Why do so many South Africans prefer taking the law into their own hands to relying on the police? Why are those who do so often cheered or sympathised with?

Of the unprecedented 27 000 recorded murders in South Africa in 2022, at least 1 894 – or 7 per cent – were attributed to mob justice and vigilantism, more than double the number from five years before. In the first nine months of 2023, a further 1 472 mob justice deaths had already been registered.

Mob justice is nothing new, but in recent years it has taken on an undeniably desperate, furious edge. From the breathtakingly violent Zandspruit massacre in May 2021, to the killings during the July unrest two months later, to the march of Operation Dudula across the nation in 2022, vigilantism – and the condoning of it – has never before captured the zeitgeist of South Africa so sharply. What has changed in the past few years, and what does it augur for the future?

Following three recent cases of mob justice, from the hellish metropolitan townships of Gauteng to the far-flung bushveld of northern Limpopo, and drawing on extensive research and interviews, Why We Kill explores the roots, realities and consequences of South Africa’s current crisis of vigilantism.

Policing in Africa is often portrayed as being practised by incompetent and corrupt apologists for governing regimes. Professional policing, on the other hand, is the opposite of populist, incompetent, corrupt and regime-partisan policing. A professional police agency is dependent on solid competence acquired through learning interventions aimed at the type of police service delivery that will suit a democratic society and an adherence to human rights principles. Policing in Africa: Towards an African Epistemology aims to provide some knowledge towards the achievement of exactly that type of police service delivery.

In this book the authors present a dialectic of African preference and northern epistemology, and aim for synthesis between the two. The foundational epistemological discourses typical of African continental thinking on matters of community importance are the focal point. The book emphasises the strengthening of policing epistemology through research and people development. This, in turn, aims to bolster policing practices such as the prevention of crime through the ubiquitous quest for community partnerships, peace, conflict resolution and effective resolving of committed crimes.

Policing in Africa: Towards an African Epistemology is designed for studying and reflection. Learning outcomes guide, new terms enlighten, and critical thinking activities and case studies support reflection. The authors express the wish that this book will be of value to students, facilitators of learning, policy makers, oversight agencies, civil society organisations, libraries and communities in the broadest definition possible.

In 2003, Thabo Jijana's father was gunned down in a scrap between rival taxi associations who had been forced to operate from a single rank. A decade later, Thabo faces up to South Africa's most violent industry to try to figure out how and why his father was murdered.

In this searing first-person investigation, Thabo puts a face behind a recurrent tragedy that plagues South African working class communities. By speaking to the people who knew his father best he tries to fill in the blanks that are the years that have followed his father's death.

He begins by trying to reconstruct the night the murder took place, but what he uncovers about the ongoing strife that has plagued government's consistent attempts to formalise this multi-million rand industry comes with more baggage than he expected.

Crime scene investigation is a practical book dealing with the management, investigation, and control and processing of crime scenes, or scenes of incident, as they are now called. The book explains the important principles of continuity of possession and the importance of preventing contamination of the scene and evidence. It also focuses on the roles of experts and aids who can help investigating officers to solve complex and varied crimes. The book pays particular attention to the administrative process involved in the handling of evidence. This includes: The responsibilities of the investigating officer who has to deal with the incident; The various ways in which a scene of incident can be documented; The handling of people who may be present at the scene; The proper identification, collection, packaging and dispatch of evidence. Two of the unique features of the book is the introduction and explanation of a new investigation principle, namely the Lochner principle, and a new search method, namely the Lochner/Zinn search method.

Most serial murderers undeniably spring from abusive or neglected childhoods, and/or are potentially predisposed to various genetic, sociopathic or schizophrenic afflictions, rendering the root cause of their murderous behaviour a complex, lethal combination of factors. What is less credited, however, is the role of pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in the making of a serial killer.

Narcissistic rage, sexual narcissism, necrophilia and cannibalism are all driven by a need to control and satisfy a grandiose sense of entitlement for personal pleasure, and of those, narcissistic rage is possibly the most dangerous factor of all in the understanding of serial rape and murder. In this riveting book, the author explores the role of NPD through the lived experiences of various serial murderers and showcases the profiles of both infamous and lesser-known serial offenders from South Africa and around the world.

