The following is the culmination of a month’s work of research, interviews, data analysis and writing.
A strong body of research exists on the plight of residents in the South Durban Basin who co-exist with numerous polluting industries. Despite this work and constitutional guarantees to a clean and healthy environment, the country’s criminal justice system fails to address environmental victimization.
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The government and the public do not perceive victims of environmental degradation within the ‘traditional’ victimization discourse, i.e. theft, violent crime and corporate crime (Hansson 1992:30). This problematic paradigm calls for a coordinated reimagining of environmental victimization and the criminal justice system by three key stakeholders: the government, the public and the ‘victim’.
This paper examines the interconnected role of the ‘victim’, for whom the laws are created, and the public, which exerts pressure on the government to address crime. It presents how residents of Wentworth, South Durban perceive their identity in the context of environmental degradation.
Such perceptions are then compared to how those same residents are portrayed by the print media, which largely informs public opinion. This comparative analysis amplifies the voice of those affected by environmental degradation and better informs the influential public – two results necessary to rethinking how the criminal justice system responds to environmental victimization.
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