Week #2 (test 1)

Question 1

What are the 3 basic goals of the CJS

Answer 1

• prevent (programming, intervention) and respond to (detect, contain) criminal behaviour
• ensuring the rights of victims and accused/offenders
• safe/secure communities

Question 2

What are the different groups of actors involved in the CJS?

Answer 2

Partner (within the CJS working alongside each other)

Stakeholder (outside the system - ex. Health, education, NGOs - have a vested interest in what’s happening in the CJS but not necessarily employed in it)

Volunteers

Personnel

Question 3

The CJ system is a _____, operationalized through _____

Answer 3

process
actors (enforcement, supervision, and rehabilitation)

Question 4

What does the CJS do if we just think it’s a form of crisis management?

Answer 4

Separate and contain the problem

Question 5

What did the Constitution Act determine in terms of federal and provincial responsibilities?

Answer 5

Federal - define criminal offences (crim code, databases, federal legislation targeting specific crimes like anti-terrorism act, etc.)

Provinces and territories - enforcement and system administration

(some crossover - RCMP)

Question 6

Why is the CJS not always cohesive as a system?

Answer 6

• jurisdictional complexity
• diverse agencies with different objectives, distinct mandates, and not a great process of exchanging information and communication

ex. police wanting to arrest and put people in prison → corrections wanting to keep arrests under control

Question 7

Describe the basic characteristics of the CJS as an Adversarial system

Answer 7

(canadian system)

• police investigate and lay charges
• defence and prosecution arguing before a neutral (passive and impartial) judge and/or jury (active role of lawyers)
• impartiality means victims usually excluded or marginalized (sometimes can give a victim impact statement)
• burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt (facts provide the only logical explanation for the crime)
• presumption of innocence
• right to silence - accused may make plea deals
• dense rules of procedure

Question 8

What are some critiques of the adversarial model of the CJS
(hint: one that’s kind of good kind of bad)

Answer 8

• very competitive courtroom which can fester a distorted picture of events (win or lose mentality)
  >witnesses on the stand feeling victimized and bullied
• quality of advocacy - not all lawyers are created equal or have the same resources
• fails to address underlying. forces that contributed to the offence (BUT this has led to some specialized therapeutic courts in cases of trauma for example)
• overrepresentation of certain groups

Question 9

Describe the basic characteristics of the CJS as an Inquisitorial system

Critiques?

Answer 9

• active judge or judges that investigate the crime - passive lawyers
• judges can call witnesses and question them
• victims actively participate (ex. witnesses or during sentencing)
• silence may be taken as evidence of guilt
• no plea bargaining

Critiques:
- Offender might accidentally say something that incriminates themselves
- might have a biased judge
- take longer with no plea bargaining?

Question 10

Explain the crime control model of crime

Answer 10

Packer:

• priority is community protection > apprehending offenders and incapacitating criminals
• conservative
• deter criminal activity
• emphasis on victim over defendant rights
• presumption of guilt > lower concern for due process
• high custody counts = success!

Question 11

Explain the due process model of crime
(what is the priority?)

Answer 11

Packer:

• priority is protection of citizen rights
• procedural fairness (“better that 10 guilty persons escape…” - William Blackstone)
• liberal
• limit discretion or abuse of power of decision-makers
• presumption of innocence = higher concern for due process
• high custody counts = failing :(

Question 12

Explain the 3 different ideas that impact how decisions are made in the CJS

Answer 12

Discretion:
- personal judgements and professional autonomy > different judgements can always be made depending on so many factors
- balancing the rights of citizens and the need for order - inconsistencies?
- most cases resolved through plea bargaining and negotiation > LOTS of discretion involved

Ethics:
- right/wrong, better/worse
- many grey decisions because of complicated issues and intersectionality
> plus ethics are equally distributed in the population - can easily have either a moral judge or an evil one
> *CJS is a human enterprise - not based on scientific formulas

Political Agendas:
- current issues might change responses to crime

Question 13

What’s the problem with having such a high Remand population?

Answer 13

Remand = pre-trial, waiting in custody

problem:
- can’t give this population treatment yet
- Produces a churn of people getting into custody, getting out, and coming back → they can’t get any treatment because they’re not actually sentenced for anything

Question 14

What does it mean to stay the charge?

Answer 14

charge is made and it gets to the prosecution but it’s determined that there’s not enough evidence or they can’t move forward

Question 15

Explain the funnel effect or crime
What percent of incidents reported to police result in guilty charge?
What percent of guilty people are sent to custody?

Answer 15

• very small portion of criminal acts are reported/known to police (dark figure) > small percentage go to trial
• 10% of incidents reported to police result in a guilty finding
• about 38% of guilty persons are sent to custody > 4% of incidents reported to police
  *funnel effect is even more intense when it comes to sexual violence cases

Question 16

What is an absolute discharge and a conditional discharge
Suspended sentence?

