Chapter 5

Question 1

Uses of Social Control (2)

Answer 1

Maintain order, and

Promote predictability of behavior

Question 2

Informal Social Controls

Answer 2

• Folkways: established norms of common practices such as those that specify modes of dress, etiquette and language use.
• Mores: societal norms associated with intense feelings of right or wrong, or definite rules of conduct that are simply not to be violated. E.g. incest
• These informal controls consist of techniques whereby individuals who know each other personally give praise to those who comply with expectations or show displeasure to those who do not.
  ex. ridicule. gossip, praise, reprimands, criticisms, expressions of opinion, ostracism
• often seen online - reviews for both businesses and people
• most effective in societies where relations are largely face to face (smaller communities like small towns or tribal societies) where norms are known and similar and deviant behaviour is quickly identified
• E.g. Nazi Germany: the ultimate of totalitarian regimes used this as well to expose and locate Jews and identified dissidents, and other ethnic groups, such as Poles, students, etc., leading to their capture and execution

Question 3

Formal Social Controls

Answer 3

• characteristic of larger and more complex societies including heterogeneity, competing subgroups with differing values
• arise when informal controls alone are insufficient to maintain conformity to norms
• characterized by systems of special agencies, standard techniques. and general predictability of universal sanctions
  
  • specific procedures with delegated bodies to enforce them

-are incorporated in the institutions of society.

• Social institutions are organized for ensuring conformity to established modes of behaviour.
  
  • use established procedures for satisfying human needs.
    ex workplaces - fired for bad behaviour, promoted for good
• State control is exercised primarily through the use of threat of punishment to regulate the behaviour of citizens. - do not get rewards for not breaking the law; it is what is expected

Question 4

2 main types of Formal Controls

Answer 4

1. Those instituted by the state and authorized to use force
2. Those imposed by agencies other than the state, such as churches, business and labour groups, universities and clubs.

Question 5

Formal Control through Criminal Sanctions

Answer 5

• the criminal justice system
• some social norms become law that stem from moral indignation, a high value on order, response to threat and political tactics (protection of powerful groups’ interests)
• creates specific punishments for specific law violations
• What is defined as a crime, and the punishment for that crime, varies over time, and by society.
• 2 types of punishment:
  a) Punishment is inflicted by a group in the corporate capacity upon one who is regarded as a member of the same group; and
  b) Punishment involves pain or suffering produced by design and justified by some value that the suffering is assumed to have.

Question 6

3 general rules of punishment

Answer 6

1. Punishment should only be imposed when we are convinced of a person’s guilt;
2. The punishment should be proportionate to the harm caused by the offender; and
3. Punishment should only be imposed for past crimes or transgressions rather than any crime an offender might commit in the future.

Question 7

Sentencing Philosophies/Goals used in Canadian Law (5)

Answer 7

1. Retribution
2. Deterrence
3. Rehabilitation
4. Incapacitation
5. Restoration

a judge may want to achieve more than one sentencing goal.

Question 8

Criminal Code Sentencing Philosophies s. 718 (6)

Answer 8

1. Denunciation
2. Deterrence
3. Public safety
4. Rehabilitation
5. Harm reparation; and
6. Promoting offender accountability

Question 9

Considerations during sentencing

Answer 9

• submissions on the law, the nature of the crime and the offender’s role from the Crown and the defense to determine the sentence.
• the harm caused and the characteristics of the offender.
• mitigating and aggravating circumstances

Question 10

Retribution

Answer 10

• The punishment imposed on an offender must be directly proportionate to the harm done by the offender: i.e. it matches the impact of the crime upon its victim.

Question 11

Deterrence

Answer 11

The threat of punishment is meant to frighten people into law-abiding conduct.

• threat must outweigh the gain/benefit of crime
• The effectiveness of these threats by the state is dependent upon 3 variables:

a. The severity of the punishment for the offence;
b. The certainty that it would be applied; and
c. The speed at which it would be applied.

