Criminology

Two out of five male South African pupils say they have been raped, according to a study suggesting sexual abuse of boys is endemic in the country's schools. The survey, published in BioMed Central's International Journal for Equity in Health, showed that boys were most frequently assaulted by adult women, followed closely by other schoolchildren.

Sexual violence profoundly limits women’s ability to negotiate safer sex, being able to exercise their sexual and reproductive health and rights. This is an enormous challenge as sexual violence is so prevalent. It also is devastating for women’s being able to experience sexual desire and pleasure.

A shocking child sex exploitation study has revealed how Cape Town children are being increasingly drawn into a web of prostitution and drug abuse - often because they are sole breadwinners.

Police reported this week that they were achieving success in combating most crimes, but not rape.

Government should provide rape victims with medical and legal assistance because medical and forensic evidence could be the only corroboration of such complaints, Parliament's justice committee heard yesterday. This comes after a clause in the draft Sexual Offences Bill, which compels the state to pay all medical costs of rape survivors, has been put on the backburner until the cost implications for the state have been determined. Now it has been argued that the clause should be reinstated in the bill because the gathering of evidence through such a service might be the only way of gaining a conviction. Lorna Martin, of the forensic medicine and toxicology division at the University of Cape Town, told the committee the medical management of rape survivors involves not only treating the rape survivor for sexually transmitted infections but involves a detailed medico-legal examination, which includes documentation of all injuries, both physical and genital, and the collection of all potential forensic evidence from the body of the complainant, including trace and biological evidence. Martin suggested that many of the services needed to achieve this were already in provincial budgets, so it is clear that the provision of a treatment clause does not have the cost implications that were voiced as concerns by cabinet. She recommended that victims of sexual assault be offered as soon as possible a medico-legal examination at a designated health-care facility. Requiring this by law would force the authorities to provide the service, she said. (Source: Wyndham Hartley Business Day, September 17, 2003)

The first annual Consultative Conference on Research Towards the Reduction of Crime and Violence will be held at the CSIR Conference Centre in Pretoria , South Africa on 19 and 20 April 2000. The Conference is hosted by the National Crime Prevention Strategy - Research Resources Centre (RRC), a dedicated resource centre which provides research information on the prevention of crime and violence. The Conference is open to all interested parties. There will be particular benefit for researchers on crime prevention and all government departments in the Criminal Justice System and related departments. Contact rrc@csir.co.za for more information