07 NPA Sub Programme 1 - Institute for Security Studies

Court PreparationThe Court Preparation Programme continues to offer support services to witnesses, especially women and children.There are 125 Court Preparation Officers (CPOs) employed at 68 courts countrywide against a target of 140.During the period under review 69 196 witness sessions were conducted by CPOs which is an average of 56witnesses per CPO, and the target of 60 was therefore not achieved.Use of suitable alternatives to punitive justiceDuring the reporting period a total of 129 846 cases were finalised by means of ADRM of which a total of1 887 (1.5% of national total) were finalised by the Regional Courts and 127 959 cases (98.5% of nationaltotal) by the District Courts.Alternative dispute resolution encompasses diversion and informal mediation as methods of resolution ofdisputes between the parties. During the current reporting period, a total of 38 669 cases were diverted afterenrolment, a total of 7 869 cases were diverted before enrolment in terms of the CJA and 83 308 cases weresuccessfully mediated on an informal basis. The focused approach on alternative measures to reduce trial caseshas resulted in a 22% increase in the number of cases informally mediated compared to the total of 68 270cases mediated during the previous financial year.Diversions in terms of the Child Justice ActThe CJA came into operation on 1st of April 2010 and created a new procedural framework for dealing withchildren who were in conflict with the law. This Act seeks to ensure children’s accountability and respect for thefundamental freedoms of others, and to prevent crime and promote public safety through the use of diversions,alternative sentencing and restorative justice.Since April 2010, a total of 15 588 children were dealt with of which 910 children (5.8%) were between theages of 10 – 13 years and 14 678 children (94.2%) were between the ages 14 – 17 years old.The table below indicates the manner in which the children were dealt with. Noteworthy is the fact that 795children below the age of 10 years were referred in terms of Section 9 of the Act, 2 444 children were divertedin terms of Section 41 of the Act and 4 630 children were diverted during the preliminary inquiry phase.Table 10: Breakdown of the manner in which children in conflict with the law weredealt withFORUM SEC.9 REFERRALS SEC 41 DIVERSION PRELIMINARY INQUIRY DIVERSIONDistrict Court 788 2 401 4 561Regional Court 7 43 69TOTAL 795 2 444 4 630During 2010/11 a total of 444 children were convicted with a conviction rate of 79.3% after the case has beenreferred for trial whilst 1 162 children were still diverted during the trial stage. Noteworthy is that 1 581children successfully complied with the diversion programme and in only 112 matters a more onerous diversionprogramme had to be chosen.Develop Dedicated Capabilities for Crime Focus AreasComplex Commercial CrimeDuring the current reporting period, a total of 10 dedicated commercial crime courts finalised 742 cases with aconviction rate of 92.5%. A reduction of 1.5% is noted in the conviction rate compared to the previous financialyear. The reduction in cases finalised is ascribed to an increased focus on more serious matters that are timeconsuming to prosecute. In addition, the opening figure for 2009/10 was overstated in the ENE, on which targetsfor 2010/11 were determined. In the AENE process, National Treasury (NT) was requested to adjust the actual2009/10 performance, but this was not published.24 Annual Report 2010/11