The judicial system is moving away from a retributive justice system to a more rehabilitative, restorative justice system. Diverting youth offenders from the justice system by alternative sentencing options such as diversion programmes is one way of doing this. Jt was found that a need exists for the development of a therapeutic programme for the rehabilitation of youth offenders in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to detennine the content of therapeutic rehabilitation programme and subsequently to develop a provisional therapeutic programme for youth offenders. The first part of the literature study summarized a number of theories used to explain the incidence of youth offence. The second part of the literature study discussed various risk factors that could lead to youth offence. Thirdly, the juvenile justice system in South Africa was discussed. Finally, the characteristics of effective rehabilitation programmes were discussed and a number of international and South African rehabilitation programmes were evaluated in tenns ofthese characteristics. In the literature study certain aspects for inclusion in a rehabilitation programme were identified. A list of topics that should be addressed by a rehabilitation programme was drawn up. A provisional therapeutic programme was compiled using the information gained from the literature study and the needs for a programme as identified by staff members at the facility where the programme was to be conducted. The programme was based on experiential learning. lt included a number of activities that addressed the topics identified by the literature study. The provisional programme was evaluated in tenns of its short-term effectiveness and adjustments to the programme were made. The adjusted programme was conducted at two other facilities and evaluated in tenns of its short-term effectiveness by the researcher, the staff at these facilities and the youth who took part in the programme. Staff at the two facilities where the empirical study took place were asked to complete questionnaires to identify their needs with regards to a rehabilitation programme as well as background questionnaires on the youth who were taking part in the programme. Recommendations for further improvements of the programme were made. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

In this research project the overcrowding problem in South African prisons will be analysed as well as the influence it had on the rehabilitation of offenders. The problem of overcrowding in South Africa's prisons is very clear when the approved accommodation of a prison is compared with the actual number of prisoners incarcerated. Prison sentences are a favoured form of punishment throughout the world. More and more people seek alternatives to incarceration in order to reduce prison overcrowding. The time to finalize criminal cases, releases on bail, the abolishment of minimum sentences and better utilization of community based sentences are some of the issues which can reduce overcrowding. One of the concepts that was implemented to establish rehabilitation within prisons was Unit Management. The number of prisoners incarcerated makes it difficult for Unit Management to be effective. In some cases prisoners are kept under inhumane conditions which is a violation of the Constitution of South Africa. Currently the morale of members of Correctional Services is very low and this has an influence on the way in which they treat prisoners. These members are supposed to be an example to prisoners but instead their bad behaviour has a negative influence on prisoner's discipline. Correctional Services goal is to make every member a rehabilitator but overcrowding will first have to be reduced. Individual attention to prisoners is one of the building blocks of Unit Management but overcrowding of prisons creates a member/prisoner ratio which is far too high to be effective with rehabilitating prisoners. Community based sentences can also be utilized more frequently by the courts. It can better rehabilitation possibilities and through this the objectives of punishment are met. In the past the focus of South African Law was on the criminal. With the Correctional Services Act (Act 111/1998) this focus was shifted to the victim as well. Both these parties can now come together and discuss the offence as well as the influence it had on the victim. This is called restorative justice and it helps the offender with re-integration into the community. / Criminology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Penology)

This dissertation is the culmination of extensive literature study on the application of Restorative Justice in the South African Correctional System. International and national resources on the application of Restorative Justice both in Corrections and as pre-sentence option had been studied. The background of the penal system and the development of Restorative Justice as part of the Criminal Justice System are investigated by looking at ancient practices, indigenous and modern practices. The study intends to draw on experience from other countries, while at the same time advocate for the development of a uniquely South African model or practice. The role of the most important stakeholders, namely victim, offender and community is emphasized with reference to the challenges that offenders face in terms of reintegration and the lack of resources in communities to enable them to honour Restorative Justice agreements. / Criminology / M. A. (Criminology)

