Civil Society Prison Reformhttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/13742024-03-28T09:52:40Z2024-03-28T09:52:40ZReducing prison violence: implications from the literature for South AfricaLukas, Muntinghhttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/51702019-12-06T00:01:46Z2009-01-01T00:00:00ZReducing prison violence: implications from the literature for South Africa
Lukas, Muntingh
In the past 15 years the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has faced numerous challenges whilst trying to re‐invent itself. This has not been an easy road and in many regards the route to penetrative transformation has been beleaguered with distractions; many of them the Department’s own making. Amongst all the strategic objectives towards transformation and the distractions, the most important objective of any correctional system may have lost focus, namely to detain prisoners under safe and humane conditions. This, very explicitly, means that individuals, when imprisoned, must not only be safe but they must also feel safe. Regrettably this is not the case and thus the need for this paper to take a closer look at violence in South Africa’s prison system. This is done by reviewing the literature on prison violence to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and also to establish whether there have been any effective measures implemented elsewhere to reduce prison violence. Based on these a number of recommendations are made to improve prison safety in South Africa.
2009-01-01T00:00:00ZThe Child Justice Act: a detailed consideration of section 68 as a point of departure with respect to the sentencing of young offendersStephan, Terblanchehttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/51692019-12-06T00:01:39Z2012-01-01T00:00:00ZThe Child Justice Act: a detailed consideration of section 68 as a point of departure with respect to the sentencing of young offenders
Stephan, Terblanche
The Child Justice Act 75 of 2008 establishes a criminal justice system for child accused, separate from the criminal justice system which continues to apply for adult accused in South Africa. The Act aims to keep children out of detention and away from the formal criminal justice system, mainly through diversion. When these interventions would be inadequate or unsuccessful, the Act provides for child offenders to the tried and sentenced in child justice courts. Until now there has been little discussion of the details of the provisions dealing with sentencing.
Sentencing in a child justice court is regulated by chapter 10 of the Act and section 68 is the first section in this chapter. This section effectively amounts to the “jurisdictional” provision of the new child sentencing system: it not only mandates child justice courts to impose their sentences in terms of the Act, but also provides the first set of boundaries (or the first part of the framework) within which sentencing
should take place. Despite its brevity, section 68 is not without interpretative challenges. Of course, it has to be interpreted within the context of the entire Act. Explaining this context is the first function of this article. The various aspects of section 68 are further critically
explored and discussed.
2012-01-01T00:00:00ZTowards an understanding of repeat violent off endingLukas, MuntinghChandre, Gouldhttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/51682019-12-06T00:00:31Z2010-07-01T00:00:00ZTowards an understanding of repeat violent off ending
Lukas, Muntingh; Chandre, Gould
Th is paper explores South African and international literature relevant to repeat off ending. It reviews the international literature on violent and aggressive behaviour and relevant, but limited, South African literature on violent criminal behaviour. Th is paper maps current thinking on violent and aggressive behaviour, nationally and internationally, with the aim of informing a focussed research design. It also provides a description of the wide range of variables at play in repeat violent off ending.
2010-07-01T00:00:00ZEx-prisoners' views on imprisonment and re-entryLukas, Muntinghhttp://hdl.handle.net/10566/51672019-12-06T00:00:32Z2009-01-01T00:00:00ZEx-prisoners' views on imprisonment and re-entry
Lukas, Muntingh
This research project gathered information from ex-prisoners about their experiences during and after imprisonment. Knowing what prison system users think and say about the system is important because they are ultimately the individuals who should benefit from the prison system. Moreover, listening to them deepens our understanding of what is being done correctly and should be built upon, but also where improvements are required. In the private sector such research is common in the form of client satisfaction surveys as well as more sophisticated analyses of customer views. It is in this sense that this research set out to gather information on the views of the “customers” of the correctional system in South Africa. Although this study involved only a limited number of participants, several important findings can already be made, based on what the customers of the DCS are saying.
2009-01-01T00:00:00Z