From the blatant, callous criminality of the likes of Jason Rohde, Dina Rodrigues and Henri van Breda to the unspeakable cruelty of serial rapists and murderers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Kobus Geldenhuys (the Norwood killer) and Don Steenkamp (the Griekwastad murderer), this book reveals the role pathological narcissism might have played in some of the most notorious and gruesome criminal cases of our times. Just one warning: Don’t read this book at night!

A Dangerous Love is an exhilarating, true love story that plays out in the chaos and lawlessness of the political turmoil that was South Africa in the late 80s and early 90s. The mayhem and desperation of a country whose social fabric is unravelling is mirrored in Karen Daniels’s own life, and hers is an up-close-and-personal account of life as a young woman of colour in the anarchy of early post-apartheid South Africa.

Karen Daniels was only 21 when she met Martin, a mysterious, dangerous man who, at 22 years of age, had the world at his feet. Captivated by this man, she was soon caught up in a love affair that turned into obsession and violence. Gutsy and charming, Martin wasn’t born into a life of crime and drugs, but his greed and passion soon pulled him into the underworld and he was overcome by a darkness he could not escape.

Hold your breath as Karen takes you with her on a roller-coaster ride into an abyss of armed heists, crime, and violent abuse. Her story shows how having such intense and conflicting emotions for a man – loving him and being petrified of him – is only a few heartbeats away from hate.

Karen’s eventual escape from this life is a success story that has taken her to the heights of the corporate world, and encouraged her to become an advocate for human rights and women empowerment. Her story is one of human resilience, courage and determination. It offers hope to those struggling to break free from their circumstances, and will inspire anyone who wants to live their best life and go from surviving to thriving.

"A tightly coiled story of obsession and crime that plays out in an era of lawlessness" - Terry-Ann Adams, author of Those Who Live in Cages.

Voorwoord deur die outeur en reeksmoordenaar-ondersoeker, Gerard Labuschagne.

Die forensiese patoloog, Hestelle van Staden sien byna daagliks die skadukant van die mens. Sy het al meer as 7000 outopsies behartig waarvan die meerderheid mense aan onnatuurlike oorsake oorlede is. In hierdie boek werp sy lig op nege lykskouings.

Daar is die tragiese storie van baba Letitia Meyer wie se ma volgehou het sy het bloot uit 'n stootwaentjie geval . . . die moord op die bekende musikant Lucky Dube en die outopsie van 'n jong swanger vrou wie se dood medici laat kopkrap het.

Outopsie bied 'n blik op die lewe van 'n forensiese patoloog in SuidAfrika en die uitdagings wat daarmee gepaard gaan.

As ’n eietydse mediese speurder het die forensiese patoloog Ryan Blumenthal al derduisende outopsies uitgevoer wat tot die arrestasie van ’n groot aantal misdadigers gelei het. Dit is sy groot doel en strewe om oortreders aan die pen te help ry.

In Outopsietafel beskryf hy van die moeilike lesse wat hy as ’n jong patoloog moes leer en hy vertel van die ongewone en dikwels grusame sterfgevalle wat hy al teëgekom het. Hy het gedurende sy loopbaan byvoorbeeld al etlike hoëprofielsterftes hanteer, sterftes weens natuurrampe en ook mense wat deur weerlig of wilde diere gedood is.

Blumenthal bied ’n fassinerende blik op alles wat agter die skerms gebeur by die lykshuis. Al kan die dooies nie praat nie, het hulle nogtans baie om te sê – en Blumenthal is daar om te luister.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB 2018 SELECTION

ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S BEST BOOKS OF 2018

‘Haunting...beautifully written.’ The New York Times Book Review

‘Compelling.’ The Washington Post

‘Epic...transcendent…triumphant.’ Elle

‘It’s among Tayari’s many gifts that she can touch us soul to soul with her words.’ Oprah Winfrey

‘Tayari Jones’ vision, strength, and truth-telling voice have found a new level of artistry and power.’ Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows he didn’t commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding. As Roy’s time in prison passes, she struggles to hold on to the love that has been her centre. When his conviction is suddenly overturned, he returns to Atlanta ready to resume their life together.

