Interpreting the Body Count: South African statistics on lethal police violence

Abstract

This paper looks at the incidence of lethal police violence since, and prior to, the transition to democracy in South Africa in the mid 1990s. Independent Complaints Directorate statistics on ‘deaths as a result of police action’ indicate that they have declined to their lowest levels since 1997 in five of South Africa's provinces, though two provinces also demonstrated dramatic increases in deaths in the last year. The possible impact of new legislation on the use of lethal force for arrest, implemented in South Africa in 2003, on the number of deaths, is briefly considered. Statistics on killings by police from the apartheid period are then examined in relation to the question of whether levels of killings by police have changed since apartheid. It is suggested that there is reason to doubt the reliability of official figures on people killed by police from the apartheid era. While deaths have declined since 1997, and it cannot be said that current levels of deaths are comparable to apartheid era levels, figures, such as those on innocent bystanders killed by police, and on the legality of shootings, provide cause for concern.

Keywords:

• police violence
• lethal force
• police reform