The American Society of Criminology has awarded Professor Clifford Shearing the Thorsten Sellin and Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck Award.

The Sellin-Glueck Award calls attention to outstanding criminological scholarship that considers problems of crime and justice as they are manifested outside the United States, internationally or comparatively.

Clifford has also been appointed to the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on the Future of Canadian Policing Models. Read more...

The Centre of Criminology and the Safety and Violence Initiative at the University of Cape Town invite applications from graduates who have achieved their Doctoral degree within the last 5 years for a National Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship focusing on organised violence.

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Fulcrum Institutions and Sustainability Programme - Monthly Literature Review - April 2013 is now available

The purpose of this newsletter is to keep members of the group and other interested parties up-to-date with recent and relevant publications that are of interest to the programme.

To view the newsletter, click here >>>>>.

Tariro Mutongwizo, a PhD student at the Centre will be attending the University for Peace / IDRC Research Methodology Workshop in Addis Ababa from 2 - 15 June 2013.

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A new publication has been released in which Julie Berg and others have a chapter entitled ‘Contested Social Orders: Negotiating Urban Security in Nigeria and South Africa’

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The Centre hosted a lively Ethnographic Research Methods workshop in the Smit Pentow Marine Lecture Theatre on 16 April 2013.

The workshop was presented by the American scholar, Peter Manning, and the South African sociologist, Monique Marks, on various ethnographic research methods.

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The recent summer flooding across swathes of the northern and eastern parts of South Africa is a timely reminder of the damage climate change continues to inflict upon local communities.

An article by Tom Herbstein, PhD candidate was published in the Cape Times of 23 April 2013.

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Stan Cohen, world famous sociologist passed away in January 2013.

The Centre celebrated his life and work on 7 March 2013 at 17:30. Speakers included Professor Don Foster, Lorna Levy, Dr Gail Super and Irvin Kinnes. Read more...

Irvin Kinnes, PhD candidate at the Centre was interviewed recently on SAfm on the topic of Gangs and Gangsterism. Listen to the interview under our Multi-Media section.

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Visitors from the Western Carolina, Dept. of Criminal Justice attended a presentation by Laura Drivdal (Phd candidate at the Centre) on inequality and poverty in Cape Town on Tuesday March 26th. Read more...

Peter Manning from the College of Criminal Justice, Northeastern University in Boston visited the Centre in April 2013. On Monday, 15 April, Peter presented a seminar on Policing of Conflict & Violence. Following this on Tuesday, 16 April, Peter joined Monique Marks from the University of Kwazulu Natal in a discussion on Ethnographic Research Practices. Read more...

Moliehi Shale, PhD student from the Centre is currently on a fellowship for a year at the Free University of Berlin.

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Laura Drivdal, PhD student at the Centre, is part of the 'Flooding in Cape Town under Climate Risk (FliCCR)' project team who recently held a workshop in Observatory during National Water Week. Read more...

Julie Berg, Senior Lecturer at the Centre, recently published ‘Civilian Oversight of Police in South Africa: From the ICD to the IPID’ in the February 2013 edition of Police Practice and Research. South Africa’s transition to a democracy brought with it a holistic accountability system geared toward aligning the South African Police with democratic principles. This article focuses on one component of this accountability system – the Independent Complaints Directorate (ICD) and its recent successor, the Independent Police Investigative Directive (IPID). It aims to critically review the mandate and operations of the ICD; reflect on the shift from the ICD to the IPID; and discuss the IPID’s mandate in light of past difficulties. The article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical implications of this shift and current challenges of police oversight. Read more...

Anne-Marie Singh from Ryerson University in Canada visited the Centre of Criminology during February and March 2013. Anne-Marie has an inter-disciplinary and international education with a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Criminology from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of London. She is the author of ‘Policing, Crime and Coercion: Crime Control in Post-Apartheid South Africa’. During her visit Dr. Singh will lecture in the course “Crime and Deviance in South African Cities” Read more...

