Browsing by Author "Van Zyl Smit, Dirk"
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- ItemOpen AccessDifferences in the comprehensibility of testimony : a comparative study of magistrate's credibility judgements, witnesses' ethnicity and court role(1985) Hansson, Desirée S; Foster, Don; Van Zyl Smit, DirkOnly limited research has been undertaken regarding the effects of extralegal variables on the verdicts of lower courts. Bennett and Feldman (1981) have demonstrated that the well-formedness of the semantic structure of testimony determines its credibility. It has been shown that the comprehensibility of narrative discourse (testimony) is a reliable indicator of its well-formedness (Thorndyke, 1977). This study aims to explore the relationships between comprehensibility (well-formedness) as a dependent variable, and magistrates' credibility judgements, the ethnicity of witnesses and their court roles as independent variables. Simple three way Anovas constituted the bulk of the statistical analyses.
- ItemOpen AccessGuns and gun control in South Africa : a case study of fatal gun use in metropolitan Cape Town, 1984-1991, with a critical examination of broader issues(1998) Hansson, Desirée; Foster, Don; Van Zyl Smit, DirkSince the election of the new government in South Africa in 1994, a process of reconstructing and prioritising social problems has been underway in which firearms have been afforded prominence. A 'gun problem' has been constructed based on the traditional premise that illegal private possession is the issue and most interventions have targeted the reduction of unlicensed guns. However, despite more than 35 years of research worldwide, this foundational premise lacks empirical support. Moreover relevant work on South Africa has been scarce. Utilising this as the basic assumption of a contemporary conception of the 'gun problem' would thus seem unwise. Hence an alternate approach was adopted, starting with the question of whether guns were actually problematic in this context. A case study was conducted using a complete sample (1555) of fatal shootings in metropolitan Cape Town from 1984 to 1991. The overall aim was to paint a comprehensive picture of lethal gun use that would enable the identification and prioritising of problems, and the shaping of interventions. A pencil-and-paper device was constructed to extract information from mortuary registers, inquest and criminal court records. Variables included characteristics of victims, shooters, circumstances, weapons, injuries, and the legal process. Specific attention was paid to restraint in homicides; various indicators were used to •measure levels of minimum force and proportionality. The data were transferred into a customised computer database for analysis. Statistical significance was assessed using chi-square tests and the analysis of standardised residuals for selected single and cross-tabulated variables.
- ItemOpen AccessA history of the Breakwater Prison from 1859 to 1905(1989) Deacon, Harriet; Thornton, Robert; Van Zyl Smit, DirkThis thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of a B.A (Hons.) degree in African Studies, for which my home department was Social Anthropology. The project arose out of my interest in the interdisciplinary work of Michel Foucault and its application to the history of Africa. This has been broadened into an interest in post-structuralist theory, and has been particularly focussed on the "institution". A prime example of Foucault's "complete" or "austere" institution is the prison. The Breakwater convict station, a colonial prison in Cape Town during the nineteenth century, suited both my theoretical and empirical interests. I chose this particular institution because it was the prison from which the linguist W.H.I. Bleek drew his San informants in the 1870s, and because the prison and its records were based in Cape Town. I wanted to incorporate ideas from secondary sources on Bleek and his work (e.g. Thornton 1983, Deacon 1988a). But the work took its own directions, and I have focussed here on the organization of the prison and on the prisoners in general rather than on the San.
- ItemOpen AccessPenal labour in the constitutional context: a comparison of South African and Germany.(1999) Achelis, Felicitas; Van Zyl Smit, DirkOne of the most important reasons for doing comparative work in the field of law, is to get a better understanding of the legal jurisdictions of other countries. Studying the law of another country also enables one to understand one's legal jurisdiction in a better way. It helps one to see well-established principles in a new light and to ask questions about the continued applicability of such principles
- ItemOpen AccessThe penal system of colonial Natal : from British roots to racially defined punishment(1984) Pete, Steve; Van Zyl Smit, DirkThis thesis does not claim to be a complete penal history of the colony of Natal. Rather it investigates selected themes which characterized Natal's penal system during the period 1842 to 1910. It attempts thus to reveal both the similarity of that system to the penal systems of the advanced capitalist states as well as its essentially unique character. The continuities between penal practice in Natal and elsewhere in the capitalist world do not seem difficult to explain; Natal was after all a colonial possession of the world's oldest and most advanced capitalist state. With the annexation of Natal to the British Empire in 1842, and the introduction of the British administration in 1845, the colony became part of a single expanding world capitalist economy. The legal and administrative institutions which were set up to govern and regulate this new market in the interests of the Empire, were, modelled upon British institutions. These institutions had developed with, and formed an integral part of the system of industrial capitalism. The officials and administrators sent out from "home" to operate these new institutions were likewise ideological products of the most industrialised and developed capitalist country in the world. Thus the penal system imported into Natal in the middle of the nineteenth century, and all the ideological baggage which came with that system, had its roots in the metropolitan country, where the punishment of imprisonment had arisen with the development of capitalism, and was linked thereto. Any study of the penal system of Natal thus cannot ignore the origins of imprisonment as a form of punishment, and the reasons for its development along with the rise of capitalism in Europe. It would be a mistake, however, simply to point to the similarity of the prisons of Natal to prisons in the mother country. While Natal's economy was certainly integrated, as a peripheral sector, with a single world capitalist economy, it could certainly not be described as capitalist in nature. The prison in Europe had emerged as a response to large scale industrialisation and the rapid expansion of capitalist relations of production. Until the last decades of the nineteenth century, Natal had no industries worth speaking of. In addition the white colonists were confronted by a large indigenous population, which fiercely and successfully resisted being drawn into wage labour for the white man, which in effect meant subjection to capitalist relations of production. Natal's penal system must thus be seen in the context of the colonial situation. To a large extent the role of the prison in Natal and the ideologies of punishment which developed in the colony over the years, were a response to specific local conditions. It is this fact that makes the penal system of Natal unique. This thesis is thus concerned with both continuity and originality; the articulation of the penal theories and assumptions of an industrialised metropolitan political economy, with a rural colonial political economy.
