SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
FINAL EXAM
Final Exam Format
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Multiple choice questions (about 40):
o 10%
o Focus on counting crime, representation, theories
o Earlier information!!! –more focus.
Written answer questions (5):
o 15%
o Big themes, connect theory to issues/crime we’ve covered
think/apply & use specific examples.
o BIG THEME: DUE PROCESS VS. CRIME CONTROL
Theories
Non Sociological (Individual)
 Classical Criminology
 New Right
 Biological
 Psychological
Social Structure
 Durkheim
 Social ecology
 Social disorganization
 Strain theory
o Anomie
o Institutional strain
o General strain
Consensus
 Classical
 Positivist
 Stain theories
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Sociological
 Social Structure
 Social Process
 Social Conflict
Social Process
 Social Learning theories
o Differential
association theory
 Labelling theory
 Social control theory
o Social bonds and
self-control
Social Conflict
 Conflict theory
 Marxist theory
 Critical criminology
o Feminist
o Left- realism
o Cultural
o News making
o Green
Conflict
 Labelling
 Critical
 Feminist
 Left realist theories
SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
Wrap Up
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What is crime & how to count it?
Crime and representation
o Differences between the official reporting tools and how it fit with the
media rep of crime.
Criminological theories
o Some focus on individual, others on social conflict, etc. they cannot be
separated from their true background. How the theories influence the
different policies.
Regulation of particular crimes & criminal justice system
Crime control/law & order vs. individuals rights/due process models
o The priority of street crime over white collar crime.
o Terrorism over the safety of the public
o Race and the impact the criminal justice system has had on the under
policing and over policing. And racial profiling has shown up in policy and
practice.
Differences b/w reporting tools numbers and how they’re inconsistent with
media rep. of crime; reflect on how rep. impacts populations differently; look at
race, class, age, etc.
Different sources to explain crime; theories influence making of new policies;
Gendered organizations of crime; importance of intersectionality; gender
stereotypes around women as offenders impacts public’s view/response; impact
on youth; how crime justice system responds to youth;
Priority of street crime over white collar crime; national security over individual
security
Use of specialty courts to differentiate b/w populations; move away from
classical theories (everyone treated the same)
Race; impact of racism in crim. Justice system; over/under policing; ex.
Aboriginals; impact on policy&practice
Focus on individual rights over public rights; ‘upholding’
TOPICS
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Sociological Imagination & critical reflection
How much crime, how to measure it?
Crime, media and representation
Theories of crime
o Emphasis on individual (non sociological)
o Emphasis on social structure (sociological)
o Emphasis on social process (sociological)
o Emphasis on social conflict (sociological)
Violent crime (violence against women)
Youth crime
Corporate/white collar crime
CJS’ response to crime – Youth crime (police/courts/corrections
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
Written answer EXAMPLES
1. The Canadian criminal justice system attempts to balance two main
aims/objectives. Identify these aims and describe these (sometimes competing)
aims/objectives within the criminal justice system. Provide some specific
examples to demonstrate how these two aims get played out in either
legislation, policy, approaches, programs etc.
o More specific!!!!
2. Choose 1 specific theory from 1 of the following theoretical categories ONLY
(social structure, social process, social conflict) and apply it to a kind of crime.
o how does the theory you chose explain the crime?
o Apply the theory with specific examples (e.g. of any legislation and/or
policy, programs, approach) that is a logical outcome of the theory as a
way to solve or address the crime.
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
SOC 1500 Final Exam Review
Introduction to Term
Divisions of Law
Substantive: rights and obligations. Ex- Criminal law states what types of conduct
are prohibited
Procedural: sets out the methods to enforce these rights and duties. Ex- contains
rules for enforcing criminal law.
What is Crime?
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Legally a crime is defined as: “an intentional act or omission in violation of the
criminal law, committed without defense or justification and sanctioned by
the state”
Basic Elements of a Crime
1. Actus Reus “guilty act” or physical element (or omission)
2. Mens Rea “guilty mind” or intention
Textbook Notes
Objectivist – Legalistic approach
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Stand point- crime is factual and precise.
Defines crime as “something that is against the law”
Goal of criminologists – analysis the ‘rule breakers ‘and understand why
people break the law
Does not account for offences that are not criminal
o Ex. If a lawyer does not represent their clients best interest.
Several influential and recent sociological theories employ legalistic
framework.
o Ex. Gottfredson & hirschi – crime is based on a social consensus and
people who break the laws because they lack self-control. – Crime
and crime control are considered to be objective phenomena.
The concept of ‘law’ within Canadian context
3 types of law
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Administrative law- governs the relationships b/w individuals and
state.
Civil law – arguments b/w individuals (property disputes, wills,
contracts)
Criminal law- punish certain acts that have been declared to
be threats to the social order.
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Violations fall into 3 different categories
1. Crimes against the person (homicide, sexual assault)