Congratulations and Celebrations to Juan-Pablo, visiting fellow at the Centre who received his Masters in Conflict, Security and Development from Kings College London. Read more...

Froestad, J. with Shearing, C. 2013 - Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press

The security governance of South Africa has faced immense challenges amid post-apartheid constitutional and political transformations. In many cases, policing and governmental organizations have failed to provide security and other services to the poorest inhabitants.Security Governance, Policing, and Local Capacity explores an experiment that took place in Zwelethemba—located in South Africa’s Western Cape Province—to establish legitimate and effective nonstate security governance within poor urban settlements. Read more...

This article by Tina Lorizzo presents the findings of research on pre-trial detention in the Mozambique capital city of Maputo. Conditions of detention and access to legal representation of a group of pre-trial detainees are analysed with the context of development of the prison system in Mozambique. The research shows that while progress has been made at the legal and institutional level of the prison system, reforms have yet to impact on pre-trial detainees' lives. Read more...

Suzall Timm, Tariro Mutongwizo and Laura Drivdal, doctoral students at the Centre of Criminology attended and presented papers at the African Centre for Cities (ACC) workshop South African City Studies Workshop on Empirical Studies, Theory and Criticism held at Wits University, Johannesburg, 19-20 November 2012. Read more...

Sophie Nakueira, a doctoral candidate at the Centre, will be presenting a paper at the Interpol Global Academic Experts Meeting for Integrity in Sport, in Singapore on the 28th-29th of November 2012. Nakueira’s paper which is entitled ‘A Nodal Approach to a Global Problem: Tackling Sports Corruption through Collaborative Security Architectures’ highlights the role of international laws and domestic laws in addressing global issues and the importance of a networked or collaborative security governance model to addressing issues of match-fixing. Read more...

Moliehi Shale, doctoral candidate at the Centre, received a year-long Alexander von Humboldt Foundation International Climate Protection Fellowship for study in Germany during 2012/13. The research she is undertaking is on “Climate Risk Governance in Areas of Limited Statehood: The Case of Informal Insurance in Poor, Urban South Africa”. Read more...

The Institute for Security Studies’ Crime and Justice Programme held its 3rd Annual International Conference on Crime and Criminal Justice from the 25th to 26th October in Pretoria. Elrena van der Spuy, from the Centre, presented a paper entitled 'The Rise and Decline of Community-based Mobilisation against Crime in the New South Africa: The Case of the Western Cape Anti-crime Forum'. Read more...

Tom Herbstein, PhD candidate, participated in the “Justus-Liebig-Universitat Giessen and the North-West University (South Africa) International Conference” in Berlin. This is part of the German – South African Year of Science. Read more...

The Centre of Criminology is a thought partner of the innovative Safety Lab, an initiative to improve safety and security in the Western Cape. The Safety Lab is a project of the Cape Town Partnership and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape.

We welcome John-Paul Banchani who is joining the Centre for 6 months, as a research intern with Elrena van der Spuy. At present he is a fellow with the Kings College, Conflict Security and Development Group. Read more...

If you are thinking of registering for an MPhil or LLM in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the Centre of Criminology, University of Cape Town, you can apply for a scholarship of R55,000 p.a. to support your studies. Read more...

Marny Requa, a Lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, visited the Centre in September to undertake comparative research for a project on ‘The Judiciary and the Politics of Transition’. Polycarp Ngufor, Commissioner in the Cameroon Police Force and Head of the Human Rights Unit at the National Advanced Police School, visited the Centre to conduct research for his PhD on the topic of " The Image of the Police in African Fiction". Read more...

A new domestic violence prevention programme is being run by the Cape Town metro police and the Safety Lab. The Safety Lab is supported by the Cape Town Partnership and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and has a mandate to reduce opportunity for crime across the Western Cape and functions as an ideas lab to identify, and find innovative safety and security solutions to crime in the Western Cape. The Centre of Criminology is participating in the Safety Lab Project through providing consulting and research support.

