How to stop repeat crime offenders

We must admire Dr Casper Lötter, a conflict criminologist affiliated with North-West University’s School of Philosophy, for airing his thoughts and suggestions on our pages today on how to stop repeat criminal offenders.

Is that because he is an out-of-touch dreamer? No. Far from it – his ideas should be given serious consideration.

He will get a lot of pushback and be regarded as being “soft” on crime in a country so brutalised by it that those affected only want one thing – revenge.

Lötter says South Africa has the highest rate of recidivism – how many criminals who carry on to offend after serving their sentences – in the world. It’s sobering to read that nine out of every 10 people released from jail in this country will commit more offences.

He says the reason is, among other things, because our criminal justice system and society at large stigmatises and shames criminals.

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But, isn’t that what they deserve, we can hear you argue, because these people violated society’s rules of conduct and they put themselves beyond the pale?

Lötter believes the “emasculating stigma against ex-offenders” drives them “away from mainstream society and into the arms of welcoming criminal subcultures”.

A way to reduce this stigmatisation would be to outlaw the phenomenon, with “significant civil and criminal consequences” for any such conduct.

He says also: “It is vital that the public be educated about the societal costs of stigma – in terms of recidivism rates – if we are serious about creating safer communities.”

None of that is going to be easy for victims to swallow – but Lötter says overseas countries which use the approach have far lower rates of repeat offending.

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Maybe it is time for Minister of Correctional Services Pieter Groenewald to look at fresh ideas like this.