PublicationsResearchPeacebuilding, Transitional Justice, Trauma and Transition, Truth CommissionsNegotiating Transition: The Limits of the South African Model for the Rest of AfricaThis report provides information and details from the seminar, ‘Negotiating Transition: The Limits of the South African Model for the Rest of Africa,’. The seminar explored the impact that the South African model of transitional justice has had in other contexts. It also looked at the effect that political deals such as governments of national unity have on the possibility… Read More CSVRMarch 1, 2010
PublicationsResearchCorrectional Services, Criminal Justice, Policing, Restorative JusticeSubmission to the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services: Prison LabourThis is a submission to the department of correctional services by the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) regarding the issue of prison labour. The submission gives a brief history of the use of prison labour in South Africa and its racist underpinnings, as well as the current nature of prison labour. The submission discusses the rights… Read More CSVRMarch 1, 2010
ArticlesMediaAmnesty, Prosecutions and Pardons, Transitional JusticeAlbutt v. Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation and OthersThis case concerns the power of the President to grant pardon under section 84(2)(j) of the Constitution to people who claim that they were convicted of offences which they committed with a political motive. Section 84(2)(j) provides that the President is responsible for "pardoning or reprieving offenders . . .". The question we are asked to decide is whether the… Read More CSVRFebruary 24, 2010
ArticlesMediaPolicingTo Shoot or Not to ShootTake the following scenario. One night a police vehicle patrol arrives at the scene of a hijacking in progress. The owner is still in the vehicle. On seeing the police the driver of the hijacker’s back-up car drives off, leaving one of the hijackers at the scene. The hijacker, gun in hand, flees into thickly wooded veld that is not… Read More CSVRDecember 4, 2009
ArticlesMediaTorture and State ViolencePress Release: South Africa Recognises Only Assault and Grievous Bodily HarmTorture is a criminal offence, prohibited under various international treaties - but not under South African law, which only allows victims to lay charges of assault and grievous body harm. The South African No Torture Consortium (SANToC) is lobbying for change, saying that the current law does not fully cover torture-related trauma or power relations between victims and perpetrators. Although… Read More CSVRNovember 27, 2009
ArticlesMediaCriminal Justice, InequalitiesLetter to the Editor: Middle-Class Myth Lacks EmpathyThe opening paragraph of your report on the latest crime statistics refers to business robberies, house robberies and car hijackings stating that these are the crimes that ‘South Africans fear the most’, a statement also reflected in the articles headline. (‘Most feared crimes show steep rise’, 23 September 2009) If we accept for the sake of argument the reliability of… Read More CSVRSeptember 28, 2009
