This work provides a statistical analysis and interpretation of homicide rates and patterns in South Africa for the years 1948 to 2003. Complied from data accessed from the South African Police Services, Mortuary Reports, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Non Government Organisations the patterns of homicide according to race, gender and age are analysed. This thesis proposes that the anomic condition of South African society is a key contributor to the creation and maintenance of the high levels of homicide found in this society. The normalisation of inter-personal violence through the collective conscious of communities and individuals has resulted in the growth of homicide and its continued high levels ten years after the end of Apartheid. This hypothesis is further supported through a survey conducted upon teenage subjects in Kwa-Zulu Natal province of their attitudes towards the use of violence. This work demonstrated strong positive support for interpersonal violence by members of the police and state. The survey also showed significant racial and gender differences in attitudes. The anomic conditions that continue to be present in South Africa will contribute to the weakness of the criminal justice system, and the willingness of individuals and communities to use their own resources to combat crime rather than rely upon the state and its agents for protection. The result being a continued high level of violence and a weak criminal justice system. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

This is a study in Critical Psychology which examines the psychological costs of one of the direct outcomes of political repression - the experience of being in hiding. The aims of the study can be depicted on two levels: it is first and foremost an attempt to provide a true account of the phenomenon of being in hiding. On a second level of equal importance it is an implicit and overt critique of the social order in which this phenomenon takes place. The psychological experience of being in hiding is examined and discussed in its proper socio-political context. Therefore, the theoretical part of the mini-thesis has a strong political bearing, focusing on the State, and extra-parliamentary opposition in South Africa. repression The empirical part of the mini-thesis explicates the psychological experience of being in hiding with the aid of the phenomenological method of investigation. Due to the lack of research on this or similar topics, it is discussed within the framework of the experience of a stressful life event. For the five subjects being in hiding was an extreme intervention which was imposed upon their existences and which brought about a qualitative transformation in the individual subjects mode of being-in-the-world - not only in terms of practicalities, but also on a deep experiential level. It was a phenomenon which touched on fundamental parts of their experience of themselves and their individual worlds and the way in which they actualized themselves. For them it essentially entailed a loss of relationships and roles which resulted in an experience of a measure of encapsulation or separation from the world of others . It was a profound, multi - dimensional disruption of the structure of the subject ' s existence which infused a rich emotional experience .

M.Phil. / This is a study that seeks to understand what makes two children raised in the same crime and violence ridden environment grow to be different, one actually becoming angry and resentful and thus ending up in prison, having committed serious crime, the other one transcending his adversity and becoming an admirable leader in his community. The exploration of contributory factors, leading young people to get involved in violent behaviour is examined and protective elements in the social environment that enabled those to transcend their adversity are also explored. The stories of juvenile prisoners about their lives provide insight into how the family prepares the ground for violent behaviour. The study found from focus groups with high school learners that inner strength, positive self- esteem and focusing on target goals play a critical role in helping young people overcome their challenges, this confirms earlier research in longitudinal studies. The findings will help in the development of intervention programmes based on the experiences of the South African youths. It is also envisaged that this will enable the voices of young people to be heard.

M.A. (Psychology) / One of the most perturbing facets of South Africa's post apartheid communal existence is the high incidence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) amongst the disadvantaged communities. It is noteworthy that the incidence of PTSD amongst urbanised black youth is so high, that it can be described as an epidemic. Since therapeutic resources are limited or absent in many environments , it is essential to develop a project to cater for the needs of traumatised communities. Such programs should be cost effective and must relate to education within a psychological context. Following a diligent study of the literature, it was decided that a theoretical behavioural project be developed which utilises a psycho educational context that can be applied to black youth with PTSD.

Masters in Public Administration - MPA / Existing situations at various schools, especially in post apartheid South Africa suggest that the education environment for effective teaching and learning is problematic for several reasons namely a lack of safety and security, poor governance and management and a lack of community ownership and partnership. This research however assumed that the implementation of safety related policies and other departmental guidelines is the foundation for effective learning, especially in the Western Cape. The primary aim and objective of this research was to ensure that learning takes place in an environment free from crime, violence, drugs, intimidation and fear. It was an assessment to acquire information from schools and other role-players regarding the status of safety and security in schools and to verify whether crime prevention policies are implemented. / South Africa