Answer 16

absolute = you’re guilty but we’re clearing your record? (ex. truckers)
conditional = conditional sentence order

suspended sentence = you do anything within that sentence, the sentence will be applied and you go straight to jail

Question 17

How much do we actually know about crime / how good are our statistics?

Answer 17

We know that crime rates in developed countries increased rapidly during the 20th century, but reversed in the 1990s

*there are no international standards for recording crime so we don’t know that much
- even national and internal systems vary
> Mystery how crime rates in our world seem to be patterned
> Different definitions/formulas to calculate recidivism and other things can skew statistics greatly

Question 18

Why are the majority of crimes not captured by statistics?

Answer 18

• private matter - hidden in the home
• no one will believe me - fear of reprisal
• normalization
• work related crime
• too trivial - no one will care

Question 19

What is the other name for the dark figure of crime?

Answer 19

Iceberg effect

Question 20

What is meant by the Task Environment and what are some variables that impact it?

Answer 20

The cultural or community setting influences the CJS and the pattern of crime, policy, discretion, and expectations

• rural vs. urban
• police and community resources
• demographic and ethnic majorities (importation theories - whole neighbourhoods made up of immigrants with different cultural norms)
• income or SES

ex.
small communities = limited resources and limited options

policing in linden woods is very different than policing in the north end

Question 21

What is a deprivation theory?

Answer 21

Relates incarcerated individuals’ adaptation, or maladaptation, to factors reflecting deprivation and loss within prisons > “pains of imprisonment”

Question 22

What are prolific offenders?

Answer 22

When a small number of people are responsible for a large number of offences > in small communities this can drive statistical changes

Ex. carrie breaking and entering in winnipeg with cleaning company

Question 23

Why can crime surveys and victimization studies still give skewed numbers?

Answer 23

• poor response rates
• some age groups (youth) or sectors (businesses) are typically excluded
• stagecraft > overreporting or inflating victimization of a crime that you want to be dealt with

Question 24

What is the main victimization survey used in Canada?
Explain the findings about household victimization and rates of victimization for diff people groups

Answer 24

The General Social Survey (GSS) - attempts to measure victimization across 8 offense types

> 1/5 canadian households report being impacted - 30% are reported to police (higher for property crimes)
rates of victimization double for women - also higher for young people, Indigenous, queer, and disabled

*Points to a big gap between official statistics and actual experiences of the community

Question 25

Why is there a dip in crime statistics in canada in 2015 - followed by rise

Answer 25

* likely due to phones becoming common > cybercrime increasing and detection lagging behind

Question 26

How can media negatively impact our perception of crime?

Answer 26

- can create moral panics (ex. halloween candy drugged) - depicting accused persons as psychotic, extremely violent, etc. - inflating fear of violent crime - 'true crime' and stereotypes / normalization of male aggression - focus on sensational cases - perceptions of disorder - people don’t like rapid change - people don’t like their neighbourhoods changing - ppl concerned with this will perceive higher levels of risk

Question 27

Explain how the CJS can use public relations

Answer 27

Public relations has become an entrenched part of police work Justice agencies can use media to increase confidence, generate panic, manipulate funding, encourage cooperation, etc. (is this impartiality?)

Question 28

Explain the trend of the % of canadians who are not confident that the CJS is fair to all people?

Answer 28

% has been steadily increasing since 2018 42% --> 49% in 2022

Question 29

Explain the crisis of legitimacy faced by the CJS How does deterence play in?

Answer 29

Perception feeds into legitimacy and public confidence is very important > ⅔ of the population view the system as being inaccessible, arbitrary, etc. less trust = less collaboration - poor understanding of the CJS, misuse of data, or overestimation of crime People often doubt deterrence claims > deterrence requires awareness, certain and swift punishment (issue - can there be awareness in substance abuse cases?) Questioning if legislation, policies, and programs are actually evidence-based

Question 30

How do our expectations of the CJS impact and inflate the crisis of legitimacy What is the professionalization of safety?

Answer 30

Can be said that we expect too much from the CJS and want it to solve underlying problems which it was not really intended for - Cycle of expecting too much and then being disappointed and then losing even more faith - professionalization of safety > only experts can deal with things > should we take some ownership sometimes, but how much is too much? ex. Taking matters into one's own hands (Community watch) - reasonable and unreasonable examples

Question 31

Explain the CJS' issues of accountability and expenditures (what are creeping mandates?)

