Motivation and Rationale for the project

Every child is born devoid of equipment possessed in adulthood which distinguish him/her from the lower animals.
The qualities that distinguish humankind are the humanities which will separate the human baby from beast as the years pass and which can be recapitulated as follows:

  1. The growth of languages – the ability to grow a method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way.
  2. The evolution of reason – the ability to think, understand, and form judgements logically.
  3. By formation of values – The ability to create principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour (morality and ethics)
  4. The invention of arts – the ability to express or apply creative skill and imagination producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.
  5. The establishment of institutions – the ability to establish organizations founded for a religious, educational, professional, or social purpose.

In normal conditions, when all things are equal, the formation and establishment of norms of conduct will be affected by a cultural process of evolution. In circumstances where there subsists an apparent lack of some fundamental norms of morality, the evolution process has to be accelerated by active and direct intervention. The widespread occurrence and apparent acceptance of criminal conduct and activity in the Republic of South Africa are indicative of a defect in respect of fundamental ethics and morality.

The No Crime Project is in the first instance a project aimed at the creation of an awareness in individuals of the need for basic morality, ethics and norms of conduct. The aim is therefore to inspire, indoctrinate, instil, impress and by way of repetition convince people into accepting, believing in, and promoting norms of conduct that would extinguish the tendency to criminal behaviour.

Is this possible?
YES,

  1. The academic study of ethics is at least 2,300 years old. Questions of right and wrong were discussed at length by both Plato and Aristotle during the classical period in Athens and have been treated by Western philosophers since then Aristotle supported the idea that judgement and reason can be learned.
  2. Harvard psychologist, Lawrence Kohlberg. Kohlberg was one of the first people to look seriously at whether a person’s ability to deal with ethical issues can develop in later life and whether education can affect that development.
    Kohlberg found that a person’s ability to deal with moral issues is not formed all at once. Just as there are stages of growth in physical development, the ability to think morally also develops in stages.

 

Objectives of the Project

  1. To create comprehension of beneficial and prejudicial conduct.
  2. To show that conduct prejudicial to society is also prejudicial to the delinquent individual.
  3. In consequence that crime is prejudicial to society as well as the perpetrator.
  4. The benefits of morally approved conduct for society and the individual.
  5. To lay a foundation of morality and morally endorsed behaviour.
  6. To teach ethics and morality in respect of all spheres of life – personal relationships, social life, business, economics etc.

How will we implement the project

We will create a programme that will serve as the basic structure to obtain the objectives. Such programme will be adopted for purposes of education in schools; tertiary institutions; post-graduate training; employment and in-service training; and to the public at large.

In order to execute and to put the programme into effect, it will be introduced as a supplement to the current school curriculum; it will be presented at tertiary level; by means of seminars ; TV programmes and campaigns; and online promotions and campaigns as well as the Justice Pageant.

The programme will be carefully compiled by implementing research done by anthropologists, educational psychologists, criminologists, educators and lawyers.

Evaluation of the programme will be done on a continuous basis to determine the success, exigencies and deficiencies of the programme; and it will be duly revised or modified.

What do we need to execute our plan

Funding for the following elements:

  1. Research by criminologists, antropologists, educational psychologists, lawyers and teachers for the following programmes:
    • Individual programmes for each relevant age group from 4 to 18 for inception in the curriculum of our schools
    • Individual programmes for inception in curriculum on Tertiary level
    • A General programme that can be reduced to video footage and written books to be used by the pageant contestants and the speakers at the seminars
    • Guidance to the producers of the television programme
  2. Funding and sponsoring by a television channel to produce and broadcast a programme with the aim of promoting a No crime culture in South Africa
  3. Funding of all materials necessary to spread the message across South Africa, including the publishing of books, dvd’s, games etc.