Increasing incidents of mob justice have left a trail of murders that remain unsolved in the rural areas of South Africa. As such, little attention has been given to the experiences of victims and perpetrators involved in mob justice related incidents in these areas in particular. The purpose of this study was to examine narrative accounts of the experiences of victims and perpetrators engaged in mob justice associated incidents in the Diphale village, Limpopo. Twenty participants, consisting of 14 perpetrators and 06 victims, were chosen through sampling techniques, like, convenience and snowball sampling. A qualitative approach was adopted using semi-structured interviews as the key research instrument. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with 09 perpetrators, and two focus groups involving 06 victims and 05 perpetrators. Data was analysed using thematic analysis to interpret data collected from the participants. The findings indicated that unsolved crime leads to persistent mob justice activities in the Diphale village. The findings in the study were further bolstered through the provision of recommendations aimed at preventing future mob justice activities. The recommendations highlight proper service delivery, including community development, and the reduction of corruption and bribery. / Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Criminology)

Security measures need to be put in place in order to deal with any security weaknesses that might occur or be observed. Care should be taken when addressing any crime or loss problem in any organisation, in this research study more specifically: petrol stations. It is clear that because of their diverse locations petrol stations have different levels of risks, e.g. low, medium and/or high risks. The study explored many issues including, among the others: security measures; petrol stations’ busiest times; vulnerable assets at petrol stations. / Criminology / M. Tech. (Security Management)

Criminal career research postulates that offending behaviour develops over time during the course of one’s life. Thus, delinquency is not an isolated incident which occurs at a certain moment in time. This research comprises a mixed-method study of the criminal career of 40 offenders who perpetrated robberies against the banking and CIT industries. Through this research, an exploration is made for possibilities of using criminal career research to develop results which will guide crime prevention policies. The qualitative methodology used for this research included semi-structured interviews in order to collect information on motivations of armed robbers and the various mechanics (i.e. planning, recruitment, group dynamics) of the crime of armed robbery. Through the use of structured questionnaires, biographical data, information on risk factors and figures on the different aspects of a criminal career, such as age of offending onset, offending frequency and seriousness, and career length, were all gathered. The general findings of this research demonstrate that offending onset occurs between the ages of 11 and 15 with petty crimes, and then escalates to serious crimes. Secondly, witnessed throughout the dissertation is the fact that development of delinquent behaviour is not a result of a single risk factor but an outcome of multiple risk factors. Subsequently, a suggestion is made for the introduction of multifaceted deterrence programmes, which will holistically deal with the various offending risk factors (i.e. family, community and the offender’s personal risk factors as well as peer and school dynamics). Thirdly, armed robbers are responsible for various other crimes in the process of committing the offence of robbery. Accordingly, this study confirms the criminal career notion that a small number of chronic offenders are responsible for a large number of offences. That is why it is recommended that policy makers pay attention to disrupting the criminal career of this small number of high risk offenders. / Department of Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Criminology)

Security measures need to be put in place in order to deal with any security weaknesses that might occur or be observed. Care should be taken when addressing any crime or loss problem in any organisation, in this research study more specifically: petrol stations. It is clear that because of their diverse locations petrol stations have different levels of risks, e.g. low, medium and/or high risks. The study explored many issues including, among the others: security measures; petrol stations’ busiest times; vulnerable assets at petrol stations. / Criminology and Security Science / M. Tech. (Security Management)

Criminal career research postulates that offending behaviour develops over time during the course of one’s life. Thus, delinquency is not an isolated incident which occurs at a certain moment in time. This research comprises a mixed-method study of the criminal career of 40 offenders who perpetrated robberies against the banking and CIT industries. Through this research, an exploration is made for possibilities of using criminal career research to develop results which will guide crime prevention policies. The qualitative methodology used for this research included semi-structured interviews in order to collect information on motivations of armed robbers and the various mechanics (i.e. planning, recruitment, group dynamics) of the crime of armed robbery. Through the use of structured questionnaires, biographical data, information on risk factors and figures on the different aspects of a criminal career, such as age of offending onset, offending frequency and seriousness, and career length, were all gathered. The general findings of this research demonstrate that offending onset occurs between the ages of 11 and 15 with petty crimes, and then escalates to serious crimes. Secondly, witnessed throughout the dissertation is the fact that development of delinquent behaviour is not a result of a single risk factor but an outcome of multiple risk factors. Subsequently, a suggestion is made for the introduction of multifaceted deterrence programmes, which will holistically deal with the various offending risk factors (i.e. family, community and the offender’s personal risk factors as well as peer and school dynamics). Thirdly, armed robbers are responsible for various other crimes in the process of committing the offence of robbery. Accordingly, this study confirms the criminal career notion that a small number of chronic offenders are responsible for a large number of offences. That is why it is recommended that policy makers pay attention to disrupting the criminal career of this small number of high risk offenders. / Department of Criminology and Security Science / M.A. (Criminology)

