A Conceptual Analysis of Strategies to Reduce Violent Crimes in a Democracy: A South African Perspective

Abstract After many years of dictatorial policing in South Africa, South Africans expected a paradigm shift in policing from a ‘force’ to a ‘service’. Today, in addition to the failure of providing democratic policing, police officials are found guilty of human rights violations and are accused of violent and abusive actions while attending to their duties. In this paper the researcher looks at the present-day failures in policing violent crimes and to analyse strategies to strengthen democratic policing. The researcher used media reports, literature and police officers’ experiences to study the failures in policing violent crimes in a democratic South Africa to come up with strategies to strengthen democratic policing. The researcher found that the use of arbitrary policing powers and other concomitant failures influenced the increase in violent crimes in South Africa. This paper is therefore aimed at improving the control of violent crimes by strengthening democratic policing.