This stirring love story is a profoundly insightful look into the hearts and minds of three people who are at once bound and separated by forces beyond their control. An American Marriage is a masterpiece of storytelling, an intimate look deep into the souls of people who must reckon with the past while moving forward – with hope and pain – into the future.

Meet Daisy De Melker, who 'lovingly' prepared a flask of strychnine-laced coffee for her son. She is very different from Najwa Petersen, who carefully planned a 'house robbery' to eliminate her musician husband. Chané van Heerden placed her victim's facial skin in the freezer for preservation, yet Phoenix Racing Cloud Theron wished to dispose of her mother's body before it was even cold. And Dina Rodrigues? She 'wouldn't harm a fly' - but then went and organised a hit on a baby.

Women are not paragons of virtue who cannot commit murder. Nor are they always insane when they do deliberately cause death. And the women with 'blood on their hands' are not homogeneous.

In Blood on Her Hands, award-winning journalist Tanya Farber investigates the lives, minds and motivations of some of South Africa's most notorious female murders, from the poisonous nurse Daisy de Melker, to the privileged but deeply disturbed Najwa Petersen, to the mysterious Joey Haarhoff, who died before revealing the fate of her victims. Written in a style lighter than the subject matter might suggest, Blood on Her Hands will keep you reading until late at night.

Eran Eyal had it all: a trendy New York apartment, a jet-set lifestyle and investors lining up to get in on his million-dollar cryptocurrency start-up, Shopin. He had come a long way from an ordinary middle-class childhood in Durban and the burgeoning tech start-up world of Cape Town.

But the New York authorities pounced in 2018, charged him with fraud and packed him off to Rikers Island. There began the gobsmacking unravelling of a scam that spanned investors across the globe and revealed that Eyal had built a house of cards involving fictitious products, clients and advisors for Shopin and his previous company, Springleap. As more than $40 million went up in smoke, the South African entrepreneur was exposed as an audacious fraudster determined to succeed at any cost – even if it meant spinning a web of  lies to do so.

“An age-old narrative about ego and flying too close to the sun as well as a modern version of greed in the tech world.” Michael Jordaan

“Eyal proves definitively that a thousand white lies can get you convicted of fraud. This book meticulously walks the reader though the start-up lies that ended in tears.” Nic Haralambous

About 50km outside of Cape Town lies the beautiful town of Stellenbosch, nestled against vineyards and blue mountains that stretch to the sky. Here reside some of South Africa’s wealthiest individuals: all male, all Afrikaans – and all stinking rich. Johann Rupert, Jannie Mouton, Markus Jooste and Christo Weise, to name a few.

Julius Malema refers to them scathingly as ‘The Stellenbosch Mafia’, the very worst example of white monopoly capital. But who really are these mega-wealthy individuals, and what influence do they exert not only on Stellenbosch but more broadly on South African society?

Author Pieter du Toit begins by exploring the roots of Stellenbosch, one of the wealthiest towns in South Africa and arguably the cradle of Afrikanerdom. This is the birthplace of apartheid leaders, intellectuals, newspaper empires and more. He then closely examines this ‘club’ of billionaires. Who are they and, crucially, how are they connected? What network of boardroom membership, alliances and family connections exist? Who are the ‘old guard’ and who are the ‘inkommers’, and what about the youngsters desperate to make their mark? He looks at the collapse of Steinhoff: what went wrong, and whether there are other companies at risk of a similar fate. He examines the control these men have over cultural life, including pulling the strings in South Africa rugby.

From the New York Times bestselling authors of The Nazi Conspiracy and The Lincoln Conspiracy comes a true, little-known story about the first assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy, right before his inauguration.

Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States, is often ranked among Americans’ most well-liked presidents. Yet what most Americans don’t know is that JFK’s historic presidency almost ended before it began―at the hands of a disgruntled sociopathic loner armed with dynamite.

