Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Mater of Arts in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2009. / This study entails an empirical inquiry of the police as a fear reduction agency in two rural communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is based on data forthcoming from a non-probability sample selected from Mthatha and Butterworth respectively, according to purposive Judgemental) sampling procedures. A pre-coded, dosed-structured questionnaire has been implemented as data capturing instrument. Statistical outcomes are based on the opinions, perceptions and attitudes of 300 respondents randomly selected from those two areas. The study resembles an exploratory, descriptive analysis of dependent variables, cross-correlated with one prominent independent variable: gender and described in terms of frequency distributions. This investigation does not entail a comparative study.
The study has two focal points: fear of crime and the role of the police in reducing fear. The safety (physical sense of protection) and security (psychological sense of peace) of each individual is a basic human right in terms of the Constitution, entrenched in the Bill of Rights. Individual safety and security are basic to the quality of life in any given society. If the quality of life is affected by crime and fear of criminal victimisation, then both conditions should be viewed as a social problem. The main objective of the study revolves around expanding our substantive knowledge of fear of crime. The study further seeks to establish whether selected priority crimes contribute to the respondents' fear of crime.
Additionally, it is curious about differences in variations of fear of crime measures rating of certain crime measures as a social problem and whether the role of the police is conducive to the reduction of the fear of crime. Research techniques employed include literature study, questionnaire, random sampling and Chi-square test.
Based on data contained in statistical tables, the following emerge:
• Gender attributes appear to be a good predictor of fear of crime
• Selected serious personal and property crimes and previous criminal victimization are posing a threat to respondents' safety and security which may result in fear of crime.
• When cross-related with measures of fear of crime, significant differences between male and female respondents emerged; females are more fearful than males.
• Acquisition of self-protection measures to allay fear of crime are slightly more popular among female respondents who opted to curtail their movements, leave the lights and TV on, but were less inclined to acquire a firearm.
• Female respondents had more positive contact with the police than males and somewhat more inclined to work with the police.
Reconsidering mission statements, enhancing police-public cooperation, appointing and training Community Police Officers, etc. are a few recommendations of this study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uzulu/oai:uzspace.unizulu.ac.za:10530/958 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Mayoyo, Linda Evenette |
| Contributors | Potgieter, P.J., Ras, J.M. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
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