Answer 31

CJS expenditures are increasing while overtime, crime has been going down Creeping mandates = higher demands on CJS operations (ex. mental health, addictions, housing, etc.) > when less than 10% of municipal budgets got to policing Accountability > does CJS contact actually reproduce criminality (ex. go to prison and make criminal friends)

Question 32

Define intersectionality

Answer 32

Examines how divisions in class, gender, and ethnicity combine or intersect to produce complex social forms, including inequality

Question 33

Define racialization

Answer 33

The process through which biological characteristics are used to classify people

Question 34

Define ethnicity

Answer 34

A source of identity which lies in society and culture > criticized as solitarist, 'primordial identity', or based on a presumed group solidarity

Question 35

Define prejudice and discrimination

Answer 35

Prejudice = Preconceived opinions or attitudes held by members of one group toward another - usually grounded on stereotypes (*cognition) Discrimination = prejudice in action

Question 36

Define ethnocentrism

Answer 36

Suspicion of outsiders and their evaluation in terms of your own culture

Question 37

Define group closure

Answer 37

Restrictions on social contract, intermarriage, trade, and proximity

Question 38

What is profiling?

Answer 38

Using classifications to direct public safety policy vs reasonable (individualized) suspicion, producing enhanced scrutiny on some groups > systematic and patterned

Question 39

Explain some of the ways that Indigenous groups are marginalized What percent of the population and what percent of murder victims? And how much of provincial custody population?

Answer 39

- more likely to be engaged with CFS, lower formal education, higher death rates from accidents and violence, higher rates of poverty, indigenous youth prime targets for gang recruitment - 4% of the population, 27% of murder victims - more than half of the provincial custody population

Question 40

What are some of the tactics that have been created to try and address the marginalization of Indigenous groups?

Answer 40

United National Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP, 2007) > Set out the minimum standards for the recognition and protection of indigenous rights Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC, 2015) > 94 calls to action (eliminate overrepresentation, community-based alternatives, address underlying causes, disregard mandatory minimums, etc.) National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG, 2019)

Question 41

As of 2022, _____ calls to action have been resolved

Answer 41

13

Question 42

What are some principles that Restorative justice models would try to follow What are some examples of this?

Answer 42

*has a set of principles instead of a clearly defined process - key notions are healing, reparation and reintegration, and the prevention of future harm - causes and long-term solutions - flexible solutions and sanctions > no more mandatory minimums - direct involvement - relationship and collaboration - destigmatization (would try these strategies at pre-charge, post-charge, pre-sentence, post-sentence stages) Ex. Mediation (victim and offender together), circle sentencing, healing programs, group conferencing, etc.

Question 43

________ system is more prevalent in common law systems while _______ system is more common in civil law systems

Answer 43

adversarial inquisitorial

Question 44

Explain how crime rates differ in rural and urban areas

Answer 44

Rural areas = big proportion of traffic offences, violent crimes, property crimes, and intimate partner violence is almost twice as prevalent in rural areas Highest rates of crime are in Canada’s north

Question 45

Police officers are personnel with ______ and _______ accountability

Answer 45

internal external

Question 46

What was Jane Doe v. Toronto (Metroplitan) Commissioners of Police (1998)

Answer 46

Ms. Doe sued police services board for failing to inform her that a rapist was active in her neighbourhood - police paid $220 000 to her example of CJS negligent in fulfilling its responsibilities to the public

Question 47

Define a legitimate CJS

Answer 47

perceived as being fair and impartial and as respecting the rights of all citizens > Must be viewed as ensuring the security of the community while also protecting the rights of citizens

Question 48

Define vigilantism

Answer 48

in extreme form can involve citizens taking the law into their own hands to protect themselves

Question 49

The top 1% in Canada earn ____% of the income in the country Gender inequality in the workplace costs canada $____ a year

Answer 49

39.1% $150billion

Question 50

Between 2020-2021, there was a ___% increase in hate crimes reported to police

Answer 50

27%

Question 51

more than _/_ women have experienced some form of intimate partner violence in their lifetime Women represent nearly __% of all sexual assault victims

Answer 51

4/10 90%

Question 52

Explain some of the examples of Indigenous women being marginalized in society

Answer 52

2006: 31% of Inuit women and girls were living in crowded homes, compared to 3% of non-indigenous women Less likely to be part of the paid workforce - unemployment rates twice as high Much more likely to live in households with incomes under the poverty line Very high risk of victimization >Homicide rate nearly 6 times higher

Question 53

Explain the Eugenics movement in Canada

Answer 53

1920s-1970s - Eugenics movement in Canada - Indigenous women and others deemed unfit to reproduce were subjected to coerced sterilization Estimated that 300-400 women were subjected to the procedure Eugenics Act and boards in Alberta and BC Made illegal in 1986 but examples of it still happening recently

Question 54

What are “out-of-sight” driving charges

Answer 54

proactive policing practice where an officer uses their discretion to check a vehicle’s licence plate or stop a driver before they’re aware that the drive may be implicated in an offence > often used to profile black people