Álvaro Morcillo, a post-doctoral researcher of the Center for International Development,  Institute for Culture and Society (ICS), presented at the seminar a paper entitled: ‘Crime Reduction In South Africa: the procedural justice model in a diverse society'. The data for his study has been collected and analyzed from the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS 2011).

According to the expert, poverty and crime are connected in a circle in which each element is cause and consequence of the other: ‘The crime drives away investment, both foreign and national, and therefore slows down the growth'. Thus, he said that a high crime rate creates an environment that lowers the productive activity and causes migration of skilled professionals in the country, known as brain drain.

During his presentation, Alvaro Morcillo explained some factors that contribute to crime reduction in a country, such as reducing inequalities, invest in education, improve the legal system and fight corruption. He also assured that the most direct way to reduce the crime rate is to improve police procedures.

He applies for his study the procedural justice model, in order to understand what would make Southafricans cooperate (or not) with the police, which would help to reduce the crime rate. Two variables are combined in this model: the confidence and legitimacy that people give to the police force of the country. "The variable that best predicts the cooperation with the police is confidence," he added.

Nevertheless, he said that these conclusions will vary depending on the racial group, so that legislators should consider racial differences when creating a way to cooperate with the police.