Research Articles (Criminology and Forensic Studies)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10413/7768

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Exploring the public parameter of police integrity.
(Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2013) Meyer, Michael E.; Steyn, Jéan.; Gopal, Nirmala Devi.
This paper explores the contribution of the public component of Klockars’ and Kutnjak-Ivkovic’s (2004) organizational theory of police integrity to the understanding of police integrity. Design/methodology/approach: The study employs a modified survey derived from “The Measurement of Police Integrity,” instrument developed by Klockars, et al. ( 2000). Participants are constituted by a convenience sample of first year social studies students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (n = 186) and 160 South African Police Service non-commissioned officers throughout Gauteng Province, Republic of South Africa. Findings: Overall, the data present a mixed picture of integrity in the SAPS. The current study is certainly suggestive that the SAPS faces serious challenges to establishing and sustaining integrity and that based on either absolutist or normative criteria the organization falls below desired levels of professional integrity. However, there are also indications that a significant proportion of officers will support efforts of the organization to establish and maintain professional standards of integrity. Practical Implications: The findings, focused on non-commissioned officers, contributes to a growing body of research across all levels of the South African Police Service. In addition, the research compares results from a non-police sample helping to contextualize the concept of integrity as it exists within the SAPS. More immediate implications relate to the potential for the development of a broad-based integrity plan for the South African Police Service as a whole. Originality/value: Previous research employing police only samples has concluded that the South African Police Service is an integrity challenged organization. While the present study agrees that the SAPS faces significant integrity challenges, the use of a comparative non-policing sample also suggests that the Service is having some success in establishing integrity standards, at least in regard to lower level violations of organizational ethical standards.
Gatekeeping: an obstacle to criminological research with Indian youth drug users in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal.
(CRIMSA, 2015-03-10) Gopal, Nirmala Devi.
Every research study has a story and this article tells the story of the researchers’ challenges in accessing participants for a study. Thus this article draws on the researchers’ experiences with gatekeeping dilemmas while attempting to research drug addiction among a select sample of youth in a historically Indian township in Kwa Zulu Natal. The article highlights the challenges in gaining access to an Indian sample of drug users. Some of the reasons depart from the premise that perhaps the most challenging factor is that most of the populations relevant to the study of drug addiction, such as under age youth, traffickers, suppliers and or drug lords, constitute so-called hidden populations. Heckathorn (1997), argues that “A hidden population is a group of individuals, whose membership in hidden populations often involves stigmatized or illegal behaviour, leading individuals to refuse to co-operate, or give unreliable answers to protect their privacy.” Consequently for this empirical study attempting to ‘research’ a ‘hidden population’ resulted in challenges not necessarily observed with other research topics. This research argues through a theoretical framework how gatekeeping challenges may impact ‘important’ research agendas. This research article further highlights principal gatekeeping challenges associated with research in the field of illicit drug use which is the focus of this research article. This is done through reflections on the researchers’ methodological journey namely gaining access to a relevant sample. The article concludes with suggestions for researchers attempting research with ‘hidden populations’ in future criminological research. This article explores some of the issues that researchers should consider when carrying out research with Gypsy-Travellers.
Interrogating maritime security : a discourse from below.
(Serials Publications, 2015) Gopal, Nirmala Devi.
The expanding volume of sea trade between South Africa and other parts of the global world places pressure on increased maritime security particularly because maritime security affects both communities living close to the sea as well as bi- and multilateral relations on the larger international scale. While most research studies focus on threats of piracy and the economic impacts of maritime security on international trade this paper seeks to critically explore maritime challenges at a more local level namely the voices of actors directly with first hand experiences of maritime matters. Using in depth semi structured face to face interviews with six participants within a qualitative framework the study concluded that maritime challenges are indeed larger than the traditional security challenges. Challenges included seafarers’ working conditions, stowaways, human and drug trafficking and piracy. The study makes recommendations for future large scale research on maritime challenges.
A quantitative understanding of gender differentiated delinquent trends among school going adolescents in Chatsworth, Durban.
(CRIMSA, 2015) Gopal, Nirmala Devi.; Marimuthu, Bonita Adele.
According to the World Health Organisation countries in transition have witnessed a dramatic rise in delinquency rates. Given that juvenile offending is a pervasive social problem and many theories about its aetiology have been advanced it is not unusual for researchers to understand delinquent behaviour over periods of time. Against this backdrop this study seeks to understand gendered patterns of offending or delinquent behaviour among seven hundred and fifty (750) school going adolescents in a historically Indian township in Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal. Using a non-probability, random, sampling method respondents were chosen from two secondary schools in Chatsworth. Results from the study showed significant correlations between gender (male and female) and modes of punishment; norm violations; regulation violations; and malicious damage to property. For instance gender and norm violations results indicated that sleeping out of home without parental permission is not gendered. Both males and females slept out of home without parental permission; gender and regulation violations such as driving a motor vehicle without a driver’s licence indicated that respondents violate regulations regardless of gender and gender and regulation violations such as entering a bar or bottle store being under the prescribed age of 18 years old indicates that respondents irrespective of gender enter a bar or bottle store.
‘They call us Makwerekweres’ : foreign learners speak out against xenophobia.
(University of KwaZulu-Natal., 2013) Gopal, Nirmala Devi.
While a number of studies on xenophobia have been conducted in South Africa, very little has been done to establish the effects of xenophobia on foreigners in schools. To help remedy the dearth of studies in this area, this article aimed to provide emic perspective on xenophobia from a select sample of Grade 12 foreign learners. Through the use of interviews, the study explored how these learners experience their host country, South Africa, five years after the widely publicized xenophobic violence. Thematic analysis of responses indicated, profoundly, learners’ thoughts and feelings on xenophobia. Participants described their emotional and physical exposure to various forms of xenophobia perpetrated either at the level of the community and/or the school. Participants felt that South Africans who do not take responsibility for their behavior shift blame to foreigners, hence fuelling xenophobia. Although learners perceive South Africa as a beautiful country with much to offer, they prefer migrating to countries with better opportunities. This research provided a baseline for further research into this phenomenon.

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Browsing Research Articles (Criminology and Forensic Studies) by Author "Gopal, Nirmala Devi."