Any discussion of contemporary South Africa will come around to the issue of crime fairly quickly. And whenever issues of crime come up someone will raise the issue of “getting tough” on crime. (And this happens everywhere, not just in South Africa –  it certainly does in the United States, for example.) But what does it mean to get tough on crime? Because surely no one advocates being soft on crime, though certainly there are those who will accuse those with whom they disagree about their squishiness on crime and punishment related matters — few issues bring out demagoguery quite as quickly as crime.  Coupled with getting tough should also be attempts to get smart, because indiscriminate toughness almost inevitably victimizes the innocent without demonstrably improving our chances to nab the guilty.

[Audio from the NPR story here.]