Research Methods

· The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics collects data through the Uniform Crime Report. It calculated the crime rate, i.e., it divides the total crimes by the population, e.g., a murder rate of 2 means that 2 every 100,000 people were murdered. The crime rate varies across Canada with the lowest rate in the east and the highest in the west.

o Accuracy problems of the UCR

o Many serious crimes are not reported by victims. Crimes are police sensitive, e.g., some police officials may deliberately alter reported crimes to improve their department’s public image.

o Legal definitions of crime change, e.g. sexual assault, which includes spousal rape, child sexual abuse.

· Self-report surveys: to allow participants to reveal information about their own violations of law. The focus is generally juvenile delinquency and youth crime. People may lie or even exaggerate their offenses. Since it is voluntary not all do it, and we may not know whether those who don’t do it are the serious violators of law or not.

· Victim surveys: surveys that ask people whether they had been victims of crime.

· Alternative sources of information: Commissions of inquiry, such as the aviation safety board, the investigation of sexual and physical abuse at various NS schools and training centers.

Official crime trends in Canada

· Canada has the second highest incarceration rate among developed Western nations.

· Canada spends annually four times more pre prisoner than per university student.

· A gradual increase in crime between 1962 and 1991

· Since 1991 the crime rate has decreased, perhaps as a consequence of private security.

· 34,000 Canadians are in prison (129 of 100,000).

· In the US 1.5 M are in prison (645 of 100,000). In France and Australia 110, the UK 104, Germany 95 and Norway 84.

Factors influencing crime trends:

· Age: the crime rate follows the proportion of young males in the population. Both the victims and the perpetrators of crime tend to fall in the 18-25 age category.

· Race: there is no simple relationship among race and crime

· Natives and crime: there is a disproportionate number of aboriginal population in prisons and as victims of crime (35% were victims in the year preceding the survey).

· The economy: debate on the effects of the economy: in long-term periods of recession & unemployment there is more crime.

· Social malaise: as the levels of social problems increase so do crimes, e.g., single parent family, divorce and school drop-out rates.

· Culture and crime rate: In Japan the crime rate is very low. Violence is considered shameful and a disgrace in Japan and Scotland.

· Guns: the availability of guns, especially in teens, influence the crime rate.

· Drugs: there is no evidence that increasing use of drugs may affect the crime rate.

· Justice Policy: aggressive police practices, such as zero tolerance (but this may cause a displacement of crime).

Crime Patterns

The Ecology of Crime

· Day, season and climate: during the hot summer months of July and August, the first day of a month.

· Temperature: crime rates increase with a rise in temperature and then begin to decline at some point when it may simply be too hot for any physical exertion.

· Population density: large urban rates tend to have a higher crime rate.

· Region: a rising crime pattern towards the west. Little research why this happens.

· Social class: still unresolved. Instrumental crimes: those unable to obtain desired goods and services through conventional means may resort to theft and other illegal activities to obtain them. Expressive crimes, such as rape and assault, are a means of expressing their rage, frustration and anger against society. These are more common in poor classes.

· Poverty alone cannot explain why a particular individual becomes a chronic violent crime, because if it could the crime problem would be much worse than it is now.

Gender and crime

Male crime rates are much higher than female.

· Lombroso held that a small group of female criminals lacked typical female traits, such as maternity, undeveloped intelligence, piety, and weaknesses. And few masculine females are responsible for the handful of crimes committed by women.

· Chivalry hypothesis: criminality of females is hidden because of a generally protective and benevolent attitude towards women in our culture.

· Socialization: differences in socialization, girls are raised not to be violent and aggressive.

· Feminist views: the traditionally lower crime rate for women can be explained by their second class economic and social position. As women’s social roles change there will be more female criminals. But so far there is little evidence that nations undergoing economic development also experience increases in the female violence rate.

Criminal careers: the chronic offender

A small group of offenders are responsible for a great deal of all crime. These youths begin their criminal career at an extremely young age and persist into adulthood.

The study of the chronic offender has led to the study of developmental criminology –why people persist, desist, terminate or escalate their deviant behavior.

Overrepresentation of Aboriginal people in the Criminal Justice system

Aboriginal peoples account for 2.8% of the Canadian population, however they account for 18% of the incarcerated federal population and in the Prairie Region this level reaches 50-60% in some institutions. In reintegration indicators such as re-offending rates, parole revocations and conditional release, Aboriginal offenders fair less successful overall.