By Kim Thomas

Summary The Prevention of Organised Crime Act’s anti-gang provisions are not meeting their objectives. They were originally meant to fill the gaps in common law and help prosecutors gain convictions for gang-related crimes. But the act is severely underutilised for these specific crimes. For this paper’s recommendations to have a substantial effect on addressing organised crime, the various departments involved in South Africa’s criminal justice process need to be cleaned up and resources improved. Key points • Post-apartheid South Africa experienced an increase in organised crime and gangrelated activity. The South African legislature responded with enacting the Prevention of Organised Crime Act in 1999 and specifically addressed criminal gang activity, money laundering and racketeering. • Over 20 years later, very few gang-related cases have been prosecuted under this legislation. Most gang activity is still prosecuted under common law and other legislation. • Interviews with key stakeholders reveal that the main cause for failed/limited implementation lies in the scarcity of human resources, skills and training across the South African Police Service, National Prosecuting Authority and Crime Intelligence, and the lack of meaningful cooperation among them. • Further shortfalls of the act include a lack of provision for targeting gang leaders and Research Paper weak sentencing

ENACT-Africa, 2023. 32p.

By Lauren Magee, Travis Carter, and Edmund F. McGarrell

In an effort to reduce the number of fatal and nonfatal shootings in Detroit, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office (WCPO), working closely with the Detroit Police Department (DPD), developed an innovative approach to the investigation and prosecution of nonfatal shootings. The innovation involved the use of a One-Person Grand Jury focused specifically on nonfatal shootings. The One-Person Grand Jury was considered an investigatory resource that could increase the cooperation of shooting victims and witnesses. The grand jury provided victims and witnesses a safe environment in which to provide testimony they might otherwise be reluctant to provide. The short-term goals included the preservation of testimonial evidence that would result in identification, arrest, and conviction of perpetrators of nonfatal shooting incidents. The mission of the WCPO’s Violent Crime Unit: The mission of The Violent Crime Unit Is to ensure that Justice Is served by utilizing a non-traditional approach to the reduction of violent crime. This collaborative effort utilizes a combination of special judicial proceedings, vertical prosecution, crime analysis, social media analysis, and witness protection to target violent gangs and offenders that drive violent crime. The longer-term goal was to reduce shootings. The rationale was that building stronger cases would lead to an increase in arrests and better cases for court; future shootings would be prevented through two causal mechanisms. First, high risk individuals (shooters) would be more likely to be convicted and sentenced to a period of incarceration during which they would be unable to re-offend within the community (incapacitation effect). Second, the perceived risk of sanction among potential shooters would be increased (deterrence effect). Essentially, by holding shooters accountable at a higher rate than historically has been the case, there should be a reduction in shootings. Additionally, given that nonfatal shootings have historically had low levels of clearance by arrest and closure through prosecution, the focused attention of the OnePerson Grand Jury might have an additional effect of increasing the perceived legitimacy of police and prosecution by residents of neighborhoods affected by shootings through the effort to hold shooters accountable. Complementing the One-Person Grand Jury was increased cooperation and coordination among prosecutors and police investigators whereby designated prosecutors were available (via phone) to consult with police investigators at the scene of a nonfatal shooting. The intent was to provide prosecution resources to investigators, including the legal process of the One-Person Grand Jury, to enhance investigations and case preparation.

East Lansing, MI: Michigan Justice Statistics Center, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University, 2021. 31p.