‘Gender crime statistics need deeper analysis for change’ – SABC News

Gender expert on violence against women, Lisa Vetten says crime statistics are not being used in the best way to bring about positive change in communities.

He reacted after Police Minister Senzo Mchunu published crime statistics for the second quarter yesterday.

Statistics show that in South Africa the murder rate fell by 5.8% in the second quarter, sexual offenses by 2.5%, robbery with aggravating circumstances by 8.8% and rape by 3.1%.

Vetten says looking deeper into the statistics can provide insight.

“What I really think we need to do is use police statistics much better than we do at the moment. At this point we’re using them as a basis for not shouting at the police for an increase or congratulating them for a decrease. That’s not helpful; that’s what we need to do, to see what’s going on.” looking at the patterns over a period of five to 10 years and looking at them, I think, in greater detail.”

“I use rape for example, and one of the things the police do is they break down the rape statistics in South Africa by the top 20 or 30 stations, and you can see there are really interesting fluctuations there over the period of a year,” Vetten adds.

Video on gender-based crimes