The South African Constitution, with its Bill of Rights, represents a decisive break with the past and a great advance by South Africans in reclaiming their human dignity and fundamental freedoms. Before 1993 punishment of crime was defined by the social order which had been designed under the apartheid government; prisoners were generally subjected to cruel and degrading treatment while criminal suspects could be detained indefinitely and without trial. The penal system was to some extent directed at controlling and regulating the conduct of Blacks. The constitutional dispensation has resulted in a re-look at our penal policy and has placed great emphasis on the rights of prisoners. These rights flow from the rights to equality, dignity and liberty. The Constitution has entrenched certain rights of criminal suspects, including the right to a fair trial. Legislation has been introduced to ensure compliance with the constitutional imperatives. The new dispensation has given rise to debate on many issues, and facilitated a rise of a victims’ movement seeking to promote victim interests. This movement has noted that offenders and alleged offenders enjoy a series of constitutional rights, and that corresponding rights for crime victims need to be introduced. Victims are unlikely to be accorded rights in the literal sense of the word; nevertheless, they need to be accommodated within the criminal justice system. This need has given birth to a charter for crime victims, a document that seeks to empower crime victims. The perception remains, however, that offenders and crime suspects still enjoy too much protection, to the detriment of victim interests. The development of victim rights is hampered by the adversarial nature of the country’s criminal justice system and the perception that victims have no role to play within the criminal process, other than as witnesses. The purpose of the thesis is to analyse the extent to which our Bill of Rights strikes a balance between the interests of alleged offenders and offenders on the one hand, and crime victims on the other. It also seeks to create awareness about the plight of crime victims and to make suggestions on possible solutions. / Criminal & Procedural Law / LLD (Criminal & Procedural Law)

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (SATRC), using the theoretical and conceptual framework of the five pillars of transitional justice. Chitsike (2012) identified the five Pillars of Transitional Justice that the study uses. For that reason, Truth-Seeking and Truth-Telling, Trials and Tribunals, Reparations, Institutional Reform and Memorialisation are the Five Pillars of Transitional Justice that this study elected to use as the conceptual and theoretical framework. The Five Pillars of Transitional Justice that were delineated by Boraine (2005) are referred to for analytical purposes in the study. Methodologically, the study assumes a qualitative posture. Literature study through content analysis that uses description and exploration is deployed to make interpretation of the used literature. This study notes that each one of the pillars of transitional justice has its recommendations and limitations, and the pillars are much more enriched and enriching when applied in complementarity to each other rather than in isolation. The SATRC process also had its achievements and limitations, and its popularity was based on political impressions rather than concrete transitional justice achievements on the ground, in the view of the present study. Furthermore, it appears to the present study that more time is needed for much more reliable evaluations of the effectiveness of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) to be made, some of its successes and limitations will take many years and or even decades to manifest because at the end of the day, TRCs are historical process and not events. / Political Sciences / M.A. (Politics)

Text in English / While intergenerational transmission of trauma has been widely studied, there is a paucity of literature on intergenerational humiliation. Furthermore, humiliation is regarded as a significant feature of transgenerational transmission of trauma and revenge production. Therefore, the present study aimed to contribute to addressing this paucity and to explore and understand intergenerational humiliation as experienced by 20 children and grandchildren of victims of apartheid-era gross human rights violations. Conceptually, historical trauma theory framed the study. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was used to achieve the aims. Through purposive-criterion sampling, data was collected and analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis. Results show that the consequences of intergenerational humiliation are varied as feelings of hurt and loss perpetuate through the generations. Although positive influences counter these feelings within a generation, they remain alive in memories. This has implications on ethnic and racial inter-group relations as transitional societies such as South Africa seek social cohesion. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology (Research Consultation))

The judicial system is moving away from a retributive justice system to a more rehabilitative, restorative justice system. Diverting youth offenders from the justice system by alternative sentencing options such as diversion programmes is one way of doing this. Jt was found that a need exists for the development of a therapeutic programme for the rehabilitation of youth offenders in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to detennine the content of therapeutic rehabilitation programme and subsequently to develop a provisional therapeutic programme for youth offenders. The first part of the literature study summarized a number of theories used to explain the incidence of youth offence. The second part of the literature study discussed various risk factors that could lead to youth offence. Thirdly, the juvenile justice system in South Africa was discussed. Finally, the characteristics of effective rehabilitation programmes were discussed and a number of international and South African rehabilitation programmes were evaluated in tenns ofthese characteristics. In the literature study certain aspects for inclusion in a rehabilitation programme were identified. A list of topics that should be addressed by a rehabilitation programme was drawn up. A provisional therapeutic programme was compiled using the information gained from the literature study and the needs for a programme as identified by staff members at the facility where the programme was to be conducted. The programme was based on experiential learning. lt included a number of activities that addressed the topics identified by the literature study. The provisional programme was evaluated in tenns of its short-term effectiveness and adjustments to the programme were made. The adjusted programme was conducted at two other facilities and evaluated in tenns of its short-term effectiveness by the researcher, the staff at these facilities and the youth who took part in the programme. Staff at the two facilities where the empirical study took place were asked to complete questionnaires to identify their needs with regards to a rehabilitation programme as well as background questionnaires on the youth who were taking part in the programme. Recommendations for further improvements of the programme were made. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

