Are we equal in the eyes of the law : comparison of criminal cases amongst black and white people in South Africa?

Abstract

People who are committing a white-collar crime has been able to get away with it without any legal consequences. Democratic South Africa has experienced different types of criminal activities in the past 25 years. The apartheid government committed several criminal activities against black people and the court of law favored white people against black people. Crime in South Africa was labeled and associated with the black race. A black man was always a suspect in the apartheid era and a white man was always innocent regardless of his wrongdoing towards black people. even though the current government from 1994, is a democratic government led by black people, the courts are still applying the same principle. The objectives of this paper are to show the inconsistency in criminal cases that are the same but the sentences are not the same because of the skin colour. The judiciary system in South Africa is still treating people differently, based on various cases, this paper argues that money and race is a contributing factor in decisions made by the courts in South Africa. The paper applied secondary research methodology, newspaper reports on various cases were reviewed, criminal justice reports were analyzed, and lastly, the journal papers that are related to this study.