Research Corner
comparison of information sources
Data source 2007
Rate of sex assault
Fredericton 50K pop Comparison
UCR*
85/100,000 pop
Est 42.5
--police report
41
City rate matches
national average
UCR 4.3% GSS rate
GSS**
1,977/100,000
Est 988.5
FSACC***
350/10K students
15K pop = 475 cases Rate 2.4% GSS rate
Gleaner****
27 stories, 16 cases
Reports < measures
-- stories of acquaintances, told by cjs officials, at court, in a neutral voice, underrepresenting official cases,
grossly underrepresenting rate of victimization, with not one story about students
*Uniform Crime Reports **General Social Survey ***Fredericton Sexual Assault Crisis Centre ****paper
comparing
numbers…
Week one: context analysis, assigned 1.09
• Re: http://uprootingcriminology.org/blogs/lies-damned-liesimmigrant-crime/
• Lies, Damned Lies and Immigrant Crime, Jan 6, 2014 by: Gary Potter
• Who is lying? What are they saying? How do we know they’re lying?
Week one: context analysis, assigned 1.16
• With regard to ‘judges blame rape victims’, eg.
http://wkzo.com/news/articles/2014/jan/07/montana-judge-underfire-over-lenient-rape-sentence-to-retire-official/
• -- whose perspective do they benefit? why are they lying?
• --handout: http://www.orcc.net/sites/all/files/pdf/Sexual-AssaultStatistics-FS.pdf
• Go to www.lib.unb.a, select
research databases, and then
Canadian Newspapers FullText FP
Infomart
• -- fill out search form for topic,
date(s), newspaper(s), etc.
• -- results show text, in various
forms
• Sample exercise using context
analysis: use UCR and GSS
estimates of sexual assault
rates/100K, and compare to
Gleaner coverage…
• Next: 2007 news
Week two: building a
media sample
Case
date
headline
Stage
words
Speaker
relation
emotion
page
cogswell
4.28
Suspect denies sexual assault
plea
50
court
unknown
neutral
A5 brief
10.13
Accused no-show for sexual assault trial
trial
154
court
unknown
neutral
A3
2.13
Alleged sex assault victim says she fears accused
trial
1061
victim
co-worker
fear
A1
2.14
We had ‘consensual sex,’ accused testifies
trial
966
perp
“
denial
A4
2.15
Jury says man is innocent
verdict
594
court
“
neutral
A1
noname
12.22
Case of alleged sexual assaults at base dropped after ‘mix-up’
trial
624
mother
fellow cadets
anger
A1
toft-
1.24
Attorney general says second Toft trial unlikely
inquiry
496
lawyer
inmate
neutral
A1
richard-
11.7
Catholic priest jailed for sex assault
trial
126
victim
priest
anger
A6
noname2
10.29
Teen accused of sex assault
custody
105
court
co-worker
neutral
A4 brief
gould
10.25
Boisetown man faces sexual assault charge
trial
69
lawyer
Unknown
neutral
A5 brief
gallen
5.29
Sexual assault trial delayed
trial
150
lawyer
Unknown girl
neutral
A5 brief
10.24
Local man admits to sex crime
plea
64
court
“
“
A4
4.4
Judge: breast massage not medical treatment
conviction
294
victim
Patient
sadness
A1
5.18
Moncton man gets a year for breast massage
sentence
187
Judge
“
Stern
A6
7.25
Gun charges mount
charges
530
court
Unknown woman
neutral
A1
8.1
Six new charges for Flemming; he now faces 32
charges
524
“
“
“
A1
8.9
No decision in accused’s bid for trial
bail
91
“
“
“
A1
8.29
Suspect Flemming denied bail
“
303
“
“
“
A3
9.5
Man pleads not guilty to weapons, drugs charges
plea
150
“
“
“
A4
12.14
Flemming faces new charges
charges
275
“
“
“
A5
hollis
11.6
Man pleads guilty to assaulting girl
plea
77
court
Unknown girl
neutral
A3
hiltz
2.22
Man found not guilty of sexual assault
verdict
80
court
Unknown woman
neutral
A6
crouse
12.7
Man fined for sex crime
verdict
320
court
Unknown friend
neutral
A7
leone
12.19
Hearing to decide if man who knowingly spread HIV should be dangerous offender
hearing
264
court
Sex partners
neutral
A7
sharpe
4.20
Crown seeks to have man named a dangerous offender
hearing
321
lawyer
Unknown girl
neutral
A6
walton
5.23
Douglas man gets house arrest for sex-related charges
verdict
667
lawyer
stranger
neutral
A5
6.19
Douglas sex offender breaches house arrest
hearing
402
lawyer
“
“
A5
lyons
collins
flemming
Content (quotes) of stories of M/F sexual assault, DG 2007
• Cogswell – none; Noname2 – none; Gould – none; Hollis – none; Hiltz -- none
• Lyons – “I asked her to meet me at King’s Place. We were going to have consensual sex”
(accused); “She said the two of them sexually assaulted her” (boyfriend)
• Noname – “I can’t believe it, all I want is the truth. I just want justice for her” (mother)
“There was some kind of breakdown in communications” (justice)
• Gallen – “[He] would like to maintain his not-guilty plea and have another date for trial”
(defence)
• Collins – “I’m happy that it’s over and pleased with the result. It was very difficult and
emotional but I’m very glad I did it” (victim)
• Flemming – “He has no prior convictions, he’s basically a first-time offender” (defence
