{"id":99648,"date":"2015-09-29T11:56:11","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T09:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=99648"},"modified":"2015-09-29T11:59:30","modified_gmt":"2015-09-29T09:59:30","slug":"2015-crime-stats-for-south-africa-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/99648\/2015-crime-stats-for-south-africa-everything-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"2015 crime stats for South Africa: everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The South African Police Service has released the crime statistics for 2015, showing which crimes have increased – and decreased – in the past year.<\/p>\n

Overall, the stats paint a more negative outlook for crime in the country: of the 27 crime categories presented in the data, only 11 had decreases in reported criminal activity from 2014 to 2015.<\/p>\n

The remaining 16 categories saw crime levels rise.<\/p>\n

A total of 2.206 million crimes were committed over the period, up marginally – 0.09% – from the 2.204 million reported in 2014.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Police commissioner Riah Phiyega,\u00a01.8 million crimes were reported to the SAPS over the past year, and\u00a0the rest of the\u00a0crimes were identified through police action.<\/p>\n

The biggest crime category to increase over the past year is sexual offences discovered as a result of police action. This includes crimes\u00a0such as charges for prostitution and possession of pornography.<\/p>\n

Between April 2013 and March 2014, there were 4,720 reported cases of sexual offences identified by police officers – in the April 2014 to March 2015 period, this jumped 34.3% to 6,340 cases.<\/p>\n

In terms of sheer number, however, the biggest increase was in cases of robbery with aggravating circumstances, with 10,082 more crimes reported in 2015.<\/p>\n

This was ‘only’ an 8.5% increase, from 118,963 to 129,045 reported cases, however.<\/p>\n

General theft and drug-related crimes remain the biggest problems in the country, with over 360,000 and 260,000 reported crimes in those categories – followed by more than a quarter of a million house break-ins.<\/p>\n

SA crime stats for 2015<\/h3>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Category<\/th>\n2014<\/th>\n2015<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Aggravated Robbery<\/td>\n50 194<\/td>\n53 639<\/td>\n6.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Contact-related Crimes<\/td>\n123 441<\/td>\n125 789<\/td>\n1.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Crime detected as result of police action<\/td>\n350 403<\/td>\n356 919<\/td>\n1.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Contact Crimes<\/td>\n611 574<\/td>\n616 973<\/td>\n0.9%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Property-related Crimes<\/td>\n558 228<\/td>\n553 487<\/td>\n-0.8%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Other Serious Crimes<\/td>\n510 748<\/td>\n499 698<\/td>\n-2.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n2 204 588<\/strong><\/td>\n2 206 505<\/strong><\/td>\n0.09%<\/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

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

Biggest increase to biggest decrease in crimes 2015<\/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>\n2014<\/th>\n2015<\/th>\nChange<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Sexual offences as result of police action<\/td>\n4 720<\/td>\n6 340<\/td>\n34.3%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Truck hijacking<\/td>\n991<\/td>\n1279<\/td>\n29.1%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Carjacking<\/td>\n11 180<\/td>\n12 773<\/td>\n14.2%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robbery with aggravating circumstances<\/td>\n118 963<\/td>\n129 045<\/td>\n8.5%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robbery at residential premises<\/td>\n19 284<\/td>\n20 281<\/td>\n5.2%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Murder<\/td>\n17 023<\/td>\n17 805<\/td>\n4.6%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Attempted murder<\/td>\n16 989<\/td>\n17 537<\/td>\n3.2%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robbery at non-residential premises<\/td>\n18 573<\/td>\n19 170<\/td>\n3.2%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Common robbery<\/td>\n53 505<\/td>\n54 927<\/td>\n2.7%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Drug-related crime<\/td>\n260 596<\/td>\n266 902<\/td>\n2.4%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Malicious injury to property<\/td>\n117 983<\/td>\n120 662<\/td>\n2.3%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Stock-theft<\/td>\n24 534<\/td>\n24 965<\/td>\n1.8%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Burglary at non-residential premises<\/td>\n73 464<\/td>\n74 358<\/td>\n1.2%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Shoplifting<\/td>\n70 487<\/td>\n71 327<\/td>\n1.2%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Theft out of or from motor vehicle<\/td>\n143 801<\/td>\n145 358<\/td>\n1.1%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm<\/td>\n182 333<\/td>\n182 556<\/td>\n0.1%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
All theft not mentioned elsewhere<\/td>\n363 517<\/td>\n360 541<\/td>\n-0.8%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Illegal possession of firearms and ammunition<\/td>\n15 362<\/td>\n15 116<\/td>\n-1.6%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs<\/td>\n69 725<\/td>\n68 561<\/td>\n-1.7%<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Burglary at residential premises<\/td>\n259 784<\/td>\n253 716<\/td>\n-2.3%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Theft of motor vehicle and motorcycle<\/td>\n56 645<\/td>\n55 090<\/td>\n-2.7%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Common assault<\/td>\n166 081<\/td>\n161 486<\/td>\n-2.8%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total Sexual Offences<\/td>\n56 680<\/td>\n53 617<\/td>\n-5.4%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Arson<\/td>\n5 458<\/td>\n5 127<\/td>\n-6.1%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Commercial crime<\/td>\n76 744<\/td>\n67 830<\/td>\n-11.6%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Robbery of cash in transit<\/td>\n145<\/td>\n119<\/td>\n-17.9%<\/span><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bank robbery<\/td>\n21<\/td>\n17<\/td>\n-19.0%<\/span><\/strong><\/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.<\/p>\n

The data for 2015\u2019s stats covers April 2014 to March 2015.<\/p>\n

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

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

More on Crime<\/h3>\n

Most South Africans don\u2019t feel safe<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The worst crime hot spots in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

South Africa is one of the most violent and unsafe countries in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The South African Police Service has released the crime statistics for 2015, showing which crimes have increased – and decreased – in the past year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":93302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1910,26,3888,1689],"class_list":["post-99648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-crime","tag-headline","tag-saps","tag-statistics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99648","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=99648"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99680,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99648\/revisions\/99680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}