2. Property crime (theft over $5000 , breaking and entering)
3. Offences that are just plain wrong (living off prostitutions, drugs)
Summary
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Objectivist-legalistic; crime is what is defined by legal statues and the
purpose of criminology is to find out what causes crime so that policy makers
can implement the initiatives required to combat social problems.
Counting Crime
Public confidence in criminal justice in Canada
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3 reasons why public confidence is important:
1. Discourage reporting
2. Won’t participate (juries, witnesses)
3. Promotes a consensus of cohesion
Question
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What should be done about a justice system that falls to inspire confidence?
o The answer to low levels of public confidence lies in EDUCATION
Factors which may influence changes in the crime rate:
1. Crime rates are report-sensitive
2. Crime rates are policing-sensitive
3. Crimes rates are definition-sensitive
4. Crime rates are media-sensitive
5. The crime rate may really be changing
Where do official crime stats come from?
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Canadian centre for justice statistics
o Surveys:
 UCR & UCRII
 Homicide
 Prosecutions
 Legal Aid
 Adult Court
 Youth Court
Methods of counting crime
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Official records
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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Self-reporting crime surveys
Self-report victimization surveys
Observational accounts
Limitations
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police discretion
less serious offences tend to be missed
Self- report surveys; could be lying
Memory: couldn’t remember what happened
Observation accounts; can’t do generalization
Gender
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Gender gap in offending – women commit fewer & less serious crimes than men
Gender convergence – gender gap narrows
Gender divergence – gender gap widens
Gender stability – gender gap remains unchanged
Textbook Notes
Official Statistics
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to understand ‘real level of crime = uniform crime reporting system
official crime reporting systems rely on crime reports from police
crime is measured in an objective-legalistic definition
UCR data are crime known by police to have happened
o The UCR represents ‘crime known by police’; this is not what is being
counted. Some law breaking behaviour is not included because the UCR
survey classifies incidents according to more serious offences occurring
during the incident (during a breaking and entry that lead to an assault,
the assault would be counted not the B&E). Therefore, less serious crimes
are underrepresented
UCR 2 survey was created to get more information on victims and accused
persons
*how annual homicide rates are calculated
o #of police recorded crimes x 100,000 / population = Crime Rate
o Canada’s population = 33 311 389
o Canada’s homicide rate for 2008 = 1.8 per 100 000 population
Even though defining crime varies between countries, it is possible to compare
forms of crime
Many crimes go unreported
Police have to have evidence before they can act on a suspicion
The way crime is defined has an effect on its rate, and it is changing over time
Self-Report Surveys
 these are questionnaires that seek anonymous reports from respondents about
offences that they have committed over a certain period of time
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Information gathers is meant not only to describe the nature and extent of crime,
but also to explain it.
before these, only police reports that were analyzed, which said it was mainly
lower class males that were committing the majority of crimes
criticized because of validity and reliability problems
also, hard to know of respondents are telling the truth
Victimization Surveys
 Collects information on the victimization experiences of a population
 One survey found that fewer than 42% of personal and household criminal
victimizations had been reported in 1981.
 Only 34% of criminal incidences get reported
 Hard to do these surveys because they are often done by phone, but then those
who do not have a phone are not being included
 Also, requires respondents to remember exactly when the incidents happened
 Limitations because obviously homicide cannot be included, and for ethical
reasons neither can kids
Observational Accounts
 Researcher talks to individual face-to-face in a natural setting to gather
accounts of crime within the context where crime or victimization occurs.
Normally takes place on a relatively small scale so that a deeper understanding
and appreciation of crime can be achieved.
 Criticized because of validity
 Not useful for generalization or inferences
Conclusion
 no one ideal method to measure crime
Is Crime in Canada on the Rise?
 not feasible to definitively answer due to previous information
 two ways in which changes over time in levels of certain types of crime in
Canada can be analyzed
o victimization data from surveys (short term)
o UCR data, specifically homicide (long term)
 Victimization says violent crimes have decreased slightly but mostly remained
stable
 Household property theft and vandalism have increased (however, these
surveys have only been around a short time)
 Homicide represents only .4% of Crime in Canada.
o Has been around a lot longer and is almost always reported
o Also can be compared around the world because the definition of
homicide is similar
Trends and Correlates of Canadian Homicide
 Rates have been decreasing since the peak in mid-1970.
 Quebec and Ontario are below national average
 Highest is in Saskatchewan and Manitoba
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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Lowest is in P.E.I. and NFL
Territories are highest
Rates move from lowest to highest from east to west respectively