In this research project the overcrowding problem in South African prisons will be analysed as well as the influence it had on the rehabilitation of offenders. The problem of overcrowding in South Africa's prisons is very clear when the approved accommodation of a prison is compared with the actual number of prisoners incarcerated. Prison sentences are a favoured form of punishment throughout the world. More and more people seek alternatives to incarceration in order to reduce prison overcrowding. The time to finalize criminal cases, releases on bail, the abolishment of minimum sentences and better utilization of community based sentences are some of the issues which can reduce overcrowding. One of the concepts that was implemented to establish rehabilitation within prisons was Unit Management. The number of prisoners incarcerated makes it difficult for Unit Management to be effective. In some cases prisoners are kept under inhumane conditions which is a violation of the Constitution of South Africa. Currently the morale of members of Correctional Services is very low and this has an influence on the way in which they treat prisoners. These members are supposed to be an example to prisoners but instead their bad behaviour has a negative influence on prisoner's discipline. Correctional Services goal is to make every member a rehabilitator but overcrowding will first have to be reduced. Individual attention to prisoners is one of the building blocks of Unit Management but overcrowding of prisons creates a member/prisoner ratio which is far too high to be effective with rehabilitating prisoners. Community based sentences can also be utilized more frequently by the courts. It can better rehabilitation possibilities and through this the objectives of punishment are met. In the past the focus of South African Law was on the criminal. With the Correctional Services Act (Act 111/1998) this focus was shifted to the victim as well. Both these parties can now come together and discuss the offence as well as the influence it had on the victim. This is called restorative justice and it helps the offender with re-integration into the community. / Criminology and Security Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Penology)

This dissertation is the culmination of extensive literature study on the application of Restorative Justice in the South African Correctional System. International and national resources on the application of Restorative Justice both in Corrections and as pre-sentence option had been studied. The background of the penal system and the development of Restorative Justice as part of the Criminal Justice System are investigated by looking at ancient practices, indigenous and modern practices. The study intends to draw on experience from other countries, while at the same time advocate for the development of a uniquely South African model or practice. The role of the most important stakeholders, namely victim, offender and community is emphasized with reference to the challenges that offenders face in terms of reintegration and the lack of resources in communities to enable them to honour Restorative Justice agreements. / Criminology and Security Science / M. A. (Criminology)

The South African Constitution, with its Bill of Rights, represents a decisive break with the past and a great advance by South Africans in reclaiming their human dignity and fundamental freedoms. Before 1993 punishment of crime was defined by the social order which had been designed under the apartheid government; prisoners were generally subjected to cruel and degrading treatment while criminal suspects could be detained indefinitely and without trial. The penal system was to some extent directed at controlling and regulating the conduct of Blacks. The constitutional dispensation has resulted in a re-look at our penal policy and has placed great emphasis on the rights of prisoners. These rights flow from the rights to equality, dignity and liberty. The Constitution has entrenched certain rights of criminal suspects, including the right to a fair trial. Legislation has been introduced to ensure compliance with the constitutional imperatives. The new dispensation has given rise to debate on many issues, and facilitated a rise of a victims’ movement seeking to promote victim interests. This movement has noted that offenders and alleged offenders enjoy a series of constitutional rights, and that corresponding rights for crime victims need to be introduced. Victims are unlikely to be accorded rights in the literal sense of the word; nevertheless, they need to be accommodated within the criminal justice system. This need has given birth to a charter for crime victims, a document that seeks to empower crime victims. The perception remains, however, that offenders and crime suspects still enjoy too much protection, to the detriment of victim interests. The development of victim rights is hampered by the adversarial nature of the country’s criminal justice system and the perception that victims have no role to play within the criminal process, other than as witnesses. The purpose of the thesis is to analyse the extent to which our Bill of Rights strikes a balance between the interests of alleged offenders and offenders on the one hand, and crime victims on the other. It also seeks to create awareness about the plight of crime victims and to make suggestions on possible solutions. / Criminal and Procedural Law / LLD (Criminal & Procedural Law)