Crime and Deviance in South African Cities Engineering & Computer Science Program Spring 2023 Semester - Cape Town

There are two objectives in the course. In the first place, we consider the nature of deviance, crime and criminality in South Africa, from both historical and current viewpoints. We consider questions such as: How much crime is there in South Africa? Who are the victims of crime and who are the offenders? Why is crime in South Africa so violent? This discussion will draw freely from international, criminological debate and locate those debates within a developing context. The second objective of the course aims at exploring responses to crime in the South African context. We consider questions such as: What has and is being done by the state and non-state to engage with crime? What is the thinking behind (violent) crime control and prevention programmes and initiatives? How effective have these initiatives been? This discussion will, for instance, focus on crime policies that have been developed as well as community and private sector initiatives to address issues of crime and violence.

DP requirements: Completion of all written tests, essays and assignments.

Assessment: Coursework counts 50% and one two-hour examination counts 50% of the final mark.

The University of Cape Town awards credits based on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) to determine course and contact hour recommendations per course. 1 NQF credit represents roughly 10 notional hours of work which includes study time, assignments and examinations. Notional hours may very per courses depending on the course level and modality therefore, CEA recommends using NQF credits as a basis to determine U.S. equivalencies (1 NQF=.222 semester credits)