Could be because the higher rated areas have a higher population of
aboriginals which have a likelihood of murdering
Males are more likely to be victim from age 18-24
Gun use has risen
Levels of homicide in Canada are quite high compared to the rest of the world,
but much lower than the US.
Media’s representation of crime
News media coverage of crime & its consequences
 Overdramatize crime
o Crime waves/moral panic
 School shootings, terrorism, the year of the gun, war on drugs, gang
violence, hate crimes.
o Over-reporting violent crime
 Not report on white collar crimes because we tend to over report
on violence crime. ATTENTION ON STREET CRIME
o Neglecting white collar crime
 Crime myths
o Racial and ethnic minorities
o Youth – how dangerous youth are
o Virtuous crimes
 Other problems
o Value laden language
o Failing to provide social/historical or statistical context. Not seeing it from a
different perspective.
o Misleading information e.g. not reporting declining crime rates.
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Attention on “the other, the stranger”; we should be scared of
them.
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Making it seem like crime is on the rise - can lead to tough on
crime,
News Structure and Values
1. Threshold
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Issue has to have a level of importance in order for it to make the news
2. Predictability
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What's rare!
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
3. Simplification
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In order to explain why a crime has happened. (Explanations/parts)
4. Individualism
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To look for the explanation at the level of the individual
5. Risk
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Misleading risk in order to play into our fear
6. Sex
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Over reporting of crime that is sexual
7. Celebrity
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Even if it isn’t a serious crime it gets reported
8. Proximity
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The more you see this hitting close to home the more you tend to be
concerned.
9. Violence/conflict
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Over dramatized
10. Graphic imagery
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The pictures
11. Children
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Used as a way to increase empathy
12. Conservative ideology
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Tending to support of reinforce that we need increase in law and order
Consequences of crime
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Influence attitudes/behavior
o Not just about crime our own level of fear, tolerance, confidence
Influence policy decisions
o You're more likely to support decisions that are tougher on crime
Impact the operation of key institutions (schools, criminal justice system)
Consequences for you
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In what ways does the media’s representation of crime impact your
attitudes/behavior?
Does it impact your:
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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Personal decisions/activities
Attitudes about how the cjs should responds?
Representation of criminalized women
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5
Pathologised
o There is something wrong with them. They are sick, some psychological
problem.
o Can be described in 2 ways:
o Biology- they are just overtaken by the innate behaviors
o Psychological reasons
 Ex. Pregnancy, post pardon depression, battered women
syndrome
Infantilized
o There treated as though they are children
o They are considered to be passive, weak, side chick
o Side chick- follow a man into crime they didn’t have a choice
Demonized
o Just purely evil.
o Women are stepping outside of the gender norm, and also stepping out
of the legal box.
Sexualized
o Explanation for women’s offending: they are over sexed.
o Going over their sexual boundaries
Masculine/Lesbian
o This idea that women are breaking away from passive role
o Strong, dominate – they’re the villains
key concepts of media literacy
1. All media messages are "constructed. “
 Very little that shows up in the media that isn’t there for a purpose.
2. Each medium has different characteristics, strengths, and a unique
"language" of construction.
3. Different people interpret the same media message in different ways.
 Different target audiences
4. Media messages are produced for particular purposes, including profit,
persuasion, education, and artistic expression.
 Who is doing the production and what is the purpose?
5. Media have embedded values and points of view.
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What are the messages and values that are being told?
Textbook Notes
Media portrayals of crime
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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Since the 1960's, television and press have shown the important role of how
the general public perceives the social reality of crime
Crime defined in the media is close to the objectivist legalistic viewpoint
In most media account of crime (news and entertainment) crime is
associated with fear and victims are let down
Two well accepted findings from research
1. Public knowledge of crime comes from the media
2. Crime in the media is different than how crime is measured and
defined in statistics
Society is more threatened by interpersonal violence and mayhem
If there is a drug bust, it distorts the public vision to make them think
everything is okay
Crime and Moral Panics
 Moral panic - is a condition, episode, person or group is defined as a threat to
the societal values and interests; presented in a stylized and stereotypical fashion
- Stanley Cohen
 The fear can be associated with control groups, politicians, associations, etc...