This study was undertaken to describe how the community responded to the incorporation of the Merafong Municipality into the North West Province. The study examined the protracted conflict in Khutsong as well as why the strategies to end the conflict failed. The study was concerned about latent conflict; how differences are raised; dissatisfaction amongst members of the communities and that power asymmetry is the main driver of emotions leading to aggressive behaviour. Service delivery protests are characterised by violence in South Africa and more often communities turn violent in their engagement with their leaders or council officials. This is because it is believed that violence is the only language that authorities understand and they have nothing to lose as government property gets destroyed. Late invitations of third parties who have regulatory skills (negotiations, mediation, conciliation or judicial processes) when conflicts begin, lead to their escalation. A qualitative research method was chosen for this study. A qualitative case study better explained the phenomenon of interest. It allowed me to collect data from the respondents who were active members of the community through interviews. Twelve members of the community (from politicians, ordinary members, educators and the clergy) were part of the respondents. The report was of the respondents own personal experiences as active members of the community. Collected data from the transcripts was coded. Codes with similar meaning were put together in the same categories and the themes were formed from the categories. The qualitative content analysis method was used to analyse the data. From the analysis, it emerged that there was lack of communication and consultation from the side of the government before the implementation of the 16th Amendment Bill which was aimed at removing the cross border municipalities. The announcement was finally made of the incorporation of the Merafong Municipality into North West Province in 2005. The announcement was met with anger and frustration by the Khutsong Demarcation Forum and the community whose expectations were that the incorporation will not go ahead given the reasons they put forth when they met the government officials in the meetings after the demarcation board had proposed it. Violence was the only option for the community to show that their talks with government officials failed and that they are seriously opposed to the incorporation. That led to a protracted violence in Khutsong until 2009 when the Cross-Boundary Municipalities Laws Repeal and Related Matters Amendment Act of 2009 act was passed to reincorporate the Merafong Municipality back into Gauteng.

South Africa currently has one of the highest levels of crime in the world. The high prevalence of violence in South African culture has led to the increased exposure to violence of individuals of all ages. The South African Police Service annual report for 2008/2009 reported 48 732 crimes ranging from murder, attempted murder to sexual offences and common assault against children under the age of 18 years. In addition, young people between the ages from 12 to 22 are generally victimized at twice the adult rate and even higher for violent crimes. It is the belief of various theorists that exposure to violence can alter one’s cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes- the three core components that are essential to moral development. The role that exposure to violence has on the development of aggressive behavior has been thoroughly researched; however the implications that this exposure has on the moral development of adolescents remains vague. This study explored and described the relationship between exposure to violence and moral development amongst adolescent learners. A quantitative exploratory descriptive research design was employed and the participants were selected by means of non-probability, convenience sampling. The sample consisted of 53 participants at a coeducational high school in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The demographic data of the participants was gathered through the administration of a biographical questionnaire. The participants’ exposure to violence was explored by using the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire- South African Adaptation (HTQ-SAA), while their moral development was assessed by means of the Moral Judgment Test (MJT). The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and both the Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Chi square test was computed to draw inferences regarding the relationship between exposure to violence and moral development. The results of the study revealed that all of the participants were exposed to violence directly or indirectly on one or more occasion; however the frequency with which the participants were exposed to violence was lower than expected. The results of the MJT further indicated very low to low moral judgement competence scores for the majority of the sample. No significant correlation or association was found between the two constructs.