Provincial police top brass, their metro police counterparts and a handful of “security cleared” officials met with local provincial politicians behind closed doors last night to discuss an anti-gang strategy.

Melani van der Merwe, an MPhil student at the Centre of Criminology attended the 2012 Symposium on Post-Conflict Transitions and International Justice in the Hague from July 21 to August 18. Read more...

Vice-Chancellor's Open Lectures are meant to benefit the community and leading criminologist Professor John Braithwaite's contribution on 26 July, Restorative Justice: Republican Vision and Justice as a Better Future, did that. Based on many years of research, his address offered important lessons and ideas on how South Africa could address crime. Read more...

The Centre of Criminology at the University of Cape Town and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) hosted a seminar to reflect, from a comparative point of view on the kinds of factors which make for lasting peace in post-conflict settings. The discussion was led by John Braithwaite. John is an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow and Founder of RegNet (The Regulatory Institutions Network) at the Australian National University, and is the recipient of a number of international awards including the Stockholm prize in Criminology.

The Centre of Criminology and the Democratic Governance & Rights Unit (DGRU) hosted a seminar by Willie Hofmeyr, Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions for the National Prosecuting Authority, who spoke on ‘Using Asset Forfeiture to fight Crime and Corruption". Read more...

This new book edited by Tim Newburn and Jill Peay, and published by Hart, brings together a range of leading social scientists and criminologists. The book explores a number of key themes raised by the work of Robert Reiner, a leading policing scholar.

A chapter in the book by Philip Stenning and Clifford Shearing is titled "The Shifting Boundaries of Policing: Globalisation and its Possibilitie".

The resurrection (and commodification) of former prisons as money making museums has resulted in mass tourism to penal sites as well as the emergence of a new field of study, that of penal tourism. This Seminar held at the centre on 20 July from 11:00 - 12:30 will focus on exploring this penal tourism.

Karabo Kgoleng of SAFM interviewed John Cartwright about the new publication "Where's the Chicken? Making South Africa Safe" on SAFM`s literature show that airs at 13:00 on Sundays. Read more...

Sea Monster and Leonie Joubert created "The Hungry Season" an animated film for The Embassy of Finland, The Open Society of South Africa and The Centre of Criminology. The video deals with three major issues around "Food Security" - Malnutrition, Poverty and Gender. The explainer is available in English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Zulu. Read more...

UCT's Celebrating Africa Month continued last week with a fashion show, masquerade, exhibitions and talks galore. On 10 May the Faculty of Law hosted Afropolitan Through Fabric, an event that threw the spotlight on some of Africa's cultural riches - from traditional homebrew and wear to a fashion show featuring designers from South Africa, Mali and Nigeria, among other nations. Read more...

South Africans take their safety — or lack thereof — very seriously. And so we should. A new book co-authored by John Cartwright and Clifford Shearing explores ideas around the subject that are as refreshing and thought-provoking as its title, Where’s the Chicken? Making South Africa Safe.

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The paper provides an overview of current oversight and accountability mechanisms for the private security industry, including past regulatory provisions. It examines the challenges and limitations of these mechanisms and highlights potential areas of focus to strengthen accountability in the private security industry, concluding with recommendations.

Irvin Kinnes (Centre of Criminology) and Gareth Newham (ISS) write about why an anti-corruption agency should not be in the SAPS in a recent issue of the SA Crime Quarterly.

Where’s The Chicken? is a recently released book with new innovative ideas about making South Africa safe, written by John Cartwright & Clifford Shearing from the Centre of Criminology. Read more...

Feeding Southern Africa's Cities. Picador Africa (Pan MacMillan) was published in September 2012. Written by Centre of Criminology researcher Leonie Joubert, photos by Eric Miller, with funding from the Open Society Foundation.

A delegation from the Community and Policing in Transition Peace Project, Northern Ireland attended a panel discussion organised together with the Centre of Criminology, in the Moot Court, University of Cape Town, on March 1st 2012.