lawyer)
• Crouse – “What we have here is an attempted seduction gone bad” (defence lawyer)
• Leone – “He’s prepared to say, ‘I made a mistake” (defence lawyer)
• Sharpe – “At the time he pleaded guilty he already had 11 priors so we advised the court
at that time we were going to seek a dangerous offender application” (prosecutor)
• Walton – “[the accused approached her at the park, said] ‘you have a nice bum’ [and
started masturbating]” (victim); “[victim of a sex assault at a young age, it] upset his
entire life, it changed his personality, and his actions became inappropriate” (defence)
Week three: Information sources
• News, eg. CBC: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/not-enforcing-prostitution-laws-not-an-option-saysmackay-1.2515155
• …and http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/02/prostitution-canada-police-repression_n_1179237.html
• Statistics, eg. ‘transition home snapshot’: www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-404-x/2011000/part-partie1-eng.htm
• …and, prostitution: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/12-581-x/2013000/cri-eng.htm#t11
• …and, violence against women: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130225/dq130225a-eng.htm
• 2012 Uniform Crime Report, police statistics: www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/85-002-x2013001-eng.htm
• 2009 General Social Survey, victimization statistics: www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2010002/article/11340-eng.htm
• Collections Canada, eg: http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/lacbac/results/arch.php?module=arch&action=results&Language=eng&FormName=MIKAN+Items+Display&SortSpec=
score+desc&Language=eng&QueryParser=lac_mikan&Sources=mikan&Archives=&SearchIn_1=&SearchInText_1=pr
ostitution&Operator_1=AND&SearchIn_2=&SearchInText_2=&Operator_2=AND&SearchIn_3=&SearchInText_3=&L
evel=&MaterialDateOperator=after&MaterialDate=&DigitalImages=&Source=&ResultCount=10&cainInd=&Media=
Media.Photographs&PageNum=1
• Availability heuristic, cascade: overestimating likelihood, thru repetition in public discourse
• Bias blind spot: seeing oneself as less biased, more capable, than others
• Confirmation bias: only seeing information that confirms ones’ preconceptions
• Framing effect: drawing conclusions depending on how information is presented
• Hindsight bias: thinking that past events would have been predictable at the time
• Illusory correlation: seeing a connection between unrelated events
• Just-world hypothesis: if the world is just, injustice is deserved by the victim
• Negativity bias: tendency to remember averse events rather than unpleasant ones
• Observer selection bias: noticing previously unknown things, thinking they had increased
• Pessimism bias: a tendency to overestimate the likelihood of negative things happening
• Defensive-attribution bias: assuming +blame to evil-doer as similarity to victim increases
• In-group bias: perceiving members of one’s own group more favourably
• Bizarreness effect: better remembered because unusual
• Illusion of truth effect: a familiar statement is more believable than an unfamiliar one
• Mood congruent bias: better recall congruent with one’s mood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
Week four:
Cognitive,
social, and
memory
biases
Week four: Universal emotions
• Basic: disgust, sadness,
happiness, fear, anger,
surprise
• Also: amusement, contempt,
contentment,
embarrassment, excitement,
guilt, pride in achievement,
relief, satisfaction, sensory
pleasure, and shame
• Reference: paul eckmann
Serial
crime
rates…
• What does this mean?
• Objective increase…late 1960s?
• Detection increase… http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/tops-opst/bs-sc/viclassalvac-eng.htm#intro VICAP (FBI, 1980s), MCF (1980s) VICLAS (1991) (RCMP)
• Subjective increase…true crime literature, films…
Video response
Variables: similarity, likeability,
defensive attribution, perceived
in/justice, personal empathy,
portrayal…
Emotional response
high
Starving
children
Psychological distance
Cyber-bully
victims
far
close
Evil dictators
Movie victims
low
Sublimation and movies
• Revenge movies reaffirm a sense of justice in a world that’s unjust
• Love movies reaffirm (voyeuristically) romance in a world alone
• Action movies reaffirm (vicariously) excitement in a boring world
• Scary movies sublimate our aggressive tendencies, like the coliseum
• -- they’re sacrificial victims
unassigned: content analysis
• Re: The ordeal of Christopher Jefferies
• http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/22eac290-eee2-11e0-959a00144feab49a.html#axzz2pzvFoKHa
• What are they saying? Why are they lying?