Different forms of racial segregation have been practiced in different countries the world over. However, the nature of South Africa‟s apartheid system, as it was practiced from 1948 until the dawn of the democratic dispensation in 1994, has been a subject of debate in South Africa and even beyond. Apartheid was a policy that was designed by the then ruling Nationalist Party for purposes of dividing and stratifying South Africa along racial lines - whites, blacks, coloureds and Asians. It thus promoted racial segregation and/or unequal stratification of society. In South Africa‟s hierarchy of apartheid, blacks, who constituted the majority of the population, were ironically the most destitute and segregated. Some historians believe that South Africa‟s racial policy was designed against the backdrop of Jim Crow, a similar system of racial discrimination which was instituted in the American South late in the 1890s through the 20th century. Jim Crow and apartheid are, in this study, considered as sides of the same coin; hence for the sake of convenience, the word apartheid is used to subsume Jim Crow. Although South Africa‟s apartheid system was influenced by different ideologies, for example German missiology as applied by the Dutch Reformed Church, historian Hermann Giliomee (2003: 373) insists that „the segregationist practice of the American South was particularly influential.‟ Given the ideological relationship between apartheid and Jim Crow, the present study investigates the interplay of compatibility between apartheid/Jim Crow and crime and violence as reflected in selected works of Richard Wright (African American novelist) and Athol Fugard (South African playwright). The aim of the study is firstly, to examine the works in order to analyse them as responses to apartheid and by extension colonial domination and secondly to investigate crime and violence. The three criminological theories selected for this study are strain theory (by Robert Merton), subculture theory (Edwin Sutherland) and labelling theory (Howard Becker). While criminological theory provides an empirical dimension to the study, postcolonial theory situates the study within a specified space, which is the postcolonial context. The postcolonial is, however understood, not as a demarcated historical space, but as a continuum, from the dawn of colonization to the unforeseeable future. Three postcolonial theorists have been identified for the purposes of this study. These are: Frantz Fanon, Homi Bhabha and Bill Ashcroft. Fanon‟s psychoanalysis of the colonized, Homi Bhabha‟s Third Space and hybridity as well as Ashcroft‟s postcolonial transformation are key concepts in understanding the different ways in which the colonized deal with the consequences of colonization. It has been suggested particularly in Edward Said‟s Orientalism (1978) that the discourse of orientalism creates the Oriental, as if Orientals were a passive object of the colonial adventure. This study uses Bhabha‟s and Ashcroft‟s theory of colonial discourse to argue that the colonized are not only objects of the colonial enterprise but also active participants in the process of opening survival spaces for self-realization. The various criminal activities that the colonized engage in (as represented in the selected works of Richard Wright and Athol Fugard) are in this study viewed as ways of inscribing their subjectivity within an exclusive colonial system.

Adolescents in the schools in South Africa have been victims of many social problems such as violence and crime as a result of background influence. They have been both victims and perpetrators of this violence. Problems of attachment to both school and home have always been blamed for the adolescents’ deviance. South African schools are affected by this verbal and physical violence which presumably emanates from learners poor connections with school and home. The background of societies such as economic deprivation has also been presumed to have an impact on the way adolescents conduct themselves in schools. There is no research that has verified the correlation between violence and attachment to bases of attachment - home and school in South Africa, especially in the Eastern Cape Province. A survey was conducted in more than ten schools in the Amathole District where 317 learners’ opinions on their observation of cases of verbal and physical violence in their schools, and on their attachment to both home and school were collected through a 40 item questionnaire. The questionnaire had five sections (a) to (e). The first section (a) required learners to enter their biographical information; gender, age, grade, and quintile classification. The second section (b) required learners to rate their attachment to their homes and to their care givers. The third section (c) required learners to rate their connectedness to their schools. The fourth section (d) required learners to supply information on their observation and involvement in verbal violence. The final section (e) with items adopted from section (d) and customised required learners to rate their observation and involvement in physical violence. Descriptive statistics were used to glean frequencies and the overall levels of attachment and violence amongst learners. The study also looked at significant differences in attachment (both family and school) and violence (both verbal and physical) using gender and socio-economic profiles of the learners and schools (quintile system) as sorting or categorising variables. One major finding which is contrary to most theory and may be as a result of social dynamics is that statistics suggested that gender and socio-economic variables had little bearing on violence and attachment. Through the use of SPSS, the Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients were calculated to answer the sub-questions on the relationship between family and school attachment, and school violence (both verbal and physical). There were notable negative and positive correlations between school attachment and verbal violence; for example there was a positive correlation between teachers making learners hate school and learner-involvement in swearing. There was also a negative correlation between school buildings making learners proud and schools and homes being to blame for the frequency of verbal violence in the schools. There were also notable correlations between attachment to family and verbal violence such as the correlation between the frustration by parents’ lack of concern and learners’ involvement in verbal violence without any clear reason. With regard to physical violence there was a negative correlation between parents having time to discuss life with their children and the frequency of physical violence in the schools. There was however a negative correlation between one’s pride in one’s school and the blame on schools for instigating school violence. From these correlations implications for school violence prevention could be drawn. The study reveals that a lot needs to be done by the schools, parents, the government, and the community to enhance learner attachment to both school and home. However, for all the stake holders to succeed government must take the leading role in speeding up the process of reducing poverty in the communities. This is premised on the fact that some findings reveal that frequency of violence increases in an environment of frustration and anger. Schools as care-givers can also introduce many interventions such as counselling workshops to equip teachers with professional crisis management. The research may encourage the Department of Education and schools to adopt violence prevention programs implemented in countries (like United States of America’s Olweus bullying and violence prevention program) for use in bringing communities together to work against school violence. These findings might strengthen the South African Department of Education’s Safe Schools Programs.