The winners of the third annual Climate Change Leadership Awards were announced on 29 March 2012 at a carbon neutral event held in Sandton Johannesburg. The awards are the first in Africa that recognises and celebrates headship in climate change response and improvement. Awards went to businesses, communities, youth, schools and individuals leading the way in climate change retort and mitigation.

Santam won the Financials category for its part sponsorship of a research project in partnership with the CSIR, University of Cape Town and WWF, the outcome of which illustrates how human-induced impacts on the ecological buffering capacity of the system have an equal or greater impact on risk, as compared to future climate change predictions.

Students from the Centre of Criminology participated in two sessions at the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC) colloquium held in Cape Town recently. The honours students attended the Criminal Justice and Crime Prevention workshop and a workshop on Cities, Development and Armed Violence as well as a parallel session on The Role of Policing in Crime Prevention. Read more...

Alfred Muteru, currently a research affiliate from the African Leadership Centre, Kings College London, represented the Centre of Criminology at the 3rd Annual Intelligence Strategies for Law Enforcers Conference in Pretoria.

The Centre of Criminology has been awarded a GLOBAL CHANGE, SOCIETY AND SUSTAINABILITY (GCGC) grant from the DST through the National Research Foundation for a period of three years in support of the Environmental Security Programme.

Leonie Joubert, a researcher at the Centre of Criminology will soon publish a book on Food Security. In a recent article, written by Felicity Lewis, in The Guardian on the problem of the soaring rates of diabetes, obesity and heart disease in developing countries, Leonie comments on this problem in South Africa.

Julie Berg and Jean-Pierre Nouveau write about regulating private security in South Africa in a recent issue of the SA Crime Quarterly.

‘Police and the policing of conflict: reflections from Africa’ was the topic of a recent issue of the African Security Review, published by the Institute for Security Studies. Elrena van der Spuy was the editor of this section of the December 2011 issue.

The Centre of Criminology is a member of the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town. The ACDI co-ordinates research and training on climate change and sustainable development from an African perspective. Environmental security is the research role the Centre plays in this initiative.

A recent research study was conducted by the CSIR, Santam, the Centre of Criminology, University of Cape Town and WWF in the Southern Cape titled "Insurance in a Changing Risk Landscape: Local Lessons from the Southern Cape of South Africa". Read more...

Lindela Mjenxane and Khanyiswa Zangqa from Beyond Expectation Environmental Project were nominated as finalists in the Enviropaedia Eco-logic Awards held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Saturday 19 November 2011. Read more...

The Centre of Criminology in collaboration with Project 90 by 2030 hosted the final Changing Lives seminar for 2011 on 17 November 2011. The topic of discussion was Recycling. Read more...

The African Police Civiilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) and the Centre of Criminology are holding a Round Table Discussion on Accountability and the Private Security Industry. This will be held in the Town House Hotel, Plein Street, Cape Town on Tuesday 11 October 2011, 10.00 am. Read more...

In the latest issue of the South African Crime Quarterly Julie Berg and Clifford Shearing write on crime prevention being the "second cousin" within the South African Criminal Justice family. Read more...

Writing on the Correspondence page in Nature, Deon Nel, Clifford Shearing and Belinda Reyers report on their research into how communities should manage the increased risks associated with climate change. Read more...

Elrena van der Spuy will take part in peacekeeping training, with members of the South African Police Service, in Pretoria this week. The participatory research involves starting training at 5h45 in the morning with an hour dedicated to a combination of drill, 'battle craft', push-ups and running. Later in September Elrena will take part in workshops organised by Defence Web on public order policing and peacekeeping. Read more...

The latest International Society for Criminology World Congress was held in Kobe, Japan from 5-9 August 2011. The main theme of the conference was "Global Socio-Economic Crisis and Crime Control Policies: Regional and National Comparison". Julie Berg, presented a paper at the conference on Security Governance Innovations: The Effects of FIFA’s Governance on the Policing of the 2010 World Cup. Read more...

