Linking criminal contexts to injury outcomes: findings and lessons from a national study of robbery in South Africa

Abstract

Objectives: South Africa has high rates of violence. The country has benefitted enormously from the use of injury surveillance data from the health sector, but there is a need to explore other avenues of routine data to advance violence prevention. We demonstrate the value of using routinely collected police data for enhancing our understanding of robbery as an important situational context for violence in South Africa.

Methods: We analysed 1,841,253 cases reported to the police between 2003 and 2014 to describe the distribution and predictors of robbery violence in South Africa.

Results: Robbery is prevalent in South Africa, but the use of violence beyond the threat of force is rare. After adjusting for confounding factors, the probability of co-occurring violence increases when robbery occurs at night, on weekends, involves cash and where the victims are black, young and female.

Conclusions: Using routinely collected police data is valuable for investigating the situational dimensions of violence, thereby enhancing our understanding of contexts that shape violence and its injury outcomes. Such an approach can advance contextually sensitive violence prevention strategies.

Keywords: Criminal justice; Data sharing; Public health; Robbery violence; South Africa.