Majority in Numbers, Minority in Justice: A Critical Reflection on Penal Discrimination in South Africa

Abstract

While discriminatory policing elsewhere typically targets minority groups, in South Africa the majority population historically classified as Black under apartheid faces forms of social and economic exclusion that are usually associated with minorities in other contexts. This article offers a critical criminological analysis of how deterrence-based criminal justice policies, particularly policing practices and mandatory minimum sentencing, perpetuate the marginalisation of vulnerable populations, entrench structural violence, reinforce systemic inequalities and deny disadvantaged groups equitable access to justice across all stages of the criminal process. The article recommends a shift in South Africa’s criminal justice priorities by recognising structural violence as a form of social harm, integrating forensic criminologists and evidence-based risk tools into legal aid to support sentencing that redresses social marginalisation and structural violence, and strengthening Legal Aid South Africa to ensure vulnerable accused have equitable access to representation, thereby reducing penal bias and advancing constitutional commitments to justice.