A new book, The New Environmental Governance (by Gunningham N, Holley C and Shearing C), has recently been published Earthscan, of the Taylor and Francis Group. Read more...

The Centre of Criminology in collaboration with Project 90 by 2030 held a seminar on Food Security on Thursday, 25 August 2011. Speakers included Jane Battersby-Lenard (EGS, UCT), Roger Jacques & Beth McKellar-Basset(SEED) and Anri Landman (Siyakhana). The seminarwas chaired by Leonie Joubert (Centre of Criminology, UCT) Read more...

The Centre welcomed back Prof. Bill Dixon from Keele University, who spoke to students and staff at the Centre of Criminology on "What is Criminology For?". Read more...

The Centre of Criminology at the University of Cape Town, in collaboration with the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) at the Australian National University, held a one-day workshop to explore the emerging 'New Environmental Governance (NEG)' framework on the 28th of July 2011 at the Palm House Hotel in Kenilworth, Cape Town. Read more...

Philip Stenning, Professor at the Griffith University in Australia visited Cape Town recently and held two seminars for students at the Centre of Criminology. Philip is a distinguished academic, writer, and researcher, who is currently a Professor at the Griffith University in Australia, specialising in the areas of police and policing, and private security. Read more...

Three new flooding reports, produced by the UCT Centre of Criminology, have been recently released. The reports were compiled by Laura Drivdal, a PhD student at the Centre interested in the adaption to the risk of flooding in Cape Town. The first of the reports concerns water in Cape Town, the second is concerned with climate change and flooding relations, whilst the third concerns water management.

Welcome to our first newsletter for 2011. Through this we share information from the Centre of Criminology about events, projects and publications Read more...

The Centre of Criminology has released its 2010 Annual Report.

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Security, Rights and Democracy was the title of the final seminar in the Criminology at the Edge workshop series. The seminar was held from Friday 8th April to Sunday 10th April 2011 at the University of Cape Town’s Law Faculty. Speakers included Ian Loader, Professor of Criminology and Director of the Centre of Criminology, University of Oxford; Dr Liora Lazarus, Lecturer in Law and fellow at St Anne’s College, Oxford; and Dr Bethan Loftus, Research Officer in the Centre of Criminology, Oxford. Clifford Shearing from the Centre of Criminology (UCT) and Monique Marks (UKZN) convened the workshop. Read more...

Key International policing scholars attended a discussion on "African Developments in Policing" at the Centre of Criminology on Thursday evening the 14th April at the Centre of Criminology.

The aim of this report is to outline the findings of research that was conducted by the Centre of Criminology, University of Cape Town, in 2010 on the sustainability of collaborative security governance arrangements arising from the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

The Fifth International Graduate Legal Research Conference (IGLRC) was hosted by King's College London School of Law and Graduate School on the 7th and 8th April in Central London. Sophie Nakueira, a doctoral student at the Centre of Criminology presented her posted on "Floating Sovereignties". Read more...

The Centre together with Project 90 by 2030, co-hosted the 2nd Changing Lives seminar on the 18th November 2010. The theme of the seminar was Changing Lives: Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. View a video of the talk on the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) given by Liz McDaid. Read more...

Podcast now available. Read more...

The Centre of Criminology together with Project 90 by 2030 hosted the first "Changing Lives" seminar on Thursday 5th August 2010 Read more...

Project 90x2030, Centre of Criminology and Cambridge Programme for Sustainable Learning (CPSL) hosted an inaugural seminar where Peter Willis spoke on WILLIS “The World I’d Like to Live In Someday”. Clifford Shearing of the Centre of Criminology responded. Read more...

The most recent seminar in the Environmental Security Seminar Series for 2009 was held on the 3rd September in the Kramer Law Building with Prof Mark Swilling as the key speaker. Read more...

The Centre of Criminology, in partnership with Partners for Change and Santam, held 'The Ecocentric Journey conference' Read more...