ABSTRACT
Crime is notoriously difficult to quantify given the complexities behind how it is recorded and the problems are exacerbated by the South African Government's moratorium on the release of crime statistics in 2000 (ostensibly while the data system is revamped, although more likely because of the bad international press it was attracting). It is known, however, that the 20 most common serious crimes increased between 1994 and 1998, from 1,998,000 reported crimes, to 2,154,000. That is an 8 percent increase, though the population did rise 10 percent in that time (Crime Information Analysis Centre (CIAC) of South African Police Service (SAPS) figures, quoted in Schonteich, 2000b, p. 21 ).