 Doyle and Lacombe argue that the news media and other new technologies
provide more sources in technology to alert the public about crime, danger and
risk
Female Crime
 More minor assaults than serious crime
 "Violent girl" is linked with a societal backlash of feminism
Criticisms of moral panic
 All societal reaction is not the same, audiences are less likely to be manipulated
 The only remedy would be informing the public
Conclusion
 Meanings and definitions about crime are subject to debate
 The objectivist-legalistic framework normally relies on legal definitions of crime
and considers the criminologists task to be an explanation of how
 Too simplistic to assume media has an effect on public fear
 Moral panic perspective is an example of an alternative to mainstream or
common sense understanding of crime
Theories
Ways to categorize theories
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Consensus & Conflict based:
o Consensus – assumes high degree of consensus about social norms and
values, and departures mark deviance. E.g. Classical, Positivist and Strain
theories.
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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Conflict - society is composed of diverse social groups with different
definitions of right and wrong. E.g. Labelling, Critical, Feminist, Left-Realist
theories.
Theoretical Categories
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Emphasis on individual (non sociological)
Emphasis on social structure (sociological)
Emphasis on social process (sociological)
Emphasis on social conflict (sociological)
Classical Theory
Context
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Enlightenment 1600’s-1700’s Western Europe
Transition from feudalism to capitalism
Development & role of the state
Development of common law & civil law
Classical School
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Cesare Beccaria 1738-1794
Jeremy Bentham 1748-1832
3 R’s
1. Rights (Individual)
2. Reason/Rationality
3. Rule of law
Classical criminology
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Utilitarian principle - “Greatest happiness for the greatest number”
Classical Criminology theory
Free will and rational actors
People CHOOSE to commit crime based on a calculation of perceived
costs and benefits.
Solution to crime
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Deterrence (if costs > benefits) = Punishment
Punishment can deter crime if it is:
o Swift (quickly- don’t wait too long)
o Certain (determinant sentences)
o And proportional to the crime. (humane punishments)
Policy
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“Tough on crime” “You do the crime … you do the time!” – certainty
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Zero tolerance policies
o Ex. No alch in your system under the age of 25 when driving.
Just deserts – desert-based punishment (getting what was coming to you)
Safe Streets and Community Act – Bill C10
o Determinant sentences >6 plants = 6 months – minimum
mandatory
Examples of classical perspective
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Surveillance camera – tools that help work to deterrence
Deterrence features – less than 100 bucks
Mini mandatory sentences
Procedural/ rule of laws (crime control and individual rights)
Parole – procedural aspects.
Arrests – specific deterrence
The rule of law – people are treated equally under the law.
Charter of rights and freedoms – equality section
Construction of juries
Punishment for the purpose of deterrence
Critiques
1. General principles did not always serve justice = rational actors?
 Is everyone a rational actor? – do we hold people with mental
health issues accountable?
2. Equality BEFORE the law masks a world of deep social inequalities.
 Punishment has differential impacts
New Right Criminology
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1980’s
Refers to a particular political orientation rather than to systematic coherent
theory.
It’s a conservative perspective in criminology
Economic efficiency priority.
Context
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Rise in “law and order” politics
Return to Classical theory and Biological Positivism
War on crime and attack on the disorder of society
Criminology
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Two themes:
1. Responsibility for crime squarely on the INDIVIDUAL
2. Reasserting the importance of PUNISHMENT in responding to crime
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
Benefits
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Reminder of the political nature of crime & crime policy.
Greater attention to the rights of victims
Critique
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Individual focus – ignores inequalities
Assumes consensus & state power remains solution
Punishment focus
Fear of crime atmosphere
Narrow definition of crime
Textbook Notes
The Demonic Era
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Abnormal behavior/ “criminal” behavior were understood to be caused by
demons & evil spirits
Many ideas connected to religious doctrine
o Ex. Anti-social behavior was seen as being possessed
Believed that possession could be solved by surgery (holes drilled into head)
Magna Carta
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Foundation of constitutional law – drawn up by his nobles and signed by English
King John
Guaranteed traditional land rights to the barons, certain guarantees under the
law to free and the protection of religious rights and local customs
*person could not be imprisoned or extradited unless she/he was lawfully judged
to be guilty
Enlightenment period
Hobbes
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Nasty, brutish and short
Fear of death forces people to be in social contract (creating state)
1st principle
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Human behavior is egoism; root of all social conflict.
Why they need to give up power.
w/o social contract; chaos would begin
people would choose state over no state
unnatural to put self under control BUT rational to do so