On December 11, 1960, shortly after Kennedy’s election and before his inauguration, a retired postal worker named Richard Pavlick waited in his car―a parked Buick―on a quiet street in Palm Beach, Florida. Pavlick knew the president-elect’s schedule. He knew when Kennedy would leave his house. He knew where Kennedy was going. From there, Pavlick had a simple plan―one that could’ve changed the course of history.

Written in the gripping, page-turning style that is the hallmark of Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch’s bestselling series, this is a slice of history vividly brought to life. Meltzer and Mensch are at the top of their game with this brilliant exploration of what could’ve been for one of the most compelling leaders of the 20th century.

If this book saves just one person’s life, Leo Prinsloo will be happy.

Leo became an internet sensation after footage of his reaction to an attempted high-value goods-in-transit heist went viral. Stunned by his cool attitude and focused action in a crisis situation, South Africans had an example of what can happen when good people take a stand. With decades of experience in security – first as a policeman, then in the South African Police Service’s Special Task Force, and now providing arms handling and security training in the private sector – Leo has a wealth of knowledge on how to manage life-threatening incidents.

Driven by a desire to empower South Africans and help them claim back their sense of safety, he offers advice for dealing with every risky situation, from how to handle hijackings and road rage, to how to keep your children safe, to the best way to secure your home and business. He also provides comprehensive information about handling firearms and basic first aid.

Leo’s Guide to Not Becoming a Statistic is a guide to living your safest life in South Africa – something which has become increasingly important as our crime statistics continue to rise. Straight-talking and honest – much like Leo himself – it is an easy to use manual that makes keeping safe accessible, with relatable information and easy to implement tips.

Leo says that taking the first step towards securing your safety is the most important, and his book will help you take that step.

Using real-life examples, this book asks readers to reflect on how we-as an academic community-think and talk about race and racial identity in twenty-first-century America. One of these examples, Rachel Dolezal, provides a springboard for an examination of the state of our discourse around changeable racial identity and the potential for "transracialism." An analysis of how we are theorizing transracial identity (as opposed to an argument for/against it), this study detects some omissions and problems that are becoming evident as we establish transracial theory and suggests ways to further develop our thinking and avoid missteps. Intended for academics and thinkers familiar with conversations about identity and/or race, Rethinking Rachel Dolezal and Transracial Theory helps shape the theorization of "transracialism" in its formative stages.

The contents are carefully mapped to the WJEC specification and cover all the Assessment Criteria in full, so you can be sure you are studying exactly what you need to. Working closely with the exam board ensures that the book incorporates all the latest changes to the specification, including the new exam question formats and controlled assessment requirements. Other key features of the student book: Each Assessment Criterion is dealt with in its own Topic, with clear headings signposting the content - particularly useful for students and teachers new to the Diploma. There are real WJEC exam questions and practice questions throughout the book, with detailed guidance on tackling them - plus top band answers to WJEC questions to show what is expected. Special sections provide advice on how to deal with the controlled assessments. Case studies and crime scenarios stimulate reflection and provide useful examples for students' answers. Up-to-date content includes the latest statistics and policy developments. Every Topic includes activities for individual and group work to check students' understanding and consolidate and deepen their learning. The attractive, full-colour design and thought-provoking photos stimulate students' interest and engagement. Written by two highly experienced authors, teachers and examiners, the text is accessible to students of all abilities, with clear explanations in straightforward language pitched at just the right level. The book includes a free online resource package, with schemes of work, student workbooks and online activities. This book is the companion volume to Criminology Book Two by the same authors. WJEC endorsement of the book ensures that you have comprehensive, high quality support you can trust.

The Praxis of Justice brings together original contributions on restorative justice centering on the work of Ivo Aertsen, Emeritus Professor of Criminology in the Faculty of Law, KU Leuven. The work of Ivo Aertsen has impacted not only his country, Belgium, but the whole world. In recognition of a worthy life, his friends and colleagues of different generations and from all around the world have created this Liber Amicorum, as a living testament to friendship and accomplishment. The contributions in the book are both diverse and complementary as colours and motives of a tapestry, ranging from fully fledged scholarly reflections to personal anecdotes, memories and letters. The book will be especially interesting for anyone interested in restorative justice in general, and in the work of Ivo Aertsen in particular.

