{"id":135321,"date":"2016-09-02T19:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T17:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=135321"},"modified":"2016-09-02T17:04:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T15:04:56","slug":"south-africa-crime-stats-2016-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/135321\/south-africa-crime-stats-2016-everything-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa crime stats 2016: everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South African Police Service has released the crime statistics for 2016, showing which crimes have increased \u2013 and decreased \u2013 in the past year.<\/p>\n

According to the data, overall crime in South Africa has decreased between 2015 and 2016, with 2.1 million crimes reported in the 12 months measured. All general categories of crime decreased, except for contact crimes, which remained “stubborn”, the SAPS said.<\/p>\n

Provincially, Limpopo and Mpumalanga crime levels increased, while all other provinces decreased. The Northern Cape remained stable, the SAPS said.<\/p>\n

The SAPS said that the 2016 statistics were compiled in conjunction with Stats SA to assure that the process was subject to the tightest quality control. This came after criticism in 2015 that the police statistics were unaudited, bringing into question its reliability.<\/p>\n

Stats SA says that, while the data released is not yet on the same level as other statistical information, it is compliant with required legislation, and is thus endorsed.<\/p>\n

The biggest crime category to increase over the past year is\u00a0robbery of cash-in-transit vehicles, though this is off of a relatively low base.<\/p>\n

Between April 2014 and March 2015, there were 119\u00a0reported cases of these robberies\u00a0\u2013 in the April 2015 to March 2016 period, this jumped 15.1% to 137\u00a0cases.<\/p>\n

In terms of sheer number of crimes, however, the biggest increase was in cases of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, which saw\u00a07,598 more cases reported in 2016.<\/p>\n

This was also the third highest percentage increase across all crime categories at 11.1%.<\/p>\n

General theft and drug-related crimes remain the biggest problems in the country, with over 340,000 and just under 260,000 reported crimes in those categories respectively \u2013 though this is an improvement from 2015.<\/p>\n

Break-ins at residential properties is the third biggest crime in the country, with over a quarter of a million cases.<\/p>\n

SA crime stats for 2016<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Category<\/th>\n2015<\/th>\n2016<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Aggravated Robbery<\/td>\n53 639<\/td>\n56 447<\/td>\n+5.23%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Contact Crimes<\/td>\n616 973<\/td>\n623 233<\/td>\n+1.01%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Crime detected as result of police action<\/td>\n356 919<\/td>\n355 926<\/td>\n-0.28%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Contact-related Crimes<\/td>\n125 789<\/td>\n124 804<\/td>\n-0.78%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Property-related Crimes<\/td>\n553 487<\/td>\n543 524<\/td>\n-1.80%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other Serious Crimes<\/td>\n499 698<\/td>\n479 075<\/td>\n-4.13%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\n2 206 505<\/strong><\/td>\n2 126 552<\/strong><\/td>\n-3.62%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Contact crimes include murder, attempted murder and sexual offences, as well as common assault and robbery.<\/p>\n

Contact-related crimes include arson and malicious injury to property.<\/p>\n

Other serious crimes include commercial crime, shop-lifting and all other types of theft – while aggravated robbery includes hijackings, robbery at residences and cash-in-transit heists and bank robberies.<\/p>\n

Crimes\u00a0detected\u00a0as a result of police action cover crimes discovered by active policing, such as road-blocks and raids.<\/p>\n

Crimes are counted per charge, not per docket, as one docket may contain many charges.<\/p>\n

These are the crimes which have increased and decreased in the last year:<\/p>\n

Biggest increase to biggest decrease in crimes 2016<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Category<\/th>\n2015<\/th>\n2016<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Robbery of cash in transit<\/td>\n119<\/td>\n137<\/td>\n+15.1%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Carjacking<\/td>\n12 773<\/td>\n14 602<\/td>\n+14.3%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs<\/td>\n68 561<\/td>\n76 159<\/td>\n+11.1%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Murder<\/td>\n17 805<\/td>\n18 673<\/td>\n+4.9%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Attempted murder<\/td>\n17 537<\/td>\n18 127<\/td>\n+3.4%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Commercial crime<\/td>\n67 830<\/td>\n69 917<\/td>\n+3.1%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robbery at non-residential premises<\/td>\n19 170<\/td>\n19 698<\/td>\n+2.8%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robbery with aggravating circumstances<\/td>\n129 045<\/td>\n132 527<\/td>\n+2.7%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robbery at residential premises<\/td>\n20 281<\/td>\n20 820<\/td>\n+2.7%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Common assault<\/td>\n161 486<\/td>\n164 958<\/td>\n+2.2%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Burglary at non-residential premises<\/td>\n74 358<\/td>\n75 008<\/td>\n+0.9%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm<\/td>\n182 556<\/td>\n182 933<\/td>\n+0.2%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Malicious injury to property<\/td>\n120 662<\/td>\n119 901<\/td>\n-0.6%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stock-theft<\/td>\n24 965<\/td>\n24 715<\/td>\n-1.0%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Burglary at residential premises<\/td>\n253 716<\/td>\n250 606<\/td>\n-1.2%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Common robbery<\/td>\n54 927<\/td>\n54 110<\/td>\n-1.5%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Illegal possession of firearms and ammunition<\/td>\n15 116<\/td>\n14 772<\/td>\n-2.3%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Theft of motor vehicle and motorcycle<\/td>\n55 090<\/td>\n53 809<\/td>\n-2.3%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Drug-related crime<\/td>\n266 902<\/td>\n259 165<\/td>\n-2.9%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sexual Offences<\/td>\n53 617<\/td>\n51 895<\/td>\n-3.2%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shoplifting<\/td>\n71 327<\/td>\n68 786<\/td>\n-3.6%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Theft out of or from motor vehicle<\/td>\n145 358<\/td>\n139 386<\/td>\n-4.1%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Arson<\/td>\n5 127<\/td>\n4 903<\/td>\n-4.4%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
All theft not mentioned elsewhere<\/td>\n360 541<\/td>\n340 372<\/td>\n-5.6%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Truck hijacking<\/td>\n1 279<\/td>\n1 184<\/td>\n-7.4%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sexual offences discovered as result of police action<\/td>\n6 340<\/td>\n5 830<\/td>\n-8.0%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bank robbery<\/td>\n17<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n-64.7%<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

According to Africacheck.org, because of the time periods between reporting the data and the financial year it covers, SAPS crime data is often at least 6 months out of date.\u00a0The data for 2015\u2019s stats covers April 2015 to March 2016.<\/p>\n

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe announced in June that crime stats will now be released quarterly to better track crime trends in the country.<\/p>\n

Africa Check also points out that uncertainty hovers over crime data as many crimes go unreported, and that there is widespread mistrust of the SAPS itself.<\/p>\n

For a full break-down of how to read crime data, read Africa Check\u2019s guide to crime statistics online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More on crime<\/h3>\n

Crime stats to be released quarterly<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

South Africa has the highest rate of economic crime in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The most feared crimes in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SA crime stats are only the tip of the iceberg: ISS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South African Police Service has released the crime statistics for 2016, showing which crimes have increased \u2013 and decreased \u2013 in the past year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":93308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-135321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135321"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135401,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135321\/revisions\/135401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}