Chapter 5 Flashcards
6 correlates of crime
- age
- gender
- ethno-racial
- socioeconomic
- spatial location
- places
Age
- young
- homicides 12-24
- peak age 17-19
- age 18-34 = 59% of crimes, 35-44=41%
- crime goes down with age
3 factors of maturational reform
- physiological limitations
- greater formation of social bonds (spouses, kids that depend on you)
- people become more socially responsible
Gender, males make up __ of crime
- 98% of the accused in sexual assaults
- 91% of weapons offences
- 89 percent of those accused of homicide
- 81% of defendants in adult criminal court
- 85% of admissions to adult correctional services
Gender
- females less likely to be charged with criminal offences
- violent males are the most disadvantaged
5 pathways for women’s involvement in crime
- harmed and harming
- battered women
- street women
- drug-connected women
- other women
Role converging hypothesis
As the work roles of women become similar to those of men, so will their involvement in crime. This hypothesis is not supported by research.
Evidence for role converging hypothesis (3)
- Gender gap for criminal offending has declined
- May be due to changing police charging patterns against female offenders and reduction in male criminal offending - Increase in females committing minor property offences, which may reflect the feminization of poverty
- While more women are in corporate positions, men still commit most corporate crime
Race- overrepresentation influenced by location
- Prairies: Aboriginals are overrepresented
- Toronto and Nova Scotia: African Canadians are overrepresented
Differential offending hypothesis
there is a difference between racial groups in terms of the incidence, level of seriousness, and persistence of offending patterns
Differential treatment hypothesis
structural inequality in the administration of justice is responsible for overrepresentation
Aboriginals (7)
- aboriginal females most overrepresented
- More likely to be denied bail
- More time is spent in pretrial detention
- More likely to be charged with multiple offences
- More likely not to have representation at court proceedings
- More than twice as likely to be incarcerated than non-Aboriginal offenders
- More likely to plead guilty because they are intimidated by the court
Cultural theories
- aboriginal cultures are inherently violent
- aboriginal cultures are different from the dominant culture in content or manner of expression which predisposes them to conflict with the law
Cultural theories are problematic because
- presuppose a monolithic static aboriginal culture
- assume there is “aboriginal behaviour”
- pathologizes aboriginal culture
Structural Theories: Colonial Model
Aboriginal society colonized by Euro-Canadians, which has had devastating psychological and social consequences
- Resulting alienation may manifest itself in crime and a high rate of violence within First Nations
Structural Theories: Historic trauma transmission
Acculturation produces “learned helplessness” (fatalism)
- This leads to self-blame, passivity, hostile behaviours, decreased sense of self, which manifests itself in suicide, violence, criminal behaviour
Structural Theories: Critical Race Theory (3)
- CJS reflects dominant group’s norms and values and favours that group; enforcement and interpretation of the law is subjective; racism in the CJS is not an aberration, it is “normal”
- Aboriginal people are overrepresented in the CJS because of their exclusion from mainstream society and because of overpolicing and harsh sentences
- Racialization is inherent in the CJS
Drug and alcohol misuse
- 75% of inmates enter custody with substance abuse issues; 50% of federal inmates
- “There is a direct link between their substance use and criminal behaviour” (Public Safety Canada, 2014)
3 factors that link substance abuse and crime
- Efforts to support an addiction can lead to involvement in crimes (“psychopharmacological”)
- Individuals may commit crimes because they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol (“economically compulsive”)
- The mere possession of illegal drugs in and of itself is a crime
- Also, violence is intrinsic to illicit drug markets
Socioeconomic status: Wright and colleagues
- the link between SES and crime is an indirect one that operates through mediating variables
- Low SES is a catalyst for delinquency because it causes alienation, financial strain, and aggression
3. High SES promotes delinquency by reducing bonds to conventional values while increasing social power and risk taking behaviours
SES (3)
- relationship depends on type of crime
- more educated people commit more sophisticated crimes
- younger/uneducated commit crimes that require no skill
Place (Canada)
- crime varies by country
- crime is higher in Western provinces
- three largest cities have lower crime rates than smaller cities
Places (neighbourhoods) (4)
- Violent juvenile behaviour declines when families move to wealthier neighbourhoods
- Crime and violence are higher in poor, socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods
- Neighbourhoods with greater “collective efficacy” have less crime
- Characteristics of neighbourhoods and social context linked to Aboriginal offending in Canada
