FAMILY VIOLENCE, CHILD PROTECTION AND SEXUAL OFFENCES UNIT (FCS)

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CRIMES

Crimes can be divided into two main groups, viz : Common law and Statutory crimes / offences. One can state, in short, that common law crimes are prohibited actions which are not declared a crime by a particular Act, eg 

• RAPE: A male having unlawful and intentional sexual intercourse with a female without her consent
• INCEST: The unlawful and intentional sexual intercourse between male and female persons who are prohibited from marrying each other because they are related within the prohibited degrees of  consanguinity, affinity or adoptive relationship
• INDECENT ASSAULT: The unlawfully and intentionally assaulting another with the object of committing an indecency 
• MURDER: The unlawful and intentional causing of the death of another human being
• ASSAULT: The unlawfully and intentionally (a) applying force, directly or indirectly, to the person of another, or (b) threatening another with immediate personal violence in circumstances which lead the threatened person to believe that the other intends and has the power to carry out the threat
• ASSAULT WITH INTENT TO DO GRIEVOUS BODILY HARM (GBH): Assault, but is qualified by a certain intention (intent to do grievous bodily harm)
• ABDUCTION (Common Law): The unlawfully and intentionally removing an unmarried minor from the control of his or her parent or guardian in order to enable someone to marry him or her or to have sexual intercourse with him/ her
• KIDNAPING: The unlawfully and intentionally depriving a person of his freedom of movement and/or, if such person is a child, his custodians of their control over him
• PUBLIC INDECENCY: The unlawfully, intentionally publicly performing an act which tends to deprave the morals of others, or which outrages the public's sense of decency
• CRIMEN INJURIA: The unlawful and intentional violation of the dignity or privacy of another, in circumstances where such violation is not of a trifling nature

Statutory offences are certain actions which are declared crimes by an Act, Regulation or Ordinance, for example:

• The Child Care Act, 1983, (Act 74/1983, as amended) - Sec 50(1)(a) - Ill-treatment of Children.
• Prevention of Family Violence Act, 1993 (Act 133/1993) - Section 4 - Obligation to report ill-treatment of children to police official, commissioner of child welfare or social worker.
• Sexual Offences Act, 1957 (Act 23/1957) - prohibits certain acts with children under prescribed ages.

General terminology used to describe crimes against children, is the use of the term sexual molestation and child molestation. It must be stated that crimes such as sexual molestation /child molestation do not exist as such.

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