• must be certain, swift, and severe
• General: punishing one offender and thus sending a signal to the rest of society to not commit crimes.
• Specific: Ones specific interaction with the justice system and punishment prevents them from committing future crimes

Question 12

Rehabilitation (3)

Answer 12

• an attempt to treat the underlying cause of crime and ‘heal’ the offender do they do not continue to commit crime
• based on 3 reasons:
  1. There is something wrong with the offenders that make them commit crimes;

2. Offenders should be treated so they can readjust to society; and
3. Future crime can be prevented through treatment of the offenders.

Question 13

Incapacitation

Answer 13

• Remove offenders from society (prison) or restrain them for a period of time so they cannot commit further crimes.

a. “Selective Incapacitation”
- Applies to habitual and high risk offenders with extensive criminal histories, from an early age, numerous arrests and convictions, drug use, poor work and relationship histories.

b. “General Incapacitation”
- Is based on the belief that long prison terms are required to protect society by removing and isolating offenders from society.

Question 14

Restoration

Answer 14

• The belief that harm has been done to the community by the offender and individuals and the community are affected by it.
• each party is involved in correcting the harm (offender, victim, community) through mediation, not the formal court process
• In restorative justice, informal practices are used to resolve conflict and restore harmony, as opposed to imposing punishment alone.

Question 15

Civil Commitment

Answer 15

• the medicalization of deviance: the process of defining behaviour as a medical problem or illness and mandating the medical professions to provide treatment.

E.g. treating drug abuse and alcoholism as diseases and viewing violence as a genetic or psychological disorder.

• The issue is not the person’s culpability. It is their status as an addict or a mentally incompetent person that is not held morally responsible for his or her actions.
• The general consensus is that the person needs treatment, not punishment.
• But the treatment may involve loss of liberty at a mental institution without due process.
• drug and domestic violence courts

Saskatchewan’s Youth Drug Detoxification and Stabilization Act, 2006.

nIt allows for apprehension and detainment against their will of persons under 18 for assessment, detoxification and stabilization of substance abuse problems.

Question 16

Victimless Crimes

Answer 16

• here the harm occurs primarily to the participating individuals.
  drugs, prostitution, white collar
• comes from the fact that society regards those acts as morally repugnant or vexatious – and want to stop people from doing them.
  -These are acts against public interests or morality.
  -Often appear in criminal codes as crimes against public decency, order or justice.
• Victimless crimes are different from other crimes by:
  1. the element of consensual transaction or exchange.
  2. the lack of apparent harm to others.
• Those involved are willing participants who generally do not complain to the police that a crime has been committed making them difficult to enforce

Question 17

2 types of crimes

Answer 17

1. Mala in se: crimes that are evils in themselves, with public agreement about the dangers they pose.
   e. g. sexual assault, homicide.
2. Mala prohibita: behaviours made criminal by statute, but no consensus as to whether these acts are criminal in themselves.

Question 18

Victimless crimes serve 3 useful social control functions

Answer 18

1. When these types of law are enforced against lower class and minority-group members, more powerful groups in society feel it preserves their myth that it is lower class which accounts for the most deviance in society.
2. Persons labeled criminals are examples to the community.
3. The control of victimless crimes, by arrest and conviction, strengthens the notion in the community that the police and the CJS are doing a good job of protecting community moral standards.

Question 19

Drug Use and Victimless Crimes

Answer 19

• drugs and alcohol contribute to crime and are linked with many health issues and family problems
• therefore, effect more than just the individual partaking in them
• tackled using prevention, education, and law enforcement
• drug courts
• The Colntrolled Drugs and Substances Act - outlines illegal drugs and their varying punishments
• greatest punishments for targeting youth, trafficking, or are a security, health or safety threat to the community (victims)
• Mandatory minimums

Safe Streets and Communities Act
- a)suspend a sentence while an addicted offender participates in a drug treatment program, and

b)Impose a suspended or reduced sentence if the offender successfully completes the program.

