Inequality before the law – Is South Africa’s criminal justice system punitive to the poor?

By ROBYN LESLIE, CAROLYN RAPHAELY & RUTH HOPKINS.

Oscar Pistorius didn’t only reach notable speeds on the athletics track – his trial was wrapped up at a remarkable pace as well. Other disabled inmates are not so lucky, and the difference in their treatment casts a shadow on our ‘justice’ system.

“It would be a sad day … if the impression is created that one law counts for the poor and another for the rich and famous,” Judge Thokozile Masipa told the world last Tuesday when she sentenced Paralympian Oscar Pistorius to five years behind bars. She listened carefully to the testimony of acting National Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise and said she “had no reason to believe SA prisons would not be able to cater to the needs of a disabled person.”

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