Crime and Consequences: Analysing Crime Trends from 2005 to 2016 across all South African provinces, using data analytics

South Africa continues to experience persistently high crime rates, with serious implications for public safety, social stability, and economic growth (Coleman et al., 2024). Despite the consistent availability of national crime statistics, limited longitudinal analysis has been conducted to explore how crime patterns have changed over time across different provinces and crime categories (Coleman et al., 2024). This study analyzes crime trends from 2005 to 2016 using secondary, publicly available data from the South African Police Service, sourced via Kaggle (Wessels, 2019). A longitudinal, descriptive, and exploratory research design was employed, with stratified sampling based on provinces and crime types. Data analysis will be conducted using a multiple regression model to identify provincial and temporal patterns and the influence of socioeconomic conditions on crime trends (Roustaei, 2024). Findings reveal significant variations in crime categories across provinces, with violent crimes increasing in certain regions, while property crimes and drug-related offenses showed distinct patterns linked to policing efforts and urbanization (Wessels, 2019). This research highlights the value of using longitudinal data to inform crime prevention strategies (Makleff et al., 2021).