There are 2 controversial alternatives:

1.Consideration of drug addiction and drug use as more of a medical, not legal, problem emphasizing comprehensive treatment;
(user = health issue; trafficker = criminal)
2.Legalization or decriminalization of drugs.

Question 20

Canada (AG) v. PHS Community Services Society (2014).

Answer 20

• Insite, a supervised drug-injection clinic in Vancouver in 2003 was modeled on 27 similar injection sites in Europe. It provides a safe place for 800 drug addicts a day.
• The SCC ruled the federal Minister of Health must grant Insite an ‘extended exemption’ from the application of the federal criminal laws in the CDSA, saying that the refusal to exempt Insite infringed the s.7 Charter rights of both staff and clients.

Question 21

Allard, Beemish, Hebert and Davey v. R., 2016 FD 237 (FTC).

Answer 21

Marijuana Medical Access Regulations

Issue: Whether the MMARs (SOR/2013-119) violated s. 7 of the Charter by requiring medical marijuana permit holders to buy marijuana and its derivatives from federally licensed dispensaries, at much higher cost than if the permit holders grew marijuana in home gardens.

Analysis: The 4 growers said they, as a group of persons allowed to use medical marijuana, were treated in a way by the MMARs that violated their right to life, liberty and security, because they were already ill and now had to pay higher prices than necessary to obtain medical marijuana.
Analysis: The federal government, in a s. 1 Oakes argument, said that it was necessary to control the quality of the medical marijuana, and that there had to be systems of administration of the MMARs which carried a cost. The licensed dispensaries offset those costs. In addition, they argued that home growers would face many potential harms from having marijuana growing at home: break-ins to steal the plants, black mold in the home from the increased humidity, children having access to dangerous plants, no control over quality. The court rejected these arguments.

Held: The MMARS, SOR/2013-119 were declared of no force and effect. The declaration was suspended for 6 months from the date of the judgment in order for the federal government to amend the MMARs to comply with constitutional requirements.

Question 22

Prostitution and Victimless crimes

Answer 22

They note that prostitution itself has never been a crime in Canada. But, the acts surrounding prostitution, such as procuring; living on the avails of prostitution; owning, operating or occupying a bawdy house; and public communication for the purpose of prostitution were illegal, making it impossible for a person to legally and safely engage in prostitution.

• believe prostitution leads to other crimes such as drug use, blackmail, assault, and murder

Question 23

Bedford v. Canda

Answer 23

In a unanimous decision (9-0), the SCC held that 3 sections of the Criminal Code were violations of the Charter. These sections are:

s. 213(1)(c) prohibiting communication in public for the purposes of prostitution;
s. (212)(1)(j) criminalizing living off the avails of prostitution, and
s. 210 which made operating a ‘bawd’ house illegal.

The SCC held that these sections were grossly disproportionate in their impact upon the safety of prostitutes relative to their objective.

The federal government responded with Bill C-36, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which received Royal Assent on November 6, 2014.

• frames prostitution as exploitation disproportionately affecting women and girls
• The “purchasing” offence focuses on buyers of sexual services.
• “material benefit” offence, similar to that of living off the avails of prostitution, makes it a crime to knowingly receive a material benefit from furnishing of sexual services. (exemption for spouses, children, and roommates)
• criminalizes advertising
• those who engage with child ‘prostitutes’ are guilty of child abuse regardless of whether they occurred outside of canada

Question 24

Gambling - R. v. Pamajewon (1996) (SCC)

Answer 24

Justice Lamer held that such gaming was not a protected right under s. 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982 as it was not a distinctive and defining feature of the culture and traditions of Indigenous people before contact with the Europeans. No part of these First Nations had ever been used for such activity.

• The court thus rejected the claim that the right to self-government included the right to control gambling on reserve.
• Illegal gambling is related to organized crime, providing a continuing source of revenue.

the federal Knapp Commission recommended removing the criminal label from gambling. The commission found that, to the extent that legislature deems that some control over gambling is appropriate, such regulation should be by civil rather than criminal process.

• Many finance their gambling addiction through criminal activity, in a cycle of gambling, debt and crime.

Question 25

White Collar Crime

Answer 25

• crime of privilege
• Geis (1978:279, 1994) argued that white collar crime constitutes a more serious threat to well being and integrity of society than more traditional kinds of crime.
  i. e. workplace injuries, unnecessary surgeries, illegal pollution cause the death of more people than the offences of traditional criminals.

-Society’s response to white-collar crime raises questions about the equity of law, and
Provides justification for other types of law violations.

-There is pressure on the police and courts not to punish white collar crime because of the offender’s standing in the community based on their occupation, and to settle out of court.

• difficult to prove
• have resources and power to avoid punishment
• perceived as less serious than ‘lower class crimes’

Controlled by a variety of regulatory agencies. It may be:

1. Prescriptive: i.e. licensing, when control is exercised before deviant acts occur;
2. Processual: i.e. inspection, where control is continuous; and
3. Retrospective: i.e. when a lawsuit is brought for damages after deviance has occurred.

Question 26

2 types of White Collar Crime

Answer 26

1. Occupational Crime
   Individuals commit crimes in connection with their occupation for personal gain.
   eg. Medical Fraud, misusing client funds, over billing
2. Corporate Crime
   Illegal activities committed in furtherance of business operations, but is not the central purpose of business.
   - benefit is usually for the organization.
   - Distinguished from ordinary crime in 2 ways:
3. The nature of the violation; and
4. Administrative and civil law are generally used rather than criminal law to punish offenders.
   - often does more serious crime than traditional offences
   - Corporate offenders are rarely prosecuted.

-

Question 27

The Competition Bureau

Answer 27

an independent federal law enforcement agency headed by the Commissioner of Competition who is responsible for the Act’s administration and enforcement.

• The Act adopts a 2-pronged approach:
  1. criminalizes certain conduct and

2.regulates potentially anti-competitive behaviour through “reviewable practices” provisions.

Question 28

Competition Act Criminal Offences

Answer 28

onspiracy and bid rigging are criminal practices, highly egregious to competition (see s.45(1) of the Act).

• If the Commissioner believes such anti-competitive activity has taken place, s/he orders a formal inquiry with the Public Prosecution Services of Canada.
• The maximum fine is $25Million, and the term of imprisonment can be up to 14 years.

Question 29

Competition Act Reviewable Practices

Answer 29

These provisions address conduct that is presumptively unlawful, on the civil standard of proof of “on a balance of probabilities” (i.e. over 50% probable).

-If the Competition Tribunal finds the conduct has significant anti-competitive effects, it can be prohibited.

• The Tribunal has 6 judicial members who are an adjudicative body, independent of any government agency or department.
• They deal with business mergers, abuse of dominant position, agreements between competitors, refusal to comply, price maintenance, other restrictive trade practices, deceptive marketing, specialization agreements, delivered pricing foreign judgments and directives that adversely affect economic activity in Canada.

-The only remedy is a Prohibition Order But they can order an Administrative Monetary Penalty (AMP) up to $15 Million for abuse of dominant position.
E.g. In 2011 Bell Canada was found to have misled customers on pricing of various services and fined $10Million.

Question 30

Social Control of Dissent (5)

Answer 30

1. Controlling the selection processes by which people are placed in desirable social positions
   - Individuals who don’t comply with stated expectations and voice unpopular opinions are dismissed from consideration to the power structures of society.
2. Control achieved through manipulation of material benefits.
   - E.g. Social welfare programs in times of economic recession and mass unemployment diffuse social unrest and help to control dissent.
   
