Death Crimes

Soweto has gone down history as the place where was the uprising against apartheid that finally ended after decades of armed and political struggle, leaving a big number of deaths. But if there were death in fight of freedom, there still remains crime-linked death. South Africa as whole got notorious for high rate crime due to poverty, lack of education and unsuccessful social reforms. The end of apartheid has bred just a black elite benefiting from the wealth of the country while places like Soweto are still under the mercy of deprivation. When South Africa presented its candidature for 2010 World Cup it had to convince FIFA that it was a safe country and there would be no danger for the foreign visitors.

But South Africa isn’t the only country in the world to have a high murder rate. The USA, despite its developed security system, is one of the countries in which there are daily murders. Peaceful countries like Sweden have seen political figures killed on the hand of criminals without political motivation. Its Prime Minister Sven Olof Joachim Palme was killed by a criminal when walking after being at the cinema. Its foreign minister was stabbed to death by a lunatic in a supermarket.

Three days ago a European diplomat and his wife were killed in their home in Rabat, Morocco by a criminal who succeeded in entering it through the window.

Death crimes can’t be prevented even in prosperous societies. Crimes due to material necessity can be prevented by improving the material situation of the population. But crimes related to lunacy and revenge are hard to predict and prevent. They happen in poor and rich societies alike.