Julie Berg
Julie Berg is a senior lecturer in the Public Law Department at the University of Cape Town and is associated with the NRF African Security and Justice Programme at the Centre of Criminology. Julie qualified with a Master of Social Science in Criminology at the University of Cape Town and is currently undertaking a PhD on the regulation of polycentric security governance in South African improvement districts.
Teaching Areas
Julie teaches the following criminology courses to undergraduate and postgraduate students in both the Law and Humanities Faculties:
- Crime and Deviance in South African Cities PBL2800F (undergrad)
- Crime and Social Control in Africa PBL4809S (postgrad)
- Theories of Crime and Social Order PBL6820F (postgrad)
- Police and Policing: Explorations in Security Governance PBL6844F (postgrad)
Research interests
Julie's research interests lie primarily in the functioning; regulation and accountability of non-state security governance – particularly the private security industry and urban improvement districts. She is also interested in public-private partnerships between institutions and agencies involved in security and policing, such as the development of these partnerships; how they are regulated; and the convergence of state and private techniques of security provision.
Postgraduate supervision
Honours and LLM / MPhil (criminology and criminal justice) supervision in most areas of criminology, but primarily private security and plural policing; partnership policing; community and market involvement in security; police accountability and regulation; private prisons; crime trends and statistics.
Select publications
Journal Articles
Berg, J. (2010) ‘Seeing like Private Security: Evolving Mentalities of Public Space Protection in South Africa’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 10(3): 287-301.
Berg, J. and I. Kinnes (2009) 'An Overview of Crime in South Africa', The Criminologist, 34(3):22-23.
Berg, J. (2008) 'Holding South Africa's Private Security Industry Accountable: Mechanisms of Control and Challenges to Effective Oversight' Acta Criminologica, 21(1):87-96.
Berg, J. (2005) 'The Rise of 'Tik' and the Crime Rate', South African Journal of Criminal Justice, 18(3): 306-328.
Berg, J. (2004) 'Private Policing in South Africa: The Cape Town City Improvement District – Pluralisation in Practice.' Society in Transition, 35(2):224-250.
Berg, J. (2004) 'Challenges to a Formal Private Security Industry-SAPS Partnership: Lessons from the Western Cape' Society in Transition, 35(1):105-124.
Berg, J. and W. Schärf (2004) 'Crime Statistics in South Africa 1994-2003' South African Journal of Criminal Justice, 17(1):57-78.
Berg, J. (2003) 'The Private Security Industry in South Africa: A Review of Applicable Legislation' South African Journal of Criminal Justice, 16(2):178-196.
Berg, J. (2001) 'Accountability in Private Corrections: Monitoring the Performance of Private Prisons in South Africa' South African Journal of Criminal Justice, 14(3):327-343.
Berg, J. (2001) 'Private Prisons the International Debate and its Relation to South Africa' Acta Criminologica, 14(3):2-12.
Berg, J. (2001) 'Contracting Corrections Future Prospects for a Developing Country' Crime & Conflict, 22:5-8.
Berg, J. (2000) 'Privatisierung als Chance für die Häftlinge?' Der Überblick,1:54-58.
Chapters in Books
Hentschel, C. and J. Berg (2010) ‘Policing South African Cities: Plural and Spatial Perspectives. In Cools, M., De Kimpe, S., Dormaels, A., Easton, M., Enhus, E., Ponsaers, P., Van de Walle, G. and A. Verhage (eds) Police, Policing, Policy and the City in Europe. The Hague: Eleven International Publishing, pp. 147-174.
Berg, J. and E. van der Spuy (2010) Challenges for the Good Governance of Security in the African Context. In Idriss, M., Jendly, M., Karn, J. and M. Mulone (eds) International Report on Crime Prevention and Community Safety: Trends and Perspectives, 2010.. Montreal: International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, pp. 123-125.
Berg, J. and C. Shearing (2008) 'Integrated Security: Assembling Knowledges and Capacities'. In Williamson, T. (ed) The Handbook of Knowledge Based Policing: Current Conceptions and Future Directions. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 389-404.
Berg, J. (2006) 'Implications of Prison Liberalization on Correctional Workers' Socio-economic Security'. In Rosskam, Ellen (ed). Winners or Losers? Liberalizing Public Services. Geneva: International Labour Organization. pp. 263-321.
Shearing, C. and J. Berg (2006) 'Private Policing.' In Greene, J.R. (ed) Encyclopedia of Police Science, 3rd Edition, 2 vols. New York: Routledge.
Shearing, C. and J. Berg (2006) 'South Africa'. In Jones, T. and T. Newburn (eds) Plural Policing A Comparative Perspective. Oxon: Routledge, pp. 190-221.
Berg, J. (2003) 'Prison Privatization: Developments in South Africa'. In Coyle, A., Campbell, A. and R. Neufeld (eds) Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization and Human Rights. Atlanta: Clarity Press, pp. 179-188.