This is according to the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) researcher Chandre Gould. Chandre has been pondering on why South Africa’s crime rate is so high and ventured into prisons to chat to inmates who have been sentenced to prison terms for multiple crimes, at least one of which was violent in nature, about who they are and where they come from. She wanted to know what encouraged people to turn to crime and violence.

We know that it’s not just poverty, because poorer countries than South Africa do not have to deal with similarly acute crime epidemics. “Inequality”, similarly, seems too simplistic an answer.

And her conclusion? That there are various factors start to influence the men from a young age:

• The loss of a parent or caregiver often features.
• The failure of parents to properly engage with infants and children
• Violence in childhood homes.
• Alienation early on from people and structures of authority

Early childhood development is crucial as a child’s early development requires constant attention as the brain reaches 80% of its potential in the first two years after birth.

When very young children are continuously neglected, deprived of caring engagement and subjected to stressful environments, the brain areas responsible for learning and reasoning are affected. Lower confidence at school follows as a result, and behaviour can start to be affected. Such children begin to be classed as “problematic”.

The pressure is called “toxic stress” and can have a significant negative impact. Toxic stress is

strong, ongoing, unrelieved activation of stress in the absence of the buffering role that a caring adult plays.

It is brought on by a number of issues, such as:

• extreme poverty
• neglect
• abuse
• mental health problems on the part of the mother, such as depression or alcoholism.
• violent partners
• parents who are very young
• parents who suffer from low self-esteem

The conclusion to all this is that South Africa’s crime problem is a multi-faceted issue that requires various levels of interception – beginning with the need to ensure that every child has equal opportunity from the get go. There’s no point concentrating on high education issues when the real problem is children needing attention and affirmation of existence from the beginning – whether it from a mother, grandmother or non-related caregiver.

We need to all be investing in everybody’s children.

Our discussions about crime focus responsibility too heavily on police. Police Minister Nathi Nhleko would no doubt agree with relief. Presenting this year’s crime statistics to Parliament, Nhleko described crimes like murder as a “social problem” which need to be dealt with at a “multi-disciplinary level”.

If we don’t take care of those early years of life, we are just pushing the problem of crime to the next generation.

Although there is no doubt that the level of policing in South Africa needs to be addressed, there are issues other than the number of crimes reported and arrests made that need to be monitored. We need to step up our police game, for sure, and that’s from an in-house angle.

… as long as police are measured via reductions in crime, there is a perverse incentive not to report [cases]. More emphasis should be placed on aspects like police response time, the quality of care provided by the South African Police Service, and the frequency with which completed, well-researched criminal dockets reach court.

[source: dailymaverick]