African Journals Online
Acta Criminologica

Volume 15, Issue 1, 2002
Abstracts

Title: Youth violence : strategies for effective prevention and intervention
Authors: Vogel, D.

Abstract: As violence increases, so does pressure for safe and orderly schools. Schools around the world are struggling with ways to prevent violence among learners. When learners poorly manage their conflicts with each other and with their teachers or other authority figures this results in aggressiveness and violence (McCormick 1988; Kreidler 1984). Abraham Maslow (1970:10) placed the safety and security of the individual as second only to physiological needs in his hierarchy of needs that must be satisfied before individuals are able to attend to the higher-level needs associated with school achievement. Exposure to and perceptions of danger in schools and in the environment are likely to threaten the ability of youth to fulfill their potential in the school setting (Bowen & Bowen 1999: 319). Violence can be described as "rough or injurious physical force, action, or treatment against a person" (Webster's College Dictionary 1996). According to Monahan (1981:39), violence can be defined as "overtly threatened or overtly accomplished application of force which results in the injury or destruction of persons or property or reputation, or the illegal appropriation of property". What are factors that cause violent or aggressive behaviour among youth?


Title: Planning a vehicle hijacking : positive and negative factors that are taken into consideration when hijacking a vehicle is considered
Authors: Davis, L.

Abstract: Although research that has been undertaken in South Africa to date focuses on the nature and extent of vehicle hijacking, little empirical information exists regarding the planning of a vehicle hijacking and more specifically the mind-set of offenders in terms of the positive and negative factors that are taken into account when hijacking a vehicle is planned. As part of a broader study on the modus operandi of vehicle hijackers, 12 hijackers which had been sentenced for armed robbery and were involved in various hijackings, were interviewed in an attempt to get insight into the rationality behind decisions taken before and during the execution of a vehicle hijacking. The rational choice perspective (which had been discussed in a previous article) served as the theoretical framework for the study. Owing to the fact that the study is exploratory by nature and that it could generate further hypotheses, the findings were, where possible highlighted by the individual respondents' remarks, views and comments.


Title: Organisation for service - a comparison between youth institutions in Michigan, United States of America and Pretoria, South Africa
Authors: Houston, J.Prinsloo, J.

Abstract: The history of juvenile institutions in the United States and South Africa followed two very different routes. In addition, both the management and staffing patterns of those institutions are rather different as is reflected by the fact that South African youth development centres or youth prisons are still searching for a management system that would be agreeable to most people. In the United States, the cottage system is widely used and has a history going back to the end of the American Civil War in 1864. The concept has been modified somewhat in some institutions and is now called unit management. This project grew out of discussions about the differences between American and South African youth institutions. The instrument used has been derived from the classic study of youth institutions by Street, Vintner, and Perrow's (1966) and was modified for contemporary and international use. The WJ Maxey Training School at Whitmore Lake, Michigan, was one of the institutions studied by Street et al. (1966). The Emthonjeni Youth Development Centre (youth prison) at the Department of Correctional Services' Baviaanspoort Management Area on the outskirts of Pretoria, was selected as the South African institution to be studied.


Title: The possible role of child sexual abuse in the involvement of girls in prostitution
Authors: Scott, J.Pretorius, R.

Abstract: The perception of childhood as a time of protected innocence, carries notable weight within South African society (Straus 1990:82). Headlines that read "Paedophiles' cellar of shame" (Morgan 1997:38) and "SA's shame children in the sex industry" (Altenroxel 1997:34), however, provide contradicting evidence to this viewpoint. Cole (1994:29) supports this opinion regarding the South African situation by stating that sexual violence against children is becoming a common phenomenon in South Africa and researchers such as Bartol (1985:247), Goldstein (1987:61) and Bagley and King (1990:10), are of the opinion that the increase in juvenile crimes such as prostitution, may be attributed to sexual abuse during childhood. The 1996 National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) identified crimes against children as one of its priority crimes. On this premise, a study was conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) (Meek 1999:9) to determine whether crimes against children were increasing. This research showed that an increase of 28% in crimes against children had occurred annually between 1993 and 1995, and that the crime they were most likely to become a victim of, would be one of a sexual nature. In 1997, girls of 17 years of age and younger, constituted 40% of all reported rapes. Of the total reports, 42% were reported in the Gauteng Province, which constitutes a higher percentage than the national average. Child sexual abuse and the influence it can have on the individual's involvement in prostitution is thus an important theme for criminological research, especially within the changing socio-political and economic status of South Africa, where the nature of child prostitution is also showing change. It is thus important to determine the character of child prostitution in order to enable future policy recommendations and preventative measures to be made and instituted. 


Title: Factors compelling women to remain in abusive marriages
Authors: Makofane, M.D.M.

