Criminal Justice in Review 2001/2002

This monograph by the Institute for Security Studies evaluates the performance of South Africa's three core criminal justice departments—Safety and Security, Justice and Constitutional Development, and Correctional Services—between January 2001 and December 2002. It analyzes crime statistics, budget allocations, and departmental workloads, concluding that while performance was satisfactory, capacity constraints and a significant court case backlog hinder sustained improvement.

• In the 2001/02 financial year, South Africa recorded 2.5 million crimes, representing a 25% increase compared to 1994/95. While the increase during 2001/02 was less than 1%, suggesting a possible stabilization of crime levels, violent crime remained high, with approximately 21,500 murders recorded (averaging nearly 60 per day).
• Crime rates on a per capita basis for 2001/02 were highest in the Western Cape, where residents had an almost 10% chance of being a victim of a recorded crime, followed by Gauteng and the Northern Cape. The lowest rate was in Limpopo at 2.5%.
• The national budget share for the criminal justice system remained between 9% and 11% of gross national expenditure since 1994. In the 2002/03 budget year, R30.4 billion was allocated, with the Department of Safety and Security receiving the largest portion (63%), followed by Correctional Services (23%) and Justice and Constitutional Development (14%).
• The criminal court system faced a backlog of nearly 200,000 cases by the end of 2002, a 10% increase from 2001. This backlog resulted from low productivity in magistrates' courts during 2001/02 and a significant rise in cases referred to court in 2002, negatively impacting case cycle times and the rights of those awaiting trial.
• The Department of Correctional Services experienced significant overcrowding; by the end of 2002, prisons held approximately 185,000 inmates despite a capacity of 111,000. Between 2001 and 2002, the number of sentenced prisoners rose by 19%, while unsentenced prisoner numbers increased by only 2%.

APA

Leggett, T., Louw, A., Schonteich, M., & Sekhonyane, M. (n.d.). Criminal Justice in Review 2001/2002. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-88-criminal-justice-in-review-20012002-ted-leggett-antoinette-louw-martin-schonteich-and-makubetse-sekhonyane

Chicago

Leggett, Ted, Antoinette Louw, Martin Schonteich, and Makubetse Sekhonyane. Criminal Justice in Review 2001/2002. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-88-criminal-justice-in-review-20012002-ted-leggett-antoinette-louw-martin-schonteich-and-makubetse-sekhonyane.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Leggett |first1=Ted |last2=Louw |first2=Antoinette |last3=Schonteich |first3=Martin |last4=Sekhonyane |first4=Makubetse |title=Criminal Justice in Review 2001/2002 |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-88-criminal-justice-in-review-20012002-ted-leggett-antoinette-louw-martin-schonteich-and-makubetse-sekhonyane |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{leggettndcriminal, author = {Leggett, Ted and Louw, Antoinette and Schonteich, Martin and Sekhonyane, Makubetse}, title = {{Criminal Justice in Review 2001/2002}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-88-criminal-justice-in-review-20012002-ted-leggett-antoinette-louw-martin-schonteich-and-makubetse-sekhonyane}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }