Lecture 1: Introduction

Question 1

What are the influences?

Answer 1

• Media
• Politics (Ideology)
• Costs
• Stakeholders
• Personal experience
• Research? (Least useful according to opinion surveys)

Question 2

What are some of the key findings from crime research/

Answer 2

• Crime rate is going down.
• Victimization rates are decreasing; rates are higher for non-violent crimes; victimization varies by age and gender.
• About 39% (540,000) of Canadian youth aged 12-15 report delinquent behaviour in past year

Question 3

Last month there were 10 sexual assaults committed in Ottawa by a single perpetrator. What is the prevalence rate and what is the incidence rate?

Answer 3

Incidence = 1
Prevalence = 10

Question 4

What are the implications in regards to the cost of the criminal jsutice system?

Answer 4

• The budget for criminal justice (direct costs – police, courts, corrections) in the US is about $192 billion ($60 billion for corrections)
• In New Zealand the costs are about $9.1 billion
• In Canada the costs are about $15 billion

Question 5

What is crime?

Answer 5

• Crime is socially constructed
• Variety of definitions: include legal, moral, social, psychological explanations
• Should consider changing understanding of acceptable norms in society (e.g. abortion, legal marijuana use)
• Newman (1977) surveyed 6 countries and found that incest, theft and robbery were consistently viewed to be criminal

Question 6

What is the working definition of criminal behaviour?

Answer 6

“Criminal behaviour refers to intentional behaviour that violates a criminal code; intentional in that it did not occur accidentally or without justification or excuse”

Question 7

In Canada, where are crime rates highest?

Answer 7

Crime rates are higher in the west (Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta and BC) but highest in the north (e.g., northwest territories, Nunavut, yukon)

Question 8

What are the crime trends in specific reference to adults?

Answer 8

• 15.9% decrease in adult charges since 1998.
• The rate of adults charged with violent crimes has dropped by 10.1%.
• For adults, rate of property crime has dropped by 45.2%.

Question 9

What is the percentage of violent crimes?

Answer 9

• If we include common assault, 26.21% of adult convictions are for violent crimes.
• otherwise it is 15.02%.

Question 10

What is the crime severity index?

Answer 10

• Tracks changes in severity of police-reported crime from year to year
• More serious crime carries higher weight than less serious crime
• Weights are derived from actual sentences handed down

Question 11

What age are the majority of victims under?

Answer 11

The majority of victims are under age 30

Question 12

Have victimization rates increased or decreased? and what is being done for victims?

Answer 12

• Victimization rates have slightly increased.
• Victims can register with CSC & PBC to receive information regarding their perpetrator.
• 10,664 victims received formal assistance from a victim service office (80% victims of violent crime)
• In all, there were an estimated 8.3 million victimization incidents in 1999.

Question 13

What did Latimer and Desjardins find about public perceptions of the CJS?

Answer 13

Latimer and Desjardins (2007):

• 57.8% believe crime rate has done up
• 6.5% believe their neighbourhood less safe
• 25% - low confidence in the criminal justice system

Question 14

How can we summarize all this information and statistics?

Answer 14

• Prevalence of crime, costs (direct & indirect) and victimization issues make crime a major concern of Canadians. If crime were a disease, it would be considered a pandemic
• 74% of Canadians believe sentencing is too lenient but rehabilitation is promoted by 84%
• Cost of crime is about ½ that of health care in Canada
• This course is about understanding “ordinary” criminality

Question 15

What is a realistic (hard) assumption regarding sanctioning?

Answer 15

• Those who commit crimes are bad
• They are unlikely to change unless compelled to (by being harsh)
• They need to be dealt with more strictly
• Need to make the costs of crime higher or its consequences as negative as possible

Question 16

What is the liberal (soft) assumption regarding sanctioning?

Answer 16

Liberal (Soft)

• Those who commit crimes are no different
• They have the capacity to live decent lives and reform themselves
• They have grown up in adverse surroundings and need to have better opportunities given them in order to succeed

Question 17

What should sentencing do?

Answer 17

Sentencing should alter criminal behaviour by attempting to manage its consequences

Question 18

What are the 3 purposes of sentencing?

Answer 18

Retribution, Incapacitation and Deterrence

Question 19

What is retribution?

Answer 19

• Society has the right, when harmed, to inflict pain on the offender
• The major concern is the administration of justice (not outcomes at an individual level)
• Just deserts – law of retaliation where the punishment corresponds to the crime (an eye for an eye)

Question 20

What is specific vs. general deterrence?

Answer 20

• Punishment is one route to the rehabilitation of offenders
• Specific deterrence – influence on the individual – if you are punished for a crime you will be less likely to do it again
• General deterrence – impact on the community – if you are punished for a crime others will be less likely to do it

Question 21

What is absolute vs. restrictive deterrence?

Answer 21

Absolute: Situation in which an individual contemplates a crime but does not commit it for fear of being punished
NOTE: for deterrence to occur, individuals must consider the crime but not proceed with it

Restrictive: Highly active offenders reduce their frequency or severity of offending to lower the likelihood of being caught

Question 22

What are the 2 ways to measure deterrence?

Answer 22

Objective: Governmental statistics such as arrests for different types of crimes; prosecution rates
Subjective: Relevant to an individual offender (awareness of friends who have escaped arrest or prosecution)

Question 23

What are the 4 criteria for measuring deterrence?

Answer 23

Certainty: Likelihood of legal punishment
Celerity: Amount of time that lapses between an offence being committed and an official sanction being imposed
Severity: Magnitude of punishment
Scope: Relationship between types of crimes in statutes and types of punishments

Question 24

What evidence is their for the effects of deterrence?

Answer 24

1) Effect of sentencing
2) Imprisonment and crime rates
3) Enhanced punishers
4) Meta-analysis
5) Controlled trials
6) Self-report surveys
7) Death penalty

Question 25

How do crime rates vary across Canada and what is a likely explanation? What are some of the costs associated with crime in Canada? How does this compare to United States?

Answer 25

Crime rates vary according to the definition of crime and the source of the information. Crime rates are higher in the west (in comparison to eastern Canada) but highest in the north (e.g., north-west territories, Yukon, Nunavut). This might be because there are more indigenous people in the territories and indigenous people are often overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Some of the costs associated with crime in Canada include victimization-related costs, and direct costs like incarceration costs, courts, police, and corrections. The cost of crime in the united states is drastically higher than that of Canada (192 billion compared to 15 billion)

Question 26

What proportion of adult crimes are violent?

Answer 26

If we include common assault, the proportion of adult crimes that are violent is 26.21% if not, it is 15.02%

Question 27

What does victimization data tell us about crime and gender?

Answer 27

• Most victims from age 15-39 are females compared to males of that age. Male victims of violent crime are often young (15-29). The majority of female victims of violent crime are 20-44 years old. Most of the crime reported by victims is violent in nature (physical assault seems to be the highest)
• Two factors to consider with crime and gender: Domestic violence and Sexual assault