Young South Africans want death penalty reinstated | #PulseOfTheNation @pandainsights

The survey also found that a similar proportion of respondents felt crime in South Africa was becoming progressively worse. 75% of young South Africans felt there was more crime now than a year ago. In comparison, 10% felt there was less crime, and 14% felt crime levels were staying the same. Perceptions regarding the death penalty, and crime in South Africa, were broadly held, across all demographic groups.

Shirley Wakefield, spokesperson for Pondering Panda said, “It’s clear that young South Africans believe that having the death penalty will deter criminals, and this is why they are in favour of reinstating it. Crime is one of the biggest issues for our youth, and these figures show a sense of desperation among young people for something to be done – even taking the drastic step of bringing back capital punishment. Despite government claims that crime is down, this is clearly not the experience of young people. The government needs to make tackling crime in South Africa central to its agenda, if it does not want young people to be further disillusioned about its ability to protect them and keep them safe.”

All interviews were carried out on cell phones between the 13th and 19th of February, across South Africa. Responses were weighted to be nationally representative in terms of age, gender and race.