- ItemOpen AccessPrivate prisons : international experiences and South African prospects(2000) Berg, Julie; Van Zyl Smit, DirkBibliography: leaves 165-170.
- ItemOpen AccessRestorative justice : a Marxist analysis(2005) Koen, Raymond Anthony; Van Zyl Smit, DirkIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 468-504).
- ItemOpen AccessSouth African Police reform in the 1990s : internal processes and external influences(2005) Van der Spuy, Elrena; Steytler, Nico; Van Zyl Smit, DirkIn the contemporary era policy-making is increasingly being shaped by non-domestic influences and actors. The mobility of policy ideas and mechanisms across time and space provides a challenge: How best to conceptualise the routes and modes of travelling whereby ideas and instruments are transported from one location to another? Conceptual tools originally designed in public policy circles - such as lesson-drawing, modelling, policy diffusion, policy transfer and convergence - have more recently been introduced into criminological enquiries regarding the convergence of criminal justice policies. This thesis applies the conceptual framework of policy transfer (referring to conscious efforts on the part of social agencies to export-import lessons from one locale to another) to the field of policing with a specific emphasis on South African police reform after 1990. The central focus of this enquiry is the interplay between novel, often externally derived , ideas and practices with a national police force at a time of immense political transition. Selective aspects of South African police reform are explored with specific emphasis on how, in what way, and to what extent, local reform efforts have been influenced by global notions and practices of good policing.Three institutional conduits for reformist policing ideas are considered. In the first instance, the contribution of policing scholars, a knowledge-based community of some importance, to debates on the pathways for police reform are discussed with an emphasis on the theoretical and normative assumptions that have guided their analyses of a policing ethos and system beyond Apartheid. Secondly, the role of an interim policy mechanism, the National Police Board (created in terms of a peace agreement signed in 1991) in setting an agenda for police reform is considered. Thirdly, the discussion profiles the international development community as a constituency of importance in recent police reform efforts. The latter exploration proceeds through a case study method. Three distinct examples of donor aid in support of institutional reform are described with particular reference to the paradigms invoked, the cultural entrepreneurs and policy networks involved, and the contextual factors that facilitated and/or constrained reformist efforts. A wide range of data collection methods were utilised during the course of the research. A literature review of contemporary debates on policy transfer, police and security sector reform in both mature and emerging democracies was undertaken. Furthermore, a wide range of primary documentary sources and various official policy documents were consulted. Face to face interviews with members of various policy constituencies also provided source material. Lastly, participant observation of policy structures and field notes compiled during evaluative research of a number of donor assisted projects provided contextual observations of importance to the analysis. This enquiry supports the conclusion that there is growing convergence in the language and practices associated with democratic police reform. Yet the dilemmas of policy transfer from North to South - particularly (although not exclusively) in the context of aid packages - are often underestimated. Local experiments suggest that whilst policy transfers can facilitate policy change, policies transferred all too easily become victims of domestic contingencies. Empirical enquiries into the context, processes and outcomes associated with reformist interventions are necessary to sharpen our understanding of how exactly policy travels and to what local effect. Recent reform activity aimed at the South African Police illustrates the extent to which policy communities situated at the local, national and transnational level do not exist in isolation but rather stand in a complex and interactive relationship to one another.
- ItemOpen AccessThe death penalty in Africa(2004) Van Zyl Smit, DirkThis article examines the situation of the death penalty in Africa. It does so by addressing three main questions: First, to what extent is the death penalty in Africa in fact an issue about which one should be particularly concerned? Second, what are the restrictions on the death penalty in Africa? Third, what is to be done to strengthen the restrictions on the death penalty in Africa? In addition, the article examines the question whether article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and its related provisions will inspire the abolition of the death penalty. It is suggested that challenging mandatory death sentences, advancing procedural challenges, open debate on alternatives to the death penalty, and improving the national criminal justice system will strengthen restrictions on the death penalty in Africa. The article concludes that positive criminal justice reform rather than moralistic condemnation is the most effective route to the eventual abolition of the death penalty in Africa.