Zvikomborero Parafini
THE overall crime rate fell by 13 percent in the second quarter of this year, according to stats from the ZimStat.
The figure comes from police-recorded crime data, meaning crimes that have not been reported to the police are not included in the report.
All 10 provinces experienced a reduction in crime, with non-injurious traffic violations accounting for the biggest percentage of offences.
According to ZimStat, the crime rate decreased from 206 300 to 178 031 in the second quarter, representing a 13.7 percent drop.
The crime rate was 1 359.1 per 100 000 for the first quarter and 1 172.9 per 100 000 in the second quarter.
Non-injurious traffic violations accounted for 56 490 offences, and at a rate of 372.2 per 100 000.
Theft accounted for 35 295 offences at a rate of 232.5 per 100 000.
A total of 10 268 burglaries were recorded in the second quarter.
There were 290 victims of intentional homicide, at a rate of 1.9 victims per 100 000.
Sexual violence offences were 3 148, while 2 905 fraud offences were recorded.
There was also a drop in prison admissions, with the male population declining from 11 707 to 11 072.
ZimStat said the new prisoner population decreased from 12 558 in the first quarter to 11 930 in the second quarter.
Of the 11 930 new prisoners admitted in the second quarter, 11 072 (92.8 percent) were males and 858 (7.2 percent) were females.
The new male prisoner population declined from 11 707 to 11 072 and the population of new female prisoners increased slightly from 851 to 858.
The Prison Admissions and Discharges Statistics sheds light on the prison population, the number and profile of prisoners admitted to, and those discharged from the country’s prison facilities.
When compared to the first quarter, the prison population declined from 23 982 to 20 635.
The male prison population declined from 23 341 to 20 035 while the female population declined from 641 to 600.
Among the 20 635 prisoners held in Zimbabwe’s prisons in the second quarter, 15 329 (75.3 percent) were sentenced and 5 306 (25.7 percent) were awaiting sentence.
A total of 14 853 prisoners were released in the second quarter, with 14 009 being males and 844 females.
Of the sentenced prisoners released in the second quarter, 44 percent were granted amnesty, while 18.8 percent did community service and the rest had served their sentences.
The majority of awaiting trial prisoners were discharged after posting bail or obtaining free bail.
The highest proportion of new male and female prisoners were aged between 20 and 24 years, followed by those in the 25-29 age group.
Zimbabweans constituted 96.3 percent of new prisoners, with the remainder being foreigners.
Most new prisoners reported that they were unemployed before their imprisonment (63.6 percent) and they mostly committed theft (21.9 percent), assault (15.4 percent), burglary (10.3 percent), robbery without firearms (5.7 percent) and domestic violence (5.5 percent).
These largely led to the imprisonment of new male prisoners.
New female prisoners were caged mostly for theft, assault and drug-related offences.
More than a quarter of the crimes that led to the imprisonment of male prisoners aged 60 years and above (25.4 percent) were rape.
New non-Zimbabwean prisoners committed mostly immigration-related offences (73.4 percent) and trade or possession of protected or prohibited species of fauna and flora (13.2 percent).