Locke
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people were born with personality (opposed it)
People from personality through social interaction. NURTURE!
Agreed with Hobbes on freedom and protection
No gendered analysis
o Ex. Catholic church and exorcism
Rationalism- free will and rational thoughts
The classical school of criminology
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Jeremy Bentham and Cesare Beccaria formed the classical school of
criminology
Beccaria
o Punishment should be formulated as a deterrence (so people won’t
repeat acts)- known as individual and general deterrence
o Punishments should be swift and certain
o The punishment should fit the crime
o Criminals are rational and choose to commit crime
Bentham
o Utilitarianism – reason requires decisions to be made. According to what
will produce the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.
o Same ideas as Hobbes
o Punishment needs to be:
 Severe
 Certain (MOST IMPORTATN)
 Swift
o Judges should not have the power to exercise discretion when passing a
sentence (equal to each crime) – determinant sentencing
John Howard
o Society – humane treatment of prisoners
o Influenced asylums
Criticism
o Only work when property is equally distributed
 Ex. Poor stealing from right – can make it worse
o Mitigating circumstances
 Not pary attention to biological, physical factors
From Lombrosian Atavism to modern bio criminology
New perspective
Human behavior determined by forces beyond the control of the
individual
Positivist school of thought
o Classical = unscientific
o No data in classical to prove the relationship between crime and
hedonism
o
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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Methods scientists use in physical world can help explain social world
Positivism- the application of the scientific method to study the human
condition
Tooted from human biology – work of Charles Darwin.
Biological/Psychological & Sociological Theories of Crime
Biological Positivism
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Criminal was born bad!
Biological & Psychological theories
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Human behavior is determined not by free choice but factors beyond the
individual’s control.
People who are deviant/criminal are sick!!!
Proposed that crime is not from rational reason behavior but criminals are born.
The real criminal is born with criminal traits. (BIOLOGICAL THEORY)
Those individuals are sick, because they’re psychologically disturbed
(PSYCHLOGICAL THEORY)
Classical to positivist period
Classicism
 Crime a legal entity
 Free will
 Punishment as deterrent
Positivism
 Crime a biological or
psychological entity
 Behavior is determined
 Treatment of criminal to protect
society
Biological theories
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Deviance lies within the abnormal individual.
Criminals are BORN bad!
o Anatomical, physiological or genetic abnormalities
Cesare Lombroso
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Atavism = evolutionary throwback
o They haven’t developed evolutionary like normal people. They were
born and can be identified.
Stigmata = physical characteristics
o The asymmetry of the face, a twisted nose, long arms, excessive skin
wrinkles. IF THEY HAD MORE THAN 5, they would be marked as a
criminal. If women had less than 3 they were born a criminal. Females
are born to be passive, not a criminal- she must be more wicked then
males, fewer characteristics needed.
Criminal was born not made.
Looking at the physical characteristics of the prisoners. Compared the study
between the prisoners and soldiers.
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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Physical differences that showed that criminals are born.
Policy
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Solution to crime - TREAT using medical, chemical or surgical procedures
o Physically try to treat the characteristic that was problematic.
o Chemical
OR
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Permanent incarceration
Capital punishment
DETTERNING DOES NOT WORK. – You cannot deter someone who is born
with it.
Criticisms :
o Can be cause of the incarceration!
o Because they looked like that they were criminals.
Psychological Theories
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Criminal was MADE not born!
EXTERNALLY caused biological (e.g. head injury) problems or INTERNAL
psychological factors that were treatable!
Song; Rihanna- disturbia
Theories
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Personality Disorders
o Antisocial Personality Disorder
Psychoanalytic
Frustration Aggression
Social Learning Theory
o Modelling
o Sounds like sociological theory
Antisocial Personality Disorder
o Inability to learn from experience, lack of warmth, disregard for and
violation of, the rights of others, and absence of guilt.
o Psychopathy, sociopathy
Psychoanalytic Theory
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
o Human personality contains a three part structure:
SUPEREGO (ethical
o The biologist of the mind
principle)
o ID – instinctual desire
o EGO- direct those impulses
EGO (reality principle) o SUPEREGO- the conscience is developed
 Conscience- Represents the internal knowledge
ID (pleasure principle)
 Women had penis envy, women would act like a man
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He argued that women would be passive and weak
Social Learning Theory
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Albert Bandura (1973) Social Learning Theory
o Modelling – Bobo doll experiment
o Aggressive behavior is learned from 3 sources:
 family
 subcultural influences (ex. Peers)
 symbolic modeling (ex. Watching TV, playing video games)
Solution to crime
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Treatment &/or incapacitate
People can act for reasons outside their control, and these factors may
reduce level of responsibility.
Assess mental capacity to stand trial.
Policy