   • When the economic conditions improve benefits are cut back in response to pressure from those who employ the poor so as to ensure an adequate supply of low paid labour.
3. Coercive social control apparatus to maintain peace and order
   - how governments deal with crime, enforce the law and keep social interactions peaceful and orderly.

4.State surveillance of dissenters
- Dissenters are often surveilled at universities and political parties, protest movements, etc.
- RCMP also used illegal activities to discredit, impede, deter or undermine political radicals in “Operation Checkmate”.
nE.g. the federal Royal Commission of Inquiry into Certain Activities of the RCMP found the RCMP had surveilled “radicals” on university campuses. It also revealed breaches of confidentiality of the CRA and UIC.
- Research has shown that the government often collects, conceals, suppresses and manipulates information to watch the activities of people who threaten it.

5. Controlling technology
   - allows government to invade the privacy of its citizens.
   - formation is collected about us on a massive scale.
   - Everything we do, everywhere we go and everything we buy is recorded and leaves a trail.

Question 31

Bill C-24

Answer 31

Bill C-24: Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act (2014) was challenged by 2 legal advocacy groups as anti-immigrant, anti-Canadian, anti-democratic and anti-constitutional.

nThey said it created a 2-tiered citizenship regime.

nThe current Liberal government campaigned on repealing this Bill but did not do so, and in fact, enacted Bill C-6, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act.

nCritics say that because of these amendments immigrants may have their citizenship revoked and face unfair administrative processes, or none at all.

Question 32

Administrative Control Mechanisms (3)

Answer 32

1. Licensing
2. Inspection
3. Threat of publicity

Question 33

3 Types of Canadian Regulatory Agencies (Licensing)

Answer 33

1.Governing bodies regulating conduct of members:

E.g. law, medicine, accounting, engineering professions

2.Independent regulatory agencies

E.g. Canada Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, and hundreds of other ABCs.

3. Department regulatory agencies
   - Occupational Health and Safety Branch of the Ministry of Labour of a provincial government that enforces employment safety standards.

Question 34

Licensing

Answer 34

• Licensing may be required to: practice an occupation, operate a business, serve specific customers, manufacture certain products.
• Licensing is used to enforce certain occupation standards, e.g. lawyers, physicians, etc.
• if licensing requirements are NOT met the result is denial of the right to engage in those activities.
• Non-compliance with standards can result in a license being revoked or suspended as a form of discipline.
• Administrative laws specify the conditions under which a license is required, their requirements, duties, and process for discipline and revoking their license.
• Penalties for violation are enacted in legislation, regulations and organization bylaws. They are legally binding.

Question 35

Inspection

Answer 35

• primary tool of administrative supervision and control.
• Periodic inspection is a way of monitoring ongoing activities under the jurisdiction of a particular agency.
• Inspections determine whether quality standards are being met.
• exerts pressure for self-regulation.
• contributes to the maintenance of internal controls specified by law.
• At times it may also lead to proposals for corrective legislation governing regulatory standards.

Question 36

Threat of Publicity

Answer 36

• fear of bad publicity
• Publicity can be a highly useful control function when there is a news release detailing a suspected offence and the offender involved.
• This can result in immediate damage to the wrongdoer.
• Enforcing legislation and using publicity to tell the public can bring immediate assistance to consumers against a manufacturer with respect to the sale of impure food or drugs. A recall can be issued to protect consumers from consumption of the product under investigation.
• Volkswagen sales dropped drastically after it became known that the company cheated on emissions testing for its diesel vehicles.
• Ford Motor Company experienced significant adverse publicity when it was revealed that the cost to change the fuel tank structure of the Ford Pinto, which was involved in 180 fiery deaths on the freeways, was only $11 per vehicle. Ford did a calculated cost-benefit risk analysis of this cost against the cost of future litigation from possible deaths due to the Pinto and decided not to spend the $137 Million to re-tool their factory assembly line, against the possible $49.5 Million in litigation damages. The public was outraged and astonished.