Prof Christiaan Bezuidenhout elected as president of CRIMSA

On 25 March 2015, Prof Christiaan Bezuidenhout was elected onto the executive committee of The Criminological and Victimological Society of Southern Africa (CRIMSA) [2015 – 2017] and was voted into the position of president of the Society. CRIMSA is a non-governmental, voluntary, non-sexist, non-racial organisation aiming to promoting the academic, practical, social and universal relevance of Criminology in order to understand, control, prevent and reduce crime and its outcomes and to serve the Southern African community at large. The aims of the Society are:

• to promote, coordinate and apply the criminological sciences (Criminology, Victimology and criminal justice in particular, but also any academic discipline focusing on phenomena related to crime and victimisation) through study and academic interaction, research and community service;
• to co-operate with interested local, regional and international institutions;
• to seek affiliated and/or associate membership of regional, continental and international societies/associations serving the broad criminological science;
• to create mediums for the publishing of, among other things, research results;
• to promote and stimulate the academic interests of its members;
• to inform the community about crime-related phenomena, criminal victimisation and reaction to crime;
• to contribute to the broader transformation of society through equity and to endorse those values enshrined in the South African Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Since the inception of the Society approximately 30 years ago the presidency has never been bestowed on a staff member of the University of Pretoria. Professor Bezuidenhout envisages growing membership numbers and strengthening relationships with both local and international institutions within the Criminology domain (academia and practise).