3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item A case study of a female inclusive diversion programme in South Africa(2017) Lesage, Schvaughn SandrineThis case study research explored a female inclusive diversion programme through the analysis of the lived experiences of the staff and programme participants. The research targeted six staff at the programme and five female participants, between the ages of 14 to 35 years who have completed or are busy completing the iCHOOSE diversion programme. The research is qualitative, drawing on eleven semi-structured interviews, direct observations, and documentation. Five themes were identified using Yin’s (2011) five phases of qualitative data analysis, namely: ownership, personal, equality and equity, performativity, and winding road. The first four themes focused on the participants whilst the final theme highlighted the programme itself in terms of advantages, disadvantages, and success. Key findings highlight the difficulties experienced by female youth participants, which mainly consist of societal perceptions of gender norms making their involvement in deviant and criminal acts more problematic than male’s involvement. In addition, discourse of equality as sameness hinders social justice. This research aims to expand on the current understanding of female youth offenders and add valuable insights to existing literatureItem Shopping and Guns: an analysis of public discourses in social media about mall robberies in South Africa(2017) Thurtell, Sean ChristopherThis research project investigates public opinions about South African mall robberies discussed on Twitter. Using the principles of discourse and multimodal analysis, it provides critical insights constructed from the represented narratives of select, proposed middle-class consumers illustrating distinct sentiments about malls, crime and shopping. Malls are empirical objects that have been trivialised as ordinary and mundane consumer sites, devoid of any sociological significance embedded within the daily practices of shopping. This paper makes the argument that when contested by criminal activity, malls become valuable sites for critical enquiry towards gaining a deeper understanding of what these shopping attitudes mean within a post-apartheid, South African consumer landscape. The central issue of crime threatening public safety at malls diverges into an array of thematic discussions, revealing distinct indoctrinations surrounding apartheid’s iniquitous system of racial and social engineering. This study’s principle argument makes the claim that anxieties concerning public safety are only the tip of the iceberg, and this serves as an entry point into a discourse contesting exclusive shopping rights above constitutional equality for all. The test tube of mall robberies mixes desirable pleasures and humanitarian moralities together and creates a volatile cocktail of conflicting, consumer aspirations. In short, the public discourse of mall crimes is about maintaining self-entitled spaces of exclusivity within a desperate socioeconomic climate. This study concludes with questions and considerations raised by these authors which could springboard into opportunities for future inquiry.Item A study on approaches to implementing the integrated social crime prevention strategy in South Africa(2106) Manana, Ditebogo BornephiliaThe levels of crime and violence in South Africa are at a very alarming and concerning rate. It is against this background that, this situation is treated as a matter of urgency by the South African presidency, government departments, civil society organisations and business sector to prevent and decreace the possibility of ruined socio-economic development in South Africa. Heedful to the status quo of the South African crime levels, the implementing of the integrated social crime prevention strategy was approved by the Sourth African presidency as a comprehensive and an appropriate framework to deal with the high levels of crime and to create opportunities for safety in South Africa (Presidency, 2010). The goal of this study was to explore the inherent approaches to implementing the integrated social crime prevention strategy in South Africa. In exploring this goal and objectives of the study, the researcher used Tech’s (in Creswell, 1994) data analysis framework to identify appropriate approaches to implementing the integrated social crime prevention strategy in South Africa. The findings in the study have shown that alternative approaches are crititical to implementing the integrated social crime prevention stategy in South Africa to foster integrated and collaborative delivery of services by all government department, civil society otganisation and private sector. It is also evident that, the recommendations of this study can be used as a guideline by different sectors to improve the implementation of the strategy in South Africa. The following are the key words used throughout the study: approach, implementation, integrated, social crime prevention and strategy which answered the primary research question: What are the inherent approaches to implementing the integrated social crime prevention strategy in South Africa. These words are defined in chaper one (1).Item Male crime victims: the social and personal construction of meaning in response to traumatogenic events(2014-03-14) Eagle, GillianThe study was directed at exploring the social and personal construction of meaning of male victims of violent crime. Three inter-related goals were identified: the extension of the nascent narrative/thematic tradition of analysis in the traumatic stress field; the deepening of appreciation of the experience of criminal victimization; and the exploration o f the role of social construction in the cognitive schematic adjustment of victims. In this instance the examination of the role of social construction was focussed centrally on the juxtaposition of the subject roles associated with masculinity and victimization. On the basis of both clinical observation and theory, it was postulated that aspects of masculine identification would create difficulties for men attempting to adjust to involuntary exposure to a context in which they were clearly victimized. The thesis provides comprehensive coverage of theory straddling cognitive adjustment to psychological trauma, mainstream and critical social psychological theory on victimization, developmental and descriptive dimensions of theory on masculinity and a range of literature on criminal victimization. The theoretical conceptualization underpinning the study offers a unique integration of this body of knowledge. In order to investigate the research question, ten adult, white, English speaking,South African men who had experienced a life-threatening, criminally motivated attack were interviewed about the event and their subsequent responses. The study was located within the qualitative research tradition allowing for the development of theory, and fox depth of description and interpretation. Semi-structured interviews were recorded and tnmscribdl w batim . Interview transcripts were subjected to a thematic content analysis by means of a computer-aided text interpretation. Frequency figures were calculated, but the emphasis of the analysis was in the area of descriptive and interpretive dimensions. Three central themes emerged as signi fi cant; those of Control, Disillusionment and Anger. Multiple facets of each theme are addressed, including centrally the interface between thematic dimensions and the social construction of masculinity. A meta-theoretical discourse analytic commentary is provided, addressing for example, the rob of the “hero” discourse in interviewee’s reports. In addition, the clinical implications of the data are explored. The study provides evidence of the inter-relationship between social and personal construction o f meaning in the aftermath of tramatization. It is suggested that in the context of victimization the social construction of masculinity is both more intractable and more permeable than might be supposed.