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Picture
Image from Dreamtimes.com
In a previous article we had referred to the negative effects of the justice system in South Africa.

Here in South Africa we are 'hard on soft crime', and 'soft on hard crime'.

We incarcerate non-violent law offenders with the worst of the violent and propagate a downward spiral in our society.

Prison space is premium space and the parole system has become a mechanism for freeing up prison space instead of genuine rewarding of rehabilitation.

Violent criminals secure undeserved early release through this as well.

We have mimicked the ‘broken window theory’ of New York without the full context within which this zero tolerance was practiced in the resource rich USA.

Zero Tolerance and the ‘broken window theory’ do not necessarily mean that we should cram all law offenders together in the scarce resource that is our prison space!

Alternative sentencing and ankle bracelets for the non-violent are not only viable but also cost effective.

It costs more to keep a non-violent law offender in prison than it does to house arrest or area arrest via GPS.

The recent murder of Rosina Ferman in Umkomaas is but one of the many examples of violent crime in South Africa.

She was an immigrant from Post Second World War Europe, and spent most of her adult life in this country.


In the land of her birth violence of this nature is rare even though the population totals compare almost to the million.

In her late seventies, she should have been afforded the dignity of living in safety for her remaining days.

Instead she was murdered in the home she had lived in since the 1960s.

But every day we have more examples of these tragedies.

As we said in our earlier article, if the justice system were a bridge or road it would have been swept away long ago by minor floods.

Engineers can be thankful that they design and build in the real world as they can see the evidence of their work.

Human Scientists, including criminologists, have less visibility of the failure of their theories.

The idea of alternative sentencing is not new and municipalities would be channels that could administer alternative sentencing for the positive good of the community and the rehabilitation of the offender.

The technology for house arrest or area arrest is also not new.

Neither is it expensive relative to the cost of incarceration.

We need to observe the 80/20 Rule and focus 80% of our justice resources to deal with the 20% of crime that destroys lives.

For sustainability, the violent need to be removed from society for long periods.

For sustainability, the non-violent need to be dealt with in a different and more appropriate manner. 


The non violent are mostly just people in bad places in the randomness of Life's dishing out of fortune/misfortune - those of us who may have got much of it right should remain humble and non self-righteous and thank our lucky stars! Especially if we are religious in which case we have been Mercifully spared.

Their breadwinning capacities should preferably not be impeded so that they can continue providing for their families and pay their municipal bills – municipalities after all will always be the last of the creditors to be paid.

The choice to would be criminals should be beyond doubt – do violence and the law, freed from the mindset that is currently paralysing it, will come down heavily on you and you will spend a very long time away without soft inmates around you to prey upon.

Green is not just environmental sustainability – it encompasses everything, holistically.

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  • Home
  • About Us
    • History
  • Imvelo GreenIt!
    • Products & Services >
      • GreenIt! Scorecard Engine
      • ReCycling
  • News
  • Articles
    • Sustainability Metrics
    • The UnSustainability Of Municipalities
    • Saving The Bees
    • The Sustainable Energy Of Creative Commons
    • Lessons From Sandy
    • The Tao of Small World
    • Pride And Sustainability
    • The Venus Transit
    • From Silent Spring to a Green Spring?
    • Max Keiser's War On Financial Terrorism
    • Earthship Titanic?
    • Understanding Each Other
    • Greener Corporates and Fairer Taxes
    • Of Cavemen and Obamamobiles
    • Chocolate Slavery
    • Green Metrics
    • The "Subversive Doctrine of Social Responsibility"
    • GM Labelling Not Yet Being Complied With In South Africa
    • Al Gore
    • Total Recall
    • Sustainability >
      • Income Through Recycling
      • Measurement Is Key For Sustainability
      • Sustainability In A World Of 7 Billion Plus
      • For Sustainability We Need Freedom
      • Why Waste?
      • Flushing Sustainability Down The Toilet!
      • Green Collars
    • Poodwaddle World Clock
    • Philosophy >
      • The Wonderful Ancient Wisdom Of Wu Wei
      • Small Is Beautiful
      • Green Is Gentle
      • Serendipity
      • Staying On The T, Working Creatively With The Flow
      • Embracing The Human Family
      • Mercy - Sustainability Promoting
    • Leadership >
      • The Emerging Boss Less World
      • Leadership In The Age Of Green
    • Justice >
      • Sustainable Justice
      • Of Vlad The Impaler (The Unsustainability Of Our Justice System)
  • Resources
  • Green Zeitgeist
    • Visually Green
    • YouTube Green >
      • Canto Della Terra
      • Earth Song
      • Woodstock
      • Imagine
      • San Francisco
      • Dust In The Wind
      • Guinnevere
      • Perfect Day
      • Nice To Be Here
    • Green Poetry >
      • Passage To India
      • Leaves of Grass
      • Earth As We Knew It
      • Joy Shipmate Joy
      • Blue Daze
      • The Silent Village
      • Midori's Frog
      • Poems By Midori Chan >
        • Autumn
        • Reflections
        • Love Poem
        • Friendship
        • Tribute To Mika Yamamoto
      • Poems By Miry Allegri >
        • La Magia Dell' India
        • The Sparrow
      • Poems By Mike Shaw >
        • Looking Back ...
        • The Hidden Sun
        • No Man's Land
      • The Light Of Dawn
      • Poems By Mary Montalvo >
        • Mother Earth
        • Water
        • An Indigo Sky
        • The Fire Within
        • Waterfall
        • The River
        • Mountains
        • Clouds
        • Trees
        • Nature
        • Cosmos
        • The Fawn
        • Butterfly
        • The Coming Storm
        • The Painting Poet
      • Poems By Marie Hélène Visconti >
        • Seasons Of Haikus
        • Spring Haiku Bouquet
      • Poems By Claudine de Fay >
        • The Lament Of The Earth Dreamers
      • Marie Colvin
      • Poems By Ando Perez >
        • A Handful Of Haikus ...
      • Poems By Julian Carmichael >
        • Om Mani Padme Hum
        • The Green Forest & The Moon
        • Dandelions
        • Le Malge (Meadows)
        • The Snow God
        • Madonna Dei Sassi
        • To Chop Or Not To Chop
        • The White Butterfly
        • Green Spirit!
      • Poems By Paula Josa-Jones >
        • The Buddha
        • The Edge And The Sea
    • Green Quotes
    • Green Design >
      • Deep Green Design
      • California Cooler
      • Inhabitat
      • Inhabitat Links
    • Paradigm Shifters >
      • Food Gardens
      • Why Plastic Recycling!?
      • Soda & Health
      • Hidden Costs Of American Apparel
  • Contact Us