The Department of Police released their annual crime statistics on 12 September. These stats showed the state of crime in South Africa between April last year and March this year and highlighted where the police have made improvements and what they need to focus on next.
They revealed that South Africa needs to have a concerned look over crime as the country reported 15 844 more crimes in the last year to have a total of 617 210 contact crimes reported. Of this section, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm (assault GBH) contributed the most with a total of 170 979 cases.
Total contact crimes increased by 2.6 per cent during this time. This category included murder, attempted murder, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, common assault, aggravated robbery, common robbery and sexual offences. All of these crimes experienced increases, pointing towards the fact that South Africa has become a more violent place in the last year. A total of 21 022 murders were reported during this time, an increase of 686 cases from the previous year.
Total sexual offences increased as well as 2 312 more cases were reported this year. This brings the total number of sexual offences crimes being reported to 52 420. The bulk of these cases were rape cases which contributed 41 583 cases in the last year.
Here is an infographic on the general crime stats and facts resulting from the recently released information:
