The need for continuous research on domestic violence could be more espoused by the exponential increase in domestic violence, such that characterized the global reign of corona virus. Domestic violence cases have been on the rise in South Africa since 1994; and despite the existence of legal protections and statutory instruments that attempt to hinder domestic violence, there continues to be prevalence of violent behaviours across different families. Indisputably, the outbreak of coronavirus has created myriads of consequences for justice system in South Africa and the world at large. Due to the outbreak, the South African government announced a lockdown to mitigate the spread of the virus. Nonetheless, within a span of one week of the lockdown, the South African Police Services (SAPS) reported a shocking rise in the number of gender-based violence cases, which was approximately reported as 89000. The lockdown primarily suggests that victims be locked with the perpetrators for a period until it is deemed safe to end the lockdown. Using a systematic review of the empirical literature, the paper provides a quadripartite criminological perspective (comprising differential association theory, classical theory, frustration-aggression theory and social bond theory) on the rise of domestic violence during the outbreak of the virus. It further explores the aftermaths of COVID-19 on criminal justice system in terms of dealing with diverse cases of domestic violence in the Republic. Factors pertaining to issues of access to justice system during the lockdown, poor police response and victim reporting, sense of helplessness by victims, delayed justice, as well as victim support, system are significantly evaluated

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Societies` views concerning the Criminal Justice System institutions are shaped not only by opportunities to interact with such institutions during normal work but also in part by efforts due to the larger mission (of these institutions) of encouraging and supporting such attitudes. Due to the global COVID 19 pandemic, most countries have implemented a lockdown as an initiative to control the spread of the virus. South Africa is no exception as the country joined most countries and announced the national lockdown in March 2020. With the national lockdown, Criminal Justice agencies such as the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) were deployed across the country to ensure compliance with the lockdown regulations. The police are the most visible and powerful arm of the state, the nature of the state and the way it is perceived has a profound impact on police-community relations and vice versa. With South Africa’s pronouncement of the national lockdown and state of emergency due to the pandemic, more inquiries and investigations into police practice during the national lockdown will be made. It is precisely in this context that this study aims to reflect on police-community relations during the national lockdown. A criminological analysis on the ramifications of the dented police-community relations due to the national lockdown will be explored. With the national lockdown regulations, clearly gazetted, this study will also employ criminological theories to further interrogate the regulations that impacted on the dented police-community relations.

This article examines municipalities on implementation and coordination of social crime prevention programmes in addressing social issues. The White Paper on Safety and Security (1998) clearly proposed that local government should be responsible for implementing and coordinating social crime prevention programmes within areas of concern. Therefore, it is argued that the provincial government is closest to citizens and inimitably placed to contribute to social crime prevention initiatives and readdress the delivery of services to deal with crime prevention successfully. There is little information about this matter in South Africa. This article will reveal the challenges municipalities and the department of social development face on social issues. There seems to be a repetition of social programmes in addressing social issues and there are no programmes targeting youth at risk, juvenile delinquency and child-headed households’ issues. The study concludes that the municipalities should consider the review in social crime prevention strategies to better align its programmes to the provincial mandates. Municipalities should further demonstrate regularly how it responds to social issues that might perpetuate the crime rate.

South Africa and its policing system have been experiencing several incidents of vigilantism where community members partook in killing and administering “instant justice” to persons caught red-handed or suspected of engaging in criminal activities. Vigilantism has become a critical problem for the government, community members, and society. The study explores community perception regarding the incidents of vigilantism perpetuated in Thohoyandou and Musina within Vhembe District in the Limpopo Province. The study adopted an exploratory qualitative methodology. A non-random sampling that included purposive and snowball sampling was used to select the participants. Semi-structured interviews, observation and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Data were analysed using thematic data analysis. The study concludes that vigilantism is now an acute daily occurrence in South Africa. As such, it has brought some negative implications, loss of life, destruction of property, effects on the welfare of children and a vicious cycle of crime. Even though the criminal justice system is the scapegoat for all this, community members point to unemployment, poverty, and alcohol and drug abuse as some of the causes of vigilantism. The article recommends collaboration between state parties and the communities in the administration of justice to fight vigilantism.