MA.CRM / Department of Criminal Justice / The policing response to increasing violent community violent protests in South Africa has received global attention in the last decade. The study was conducted with a backdrop of increased concern over skirmish and sporadic fighting and violence during service delivery protests. Criticisms have been voiced by various role-players in violent protests concerning arrests, injuries and killing of civilians by police during these demonstrations. Hence the study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of POP strategies in curbing common acts of violence during violent protests particularly in Vuwani area of Vhembe District, Limpopo Province. The study adopted a mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative method). Purposive sampling was used to select POP officials wherein Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted in 9 difference POP units, each FGD was comprised of approximately 5 members which total to 45 POP members. A total of 200 questionnaires were randomly distributed to community members of Vuwani within 5 were found invalid. Quantitative Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and qualitative data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicated that (86,2%) of participants believed that Vuwani protest was caused by municipal demarcation issues. The favourite methods of protests include littering with (80,0 %) and burning tyres with (76,4%) of participants. A total of (52,8%) community members argued that police presence perpetuate violence during service delivery protest. Common crimes that occurred during the protests was vandalism with (82,6%) and arson with (81,0%). Furthermore, (83,6%) community members agrees that rubber bullets was used as a strategy by the police at Vuwani protests. The overwhelming majority of participants with 80,0% believe that negotiation during protests can curb death and injuries. On the other hand, the study finds that POP official strategies start by negotiating with the protestors, identifying the leader, use of water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets as the last resort. Further emphasized that lack of manpower and resources are barriers that hinders effective policing of violent service delivery protests. It is therefore recommended that provision of resource and recruitment of manpower should be taken as a first priority by the SAPS national office. Lastly, the public should be educated about police presence during violent service delivery protests. / NRF

Text in English / The goals of this research were to explore, describe and explain the crime of associated robbery, which at the time of this study, was a scientifically unknown phenomenon. Associated robbery is defined as “a bank-related robbery (by association) of cash or attempt thereto, committed against a bank client or his/her delegate, at any stage while en-route to or from a bank branch, ATM or cash centre or inside the branch to effect a deposit, or, withdrawal” (SABRIC 2013:4) This robbery is divided into two main categories, namely robbery before cash deposit and robbery after cash withdrawal. As found in literature and also evident in the findings of this study, more incidents and related cash losses are reported from robbery after withdrawal, which is sub-divided into muti scam, money bomb and spiked drink. This study followed an exploratory, sequential, mixed-method research approach where the qualitative phase took place first – followed by the quantitative phase. The topic was firstly explored by collecting qualitative data via in-depth, one-on-one interviews (from a phenomenological point of view) where mutual meaning was sought, as understood by victims of associated robbery. To gather quantitative data, 500 bank clients (i.e. individuals, small business owners and stokvel/saving club members) completed a survey questionnaire. Their perspective on the phenomenon of associated robbery was thus explained and described through the use of descriptive statistics, particularly univariate and bivariate statistical analysis. The most significant contribution made by this study, is embedment of the preventative measures used by the banking industry and other stakeholders such as the SAPS into the Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles approaches. This model is heavily grounded on 12 SCP strategies, namely: access control; deflecting offenders; controlling facilitation; entry/exist screening; formal surveillance; surveillance by employees; natural surveillance; target removal; reducing temptation; rule setting; stimulating conscience; and facilitating compliance. Furthermore, the model emphasises that the combating of associated robberies is a collaborative effort and thus the individual (bank client), the banking industry, the criminal justice system (CJS) and the general public all have to work together in fighting this endemic. The lack of knowledge mainly from a victim’s perspective was identified as one of the challenges faced. However, this presented an opportunity for this study to make a significant contribution to the development of scientific literature. Moreover, the use of opportunity theories to explain the reasons why individuals are victimised placed the phenomenon in the criminological research milieu – thus pioneering a way for researchers who may wish to conduct future research on the same topic. / Criminology and Security Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Criminology)