Custom, culture and crime A restorative justice response to culturally motivated crimes in South Africa

South Africa’s 1996 Constitution introduced a dual legal system, recognising African customary law and common law traditions. This article examines how culturally motivated crimes challenge South Africa’s retributive criminal justice system, and explores restorative justice as a more appropriate alt...

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Vydáno v:	SA crime quarterly Ročník 2025; číslo 74; s. 13 - 26
Hlavní autor:	Matthee, Jacques
Médium:	Journal Article
Jazyk:	angličtina
Vydáno:	Pretoria Institute for Security Studies (ISS) 01.01.2025 Institute for Security Studies
Témata:	Accountability Common law Conferencing Consent Constitutional law Constitutions Court hearings & proceedings Courts Crime Criminal justice Criminal justice system Criminal law Criminal sentences Cultural sensitivity Culture Customary law Defense Family group conferences Healing Kidnapping Law Legal system Marginality Mediation Motivation Murders & murder attempts Offenders Offenses Principles Research methodology Restorative justice Traditions Victim-Offender mediation Witchcraft Women South Africa
ISSN:	1991-3877, 2413-3108
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Shrnutí:	South Africa’s 1996 Constitution introduced a dual legal system, recognising African customary law and common law traditions. This article examines how culturally motivated crimes challenge South Africa’s retributive criminal justice system, and explores restorative justice as a more appropriate alternative. Using doctrinal research methods, it analyses constitutional provisions, case law, statutory developments and indigenous practices to evaluate how cultural rights can be integrated into criminal law without undermining justice. The findings show that while South African courts have historically marginalised customary law in criminal proceedings, the Constitution provides a framework for greater incorporation of indigenous principles, particularly restorative, participatory processes that emphasise healing and accountability. The article shows that customary justice practices inherently reflect the fundamental principles of restorative justice. Accordingly, it recommends leveraging existing mechanisms such as victim-offender mediation, family group conferencing and restorative circles as culturally responsive alternatives for addressing culturally motivated crimes in South Africa.
Bibliografie:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14
ISSN:	1991-3877 2413-3108
DOI:	10.17159/sacq.n74.21358