- South Africa continues to face a severe gender-based violence crisis, recognised as a national disaster.
- Professor Jolandi le Roux-Bouwer’s research focuses on rape law reform and victim protection.
- Her scholarly work has influenced court decisions and law enforcement practices.
South Africa is plagued by the scourge of gender-based violence, which has been classified as a national disaster by the government.
For years, Professor Jolandi le Roux-Bouwer’s research has focused on intimate violence and the criminal laws that respond to it. Her work sits at the intersection of legal reform and the lived realities of victims navigating the justice system.
The crime of rape has been transformed from a narrowly defined, gender- and anatomically specific, autographic crime to a much broader, gender-neutral and anatomically non-specific crime. “This is in line with the constitutional imperative to afford everybody, irrespective of their gender, as much protection as possible against sexual crime,” says Le Roux-Bouwer, a Professor in Criminal Law at the College of Law at Unisa.
For decades, her research has focused on intimate violence and the criminal laws that respond to it. The scourge of gender-based violence in South Africa makes her research both topical and vital. “As an academic, I constantly investigate whether the law is sufficiently stated and applied to assist victims of gender-based violence,” she says. “I believe that a healthy dose of scepticism is required in research. For me, research is a passion, not a job.”
Le Roux-Bouwer’s current research centres on the nature of the harm a rape survivor suffers, whether an adult or child rape survivor, and the sentencing that follows a rape conviction. “Protecting the victims of crime as sufficiently as possible while, at the same time, respecting the accused’s constitutional rights is a balancing act. This is what makes my research so incredibly interesting and fulfilling,” says Le Roux-Bouwer.
As a National Research Foundation C3-rated researcher, Le Roux-Bouwer is internationally recognised. She believes that the rating was an objective opinion and a good indication of her progress on her research journey.
Where it all started
Le Roux-Bouwer obtained a BJuris degree in 1990 and an LLB degree from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in 1992. In 1994, at the age of 25, she completed an LLD degree in Criminal Law at the University of Pretoria under the supervision of Professor Kobus van Rooyen.
The title of her thesis was “Crimes of Violence within Marriage”. At the time, marital rape had just been criminalised, and she included marital rape, gender-based violence and child abuse in all their forms in her research.
Her academic career began in 1994 when she was appointed as a junior lecturer and research assistant at the University of Pretoria. In 1995, she worked in Ireland and, in 1996, rejoined the University of Pretoria as a lecturer. She was promoted to senior lecturer in 1995, to associate professor in 2001, and to full professor in 2006. She lectured in criminal law, statutory crimes and the LLM in Child Law.
She was also a visiting scholar at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, a lecturer in criminal law at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, and a visiting researcher in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the United Kingdom.
“I resigned from the University of Pretoria in 2011 to start a family and was out of full-time academia and research for 11 years,” she says.
From 2013 to 2016, she served as a fixed-term Academic Qualification Improvement Programme appointee at Unisa's Department of Private Law. From June 2022 to November 2022, she had a contract appointment in the Department of Criminal and Procedural Law and was permanently appointed in December 2022.
She currently lectures in Criminal Law Specific Crimes, Techniques in Trial and Litigation and a component of Constitutional Aspects of Criminal Law.
A positive influence on the legal fraternity and law enforcement
In 2005, the Transvaal High Court, per Jordaan J in S v Nyalungu [2005] JOL 13254 (T), for the first time in South African law, arrived at a verdict of attempted murder after an uninfected victim was raped by a knowingly HIV-positive accused.
At the time, the court relied exclusively on an article Le Roux-Bouwer had published in 2000 in the De Jure journal, titled “The Application of Criminal Law Principles to HIV Transmission: A Diagnosis”.
“Since then, excellent scholarly research on this topic has been conducted and published,” she says. She has also compiled training manuals for the South African Police Service on the use of police dogs in conflict situations. She reflects on this contribution with appreciation.
“I believe that knowledge is power,” she says. “If my research promotes law enforcement and helps victims to know their rights, it makes a valuable contribution to the protection of crime victims’ constitutional rights.”