Drug treatment courts
Anger management programs
Partner Assault Response programs
Sociological Theories


Examine social pathology rather than individual pathology.
Social disorganization was responsible for crime NOT biological or psychological
pathology!
3 main theoretical approaches
1. Social structure (Structural Functional)
2. Social process (Symbolic Interaction)
3. Social conflict


Examine social pathology rather than individual pathology.
o Focus on social rather than individual
Social disorganization was responsible for crime NOT biological or psychological
pathology!
o What’s abnormal is not with the individual but with the social
o Normal people with abnormal structures
Consensus vs. Conflict theories

Consensus model: A general consensus or agreement within society of shared
norms and values and agreement on the definition of criminal behaviour.
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
Assumption is that some individuals and groups fail to adjust to this definition/set
of norms.
o Agreement about what is right and what is wrong. There is a set of shared
values.
o People are acting out of the consensus.
 Some theories say, they are choosing to act out, others say they
cannot help it.

Conflict model: Society is composed of diverse social groups with different
definitions of right and wrong. Focus attention on how some groups are able to
influence the definition of what is criminal.
o VERY DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND GROUPS.
o Not one set of common beliefs which = conflict
Strain Theories



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Consensus based
o Crime occurs when something happens that doesn’t allow society to live
up to the social norm. – STRAINS
Social structure and social learning influence the attitudes and behavior of the
individual.
Examine social pathology rather than individual pathology.
SOCIAL STRAIN – goals vs. means
Assumes everyone aspires to goals of wealth and power
SOME people have structural obstacles & not same means to achieve goals.
Try to explain the strain and the reaction of the strain
Social Disorganization


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
Social Disorganization theories link crime to neighborhood ecological
characteristics.
There is a disorganized environment
Park & Burgess – Social Ecology (Chicago School)
o Crime geographically patterned in the Zone of Transition
Shaw & McKay - Social Disorganization (Chicago School)
They focused on Chicago.
Interested in looking at the level of disorganization that is going to be used to
define crime.
They were concerned about a rapid amount of social change. Which resulted in
a high population growth.
Trying to look at these characteristics of different neighborhoods.
Focus was on particular kinds of neighborhoods such as inner city ghettos
Saw a lot of immigration from Europe coming to Chicago
A concentration of new immigrants – mainly poor
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013


