contact crimes
o Contact-related crimes
o Property-related crimes
o Crimes heavily dependent on police action for detection
o Other serious crimes
o Subcategories of aggravated robbery
Contact crimes frequently affects victims in one or a combination of the following ways
o Death as an immediate or delayed result of the degree of violence used
o Injuries of various degrees, including permanent, disabling injuries
o Psychological trauma, which may also be of a permanent nature
o Loss of and/or damage to property
Stats on page 15
, South African Priority Crimes:
Priority crimes are determined by consulting various crime information sources
A listing of priority crimes ensures more responsive police foci and action, community
projects, and the installation of more sophisticated crime prevention measures
Post-1994, the South African Crime Prevention Plan identified the following national priority
crimes:
o Crimes involving firearms
o White-collar crimes
o Crimes against women and children
o Violence related to intergroup and political differences
o Vehicle theft and hijackings
o Paramilitary activities
In response to the above priority crimes, the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit (PCLU) was
created
o Specialist prosecution unit of the National Prosecuting Services (NPS) and the unit
manages and directs investigation and prosecution of the following priority crimes:
Proliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction
Proliferation of conventional (military) weapons
All forms of terrorism
Mercenary and foreign military assistance and activities
The Statute of Rome
Intelligence-related activities
Prosecutions arising from the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee
The Missing Persons’ Project
Selected civil claims
NPS, mutual legal assistance, and extradition
Legal research and furnish legal opinions
Priority Crimes in Various Countries:
Countries that experience few problems with crime are characterised either by a
homogeneous population or by inhumanly severe penalties for offences
Highlighted statistics of serious crimes in America, Australia, England, and Wales
o Page 17
THEME 2 – ORGANISED CRIME
Introduction:
Organised crime functions as an industry that aims to make a financial profit
o In doing so, legal activities are infiltrated and this makes organised crime groups
complex and diverse
Organised crime presents considerable risks and challenges to the social, political and
economic welfare of countries
Defining Organised Crime:
Organised Crime:
A continuing criminal expertise that rationally works to profit from illicit activities, its
continuing existence is maintained through the use of force, threats, monopoly control,
and/or the corruption of public officials
A continued, structured collectivity of persons who use criminality, violence, and a
willingness to corrupt to gain and maintain power and profit
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