Abstract: Many people who have not experienced abuse in a relationship would probably ask: Why do battered women remain in abusive relationships? The question is based on the assumption that leaving will end the violence (Browne 1987:109; Walker 1979:246). Indeed, it is difficult to comprehend why the abused woman, instead of leaving an abusive partner, may decide to remain in the relationship and sharpen her coping skills. Perhaps it is fair to state that an abused woman often feels that whichever decision she makes, she may end up on the losing end. Others see the solution to the abuse differently, reflecting on who should leave. Hence, Browne (1987:110) suggests that we should rather ask the following question: Why should the woman leave when the man is the one who broke the law? Similarly, Jones (cited by Dobash & Dobash 1992:9) thinks that we should rather ask: Why don't men let them go? Questions are also asked about why women may decide to return to abusive relationships which they once left. Martin (1979:43) suggests that our sexist society not only facilitates woman battering but also forces her to return to an abusive relationship. This view is summed up in the following question: What is it about marriage in this society that keeps a woman captive in a violent marriage? One can assume that the question was asked because of available evidence that approximately 60 to 70 percent of women who seek help in shelters and even those who initiate separation through the courts, eventually return to their abusive home situations (Norman & Mancuso 1980:120). Walker (1979:64) bemoans the preference by battered women to resort to coping mechanisms over other solutions. She proposes that the following two questions should be answered: What are the strengths within this woman that have permitted her to survive living in this kind of hell? and How is it that she is not killed? There are a myriad of reasons that account for the fact that women choose to stay in violent relationships. In the following section, a discussion of these reasons is offered by grouping them into internal and external factors.


Title: Education in prison
Authors: Sagel-Grande, I.

Abstract: Education and vocational training in prison are the main preconditions for a successful integration of ex-prison-ers into society and the prevention of recidivism after release. There are many projects to improve the educa-tion of prisoners and most of them are practised with financial support of the European Union in the Euro-pean Member States. In this regard the following sub-jects will be discussed: o The main international legal instruments con-cerning the education of prisoners o A view on education and training in general and on the effectiveness of the education of prisoners in relation to their resettlement in community o Some of the research results found recently in three Dutch prisons concerning the prisoners' views and experiences with education, voca-tional training and work during the execution of their prison sentence o Some results of the experiments with multi-media and e-learning in prison.


Title: Gender and drug abuse among youths in Borno State in Nigeria : implications for public policy
Authors: Saad, A.Iganus, R.B.Marama, T.A.

Abstract: Research has found that since 1981 three to six million out of a population of about 100 million Nigerians could be classified as drug abusers (Kalunta 1981). Today the figure has not only risen sharply, but the effects on the health and socio-economic well-being of young persons are regarded as problematic. This rise in drug abuse is not peculiar to Nigeria. For example, the use of narcotics and other illicit drugs among medical students in Britain had more than doubled since 1984 (Gerra, Zamovic, Timpano, Zambelli & Ventimigha 1999). Similar situations are experienced in Italy, the United States of America and Canada (Gerra et al 1999). Undoubtedly, drug-abuse among male youths in Nigeria has been on the increase ever since 1981, but a new phenomenon, particularly in the Northern part of Nigeria, is the involvement of female youths in drug abuse. This study, therefore, examines the extent and nature of substance abuse among male and female youths in Borno State with a view to proffering public policy recommendations on the problem of drug abuse among the youths, particularly the female youths. The study area is Maiduguri Metropolitan area, which is also the capital city of Borno State. Although Islam is the predominant religion, Christianity and some traditional religions exist. The area borders on the Republics of Niger, Chad and Cameroon.


Title: Training and development curricula for correctional staff
Authors: Kriel, J.

Abstract: This article provides a framework for training and development curricula for correctional staff. An overview is given of the learning fields and topics in which training and development opportunities are provided for correctional staff internationally. Eight learning fields and a variety of training and development topics were identified from literature on corrections training and development curricula, curricula of qualifications offered for correctional officials at tertiary level, in-house training courses for correctional officials, as well as curriculum development workshops with representatives from corrections and role-players in the field of criminal justice. The curriculum framework provided in this article indicates that knowledge and competence in various disciplines such as law, criminology, penology, social and psychological sciences, as well as resources management sciences, are required from professional correctional staff.



Title: Victim policies and criminal justice on the road to restorative justice, E. Fattah and S. Parmentier : book review
Authors: Beaty, N.

Abstract: The essays, in honour of Tony Peters, are divided into three parts which gives an international overview on victim policies, reforming criminal justice and restorative justice. Authors from selected countries in Europe, England, Canada and South Africa discuss the latest developments in their respective countries. In fact each of the three sections contains a chapter on South Africa.