Social disorganization was responsible for crime NOT biological or psychological
pathology!
Crime showed up unevenly across the city.
o These inner city ghettos – it affected the collective norms.
o Those institutions (schools, etc.) – it affected the ability of them to have
control.
Anomie


Anomie – Greek “anomia”= “without norms”
Normlessness and lost
Merton’s Anomie






Robert K. Merton (1950’s and 60’s)
How do you explain poor people who remain honest and law abiding?
Integrated society maintains balance between:
1. Culturally defined & approved societal goals
2. Institutionalized approved social means (social structure) of
attaining these goals
Crime is a symptom of a gap between GOALS and MEANS
The problem is that everyone wants the same goals, but not everyone is in
the same position to reach those goals.
We have to look beyond geographical areas.
Merton’s paradigm of deviant Behaviour
Goal





Means
Conformity
+
+
Innovation
+
-
Ritualism
-
+
Retreatism
-
-
Rebellion
-
-
+
+
We are constantly told what we need, what we need to inspire to. We
have to try to figure out that pressure to get these things even if we can’t
obtain them.
Conformity – they keep working like dogs to access those common values
Innovation – they take advantage and take illegitimate means
Ritualism – they know they cannot get the goals and they give up the
struggles. They keep working like dogs.
Retreatism – there are the drug abusers, social drop out.
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013

Rebellion – create their own goals and means. May overthrow the system,
or is the hippie
Jane/Finch




Example of structural aspects that these theorist have come up with
o High unemployment rate
o High dropout rate
o Deteriorating household
o Poverty
o Large number of single parent households
o Ethnic and racial diversity.
There was a lot more conflict among residence –more antisocial behavior.
Came to the conclusion, crime is created by having these destructive
ecological behaviors in urban slums
Crime is a constant fixture of areas of poverty regardless of who lives
there. IT IS THE STRUCTURE.
Status Frustration (Sub-cultural theory)

Albert Cohen (1955)
 Lack of access/legitimate means for lower class youth to gain social status
and acceptance in conventional society – produces strain - delinquency.
 The impact on lower class youth, wanted to explain the higher
delinquency.
 They see middle class expectations. (the middle class measuring
rod) – they cannot measure up to the middle class youth
New versions of strain theory


Steven Messner & Richard Rosenfeld Institutional Strain Theory (1994)
o $ Concerns dominate & this weakens the informal social control of
institutions.
Robert Agnew – General Strain Theory (1985)
o Crime and delinquency is a coping mechanism of stress.
o He was interested with youths.
o Not being able to avoid stressful situations can form a strain.
Elements of General strain theory
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Structural explanation
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Poverty
Transient population
Lack of education
Lack of legitimate activities (e.g. recreation)
Heterogeneous community (different cultures/different values)
Social structure policy

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Education/training programs
Community development
Community recreation programs
Bully intervention programs
Gang prevention programs
Make sure youth have legitimate opportunities
Social Process Theories



Social process - interaction between individuals & society.
All people have the potential to become delinquents or criminals. IT IS NOT AN
INNATE HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC. – All what we learn from the interaction with
others.
Agree that members of lower class may have the added burden of poverty. can be counteracted by social interactions.
Social process Theories (Interactionist)



Social Learning Theories
o Differential Association Theory
Labelling Theory
Two effects of labelling:
o Creation of stigma – “You’re a delinquent!”
o Effect on self-image – “I AM a delinquent!”
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
Social Learning Theories

Edwin Sutherland (1939)- Differential Association Theory
o Crime is a function of a learning process
o People learn criminal attitudes and techniques from close and trusted
relatives and companions.
o Definitions FOR crime outweigh definitions AGAINST crime.
Labelling Theory (Interactionist perspective)


