Open AccessLOSING GROUND? Making sense of attrition in rape cases
Author(s) -
Lillianan Artz,
Dee Smythe
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
sa crime quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2413-3108
pISSN - 1991-3877
DOI - 10.17159/2413-3108/2007/v0i22a962
Subject(s) - attrition , capital (architecture) , process (computing) , law , political science , capital city , criminology , law and economics , sociology , computer science , history , geography , medicine , economic geography , dentistry , archaeology , operating system
South Africa is notorious for being the ‘rape capital of the world.’ The new Sexual Offences Bill introduces a number of legal reforms intended to improve the handling of sexual offences cases. But these new reform efforts will not have the desired impact if laws are not properly implemented or interpreted. It is argued that we need to pay urgent attention to the unacceptable high number of cases that drop out of the system, and ensure that victims are given the tools and support to participate effectively in the legal process.