A great number of incarcerated youth have diagnosable psychiatric problems and, while in detention, this population experiences events that make them more vulnerable to disorders of mental health. This issue of Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics is edited and authored by psychiatrists expert in working with youth in detention. Topics include Demographics of youth in detention; Mental health screening and assessment; Mental health care of detained youth and solitary confinement and restraint within juvenile detention facilities; Civil and constitutional rights of adjudicated youth; Community based alternatives to incarceration and assessment and community based planning for probation/community based alternatives; The role of the child and adolescent psychiatrist in the adjudicatory assessments; Screening and assessment of detained youth; Quality of education for youth in the juvenile detention system; Variety of out-of-home placements for juvenile offenders; Juvenile sexual offenders; Sexual exploitation of children in detention; Transfer from juvenile to adult court: Which states have the most effective models? ; Competence to stand trial; Firesetting. Clinical vignettes are presented with each topic to exemplify a case of the discussion.

In 2009, Chicago spent millions of dollars to create programs to prevent gang violence in some of its most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Yet in spite of the programs, violence has grown worse in some of the very neighborhoods that the violence prevention programs were intented to help. While public officials and social scientists often attribute the violence - and the failure of the programs - to a lack of community in poor neighborhoods, closer study reveals another source of community division: local politics. Through an ethnographic case study of Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, Wounded City dispells the popular belief that a lack of community is the primary source of violence, arguing that competition for political power and state resources often undermine efforts to reduce gang violence. Robert Vargas argues that the state, through the way it governs, can contribute to distrust and division among community members, thereby undermining social cohesion. The strategic actions taken by police officers, politicians, nonprofit organizations, and gangs to collaborate or compete for power and resources can vary block by block, triggering violence on some blocks while successfully preventing it on others. A rich blend of urban politics, sociology, and criminology, Wounded City offers a cautionary tale for elected officials, state agencies, and community based organizations involved with poor neighborhoods.

Environmental devastation. Local militancy. Smuggling. Violence. All of these describe the Niger Delta, the crude-oil extraction center of Nigeria.

Philip Aghoghovwia offers a unique interpretation of the region's petroviolence, examining the cultural aspects of the extraction industry in the societies within which it operates.

As he considers the charged and often clashing contexts of the industry vs. the ecologies of directly affected peoples/places, Aghoghovwia essentially reframes the environmental challenges that carbon-based civilization poses to local landscapes.

As immigration, technological change, and globalization reshape the world, journalism plays a central role in shaping how the public adjusts to moral and material upheaval. This, in turn, raises the ethical stakes for journalism. In short, reporters have a choice in the way they tell these stories: They can spread panic and discontent or encourage adaptation and reconciliation. In Murder in Our Midst, Romayne Smith Fullerton and Maggie Jones Patterson compare journalists' crime coverage decisions in North America and select Western European countries as a key to examine culturally constructed concepts like privacy, public, public right to know, and justice. Drawing from sample news coverage, national and international codes of ethics and style guides, and close to 200 personal interviews with news professionals and academics, they highlight differences in crime news reporting practices and emphasize how crime stories both reflect and shape each nation's attitudes in unique ways. Murder in Our Midst is both an empirical look at varying journalistic styles and an ethical evaluation of whether particular story-telling approaches do or do not serve the practice of democracy.

A Chicago journalist reveals how pervasive police misconduct, brutality, and corruption are changing the perspective of the criminal justice system and eroding the morals of the American people. In this shocking yet fascinating volume, an award-winning Chicago journalist goes behind the headlines to provide a far-reaching analysis of brutality, vice, and corruption among men and women who have sworn to serve and protect. This timely book draws on actual cases to examine the widespread phenomenon of corruption inside law enforcement agencies. It looks at the effort of criminal elements and gangs to infiltrate police departments and the criminal justice system, and it discusses how vigilante justice is encouraged by claims of police misconduct. Of particular importance to readers, the book also exposes the trickle-down effect of police corruption as it affects American values and society as a whole. But the news is not all bad. Police departments across the nation are fighting back against abuse of power, and the author sheds light on the escalating battle they are waging against rogue police officers involved in criminal activity. Through Stanford's investigative work and firsthand interviews with leading law enforcement professionals, readers will be privy to the backstory of the struggle of police commands to insulate their departments against the criminality and corruption so prevalent today. Exposes ever-increasing police corruption and the lures that influence police officers to participate in illicit activities Educates readers about the struggle to rid law enforcement agencies of corrupt officers Examines the ways technology increases the probability of police officers becoming involved in illegal activities, as well as how advances in technology can prevent a crossing of the threshold Features interviews with leading law enforcement professionals who discuss the challenges of police corruption Points out steps that should be taken by law enforcement to curb police corruption, including stricter screening standards and more careful psychological monitoring of law enforcement personnel

Crime and gentrification are hot button issues that easily polarize racially diverse neighborhoods. How do residents, activists, and politicians navigate the thorny politics of race as they fight crime or resist gentrification? And do conflicts over competing visions of neighborhood change necessarily divide activists into racially homogeneous camps, or can they produce more complex alliances and divisions? In Us versus Them, Jan Doering answers these questions through an in-depth study of two Chicago neighborhoods. Drawing on three and a half years of ethnographic fieldwork, Doering examines how activists and community leaders clashed and collaborated as they launched new initiatives, built coalitions, appeased critics, and discredited opponents. At the heart of these political maneuvers, he uncovers a ceaseless battle over racial meanings that unfolded as residents strove to make local initiatives and urban change appear racially benign or malignant. A thoughtful and clear-eyed contribution to the field, Us versus Them reveals the deep impact that competing racial meanings have on the fabric of community and the direction of neighborhood change.

Studente sal hierdie boek van groot waarde vind by hulle studie van die Strafprosesreg. Dit maak lesers vertroud met die fundamentele beginsels en waardes onderliggend aan hierdie gebied van die reg en lei hulle stelselmatig deur die proses wat op strafsake van toepassing is.

Professor J P Swanepoel (voormalige staatsadvokaat met beduidende praktiese ondervinding in die strafhowe) en Professor J J Joubert is beide afgetrede lede van die Departement Straf- en Prosesreg van die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika. Professor S S Terblanche (voorheen ’n landdros) is ’n lid van die Departement Straf- en Prosesreg van die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika en het al ruim bygedra tot die literatuur met betrekking tot vonnisoplegging. Professor S E van der Merwe was professor in Publiekreg aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch en is steeds ’n produktiewe skrywer oor hierdie vakgebied. Professor G P Kemp is ’n lid van die Departement Publiekreg van die Universiteit Stellenbosch en sy publikasies oor die strafregspleging verwys gereeld na sy spesialiseringsgebied, die internasionale strafreg. Professor D Ally is Hoof van die Departement Regte van die Tshwane University of Technology en het ’n aantal artikels geskryf met die strafproses as onderwerp, en met besondere verwysing na die impak van die Grondwet op die strafproses. Dr M T Mokoena is Hoof van die Departement Straf- en Prosesreg van die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika en lewer publikasies oor die strafprosesreg, insonderheid borgtog.

This unique books looks at a cost-efficient, fast and accurate means of facial reconstruction--from segmented, decomposed, or skeletal remains--using computer-graphic and computational means.
Computer-Graphic Facial Reconstruction is designed as a valuable resource for those scientists designing new research projects and protocols, as well as a practical handbook of methods and techniques for medico-legal practitioners who actually identify the faceless victims of crime. It looks at a variety of approaches: artificial intelligence using neural networks, case-based reasoning, Baysian belief systems, along with a variety of imaging methods: radiological, CT, MRI and the use of imaging devices.
The methods described in this book complement, or may even replace, the less-reliable, more traditional means of securing identification by presumptive means, i.e., recognition of clothing, personal effects and clay reconstruction.
- Covers cutting-edge technologies in the context of historical forensic reconstruction methods
- Features stellar authors from around the globe
- Bridges the areas of computer graphics, animation, and forensic anthropology