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Challenge notion of social consensus
Reality is produced through social construction- also challenges a positivist
paradigm.
Importance of power relations in a given society – who does the labelling?
It is subjective, depends on whose interpretation is taken into consideration.
Everyone doesn’t have the same amount of power. Some people have the
power to say what is right or wrong, etc.
Going from – crime out there in the world, you can find it. To what we define
crime as changes from who you’re where you’re from, etc.
People that are identified, (TAGGED) positively, that will snowball. That will have
an impact on your future.
FIRST THEORY THAT IS CONFLICT THEORY.
Lemert – Primary/ Secondary deviance


Primary Deviance: initial act of deviance
Secondary Deviance: internalizes negative label and assumes the role of the
deviant.
Social Bond Theory – Hirschi

Travis Hirschi (1969)
o Through successful socialization, a bond forms between individuals and
social groups
o People obey if you have socially developed bonds.
o Four components of social bond:
1. Attachment
 Didn’t matter who it is; people have some attachment and
people care what you think and you care what they think.
2. Commitment
 Engaged in society in a conventional way. Being committed
to values! NOT SMOKING CRACK.
3. Involvement
 Being busy. As long as they’re legitimate conventional
activities
4. Belief
 In a conventional
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Social process Policy



Nonintervention or diversion – YCJA
Decriminalize
o Deinstitutionalize
o Community service
Rehabilitate
o Not just about the punishment
Youth Criminal Justice Act



Diversion or extra-judicial measures
Identity of young person protected
Disposal of records
Textbook Notes
The psychology of crime
 Focus on individual, explains about crime contend that criminals are made, and
interaction of these individual within their social environment is the key to
understand aggression and violence.
Psychological theory
 late 19th-20th century in Europe by Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic
theory: person’s psychological wellbeing was dependent on a functional
relationship of id, ego, and super ego, id is primal urges that produces
unconscious; food, sex, ego is the reality principle to keep the urges of the id in
check, and superego is person’s social conscience; moral code: these 3 controls
ones’ behaviour and therefore, criminal behaviour come about as the result of
unresolved psychological conflicts. This theory is good to understand social
deviant/ sexual deviant, but hard to proof his theory scientifically.
Social learning theory
 addresses that aggressive behaviour is learned through a series of psychological
thought processes and perceptions, Sears, Maccoby, and Levin in 1957 did some
experiment; observing parenting style; parental physical punishment is positively
associative with children’s aggression, to proof this, Albert Bandura’s in 1973 did
the bobo doll experiment and found the same thing. These experiments are
biases cz society affects person same as their parents, media can be a big one
to be point in learning violent and aggression behaviour, also video games,
music, etc.
Psychopathy
 describe a compulsive person who lacks guilt, remorse and I unable to hold
lasting bonds with others, eg, ww2 Cleckley in the book mentioned 16 traits of
these kind of people, now is down to seven:
1. fail to social norms
2. repeated lying, conning others for personal profit or pleasure
3. failure to plan ahead
4. fights/ assaults involvement
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013

5. disregard safety of self and others
6. lack of remorse, mistreated
Criticisms about this; many people poses 3-4 trait of this, no research on what
causes psychopathy.
Key terms of the chapter
Classical school of criminology: by Jeremy and Cesare-human capacity on rational
thinking.
Deterrence: by Bentham, if people were sure of swift and punishment they would be
deterred from committing a crime.
John Howard Society; was formed to the humane treatment of prisoners, we are
practicing it in Canada.
Magna Carta: the document considered to provide the foundation of constitutional
law.
Positivist criminology; applies the principles of the scientific method to understudying
the cause of crime, reside in physical, genetic, psychological, moral makeup of
offenders-rejects classical criminology.
Social contract; by Thomas Hobbes’s, fear of violent death forces human beings into a
social contract that leads to formation of state.
Social Darwinism; by Charles Darwin, survival of the fittest.
Socio-biology; behaviour results from genetic encoding that has been subjected to the
Darwinian process of natural selection.
Utilitarianism; by Jeremy Bentham, refers to the belied that reason requires decisions to
be made according to what will procure the greatest good for the greatest number.
Chapter 4: Emile Durkheim
 Lived btwn 1858-1917, individuals who got stronger social ties may not commit
crime than the ones with weaker ties, eg suicide among people who lost their
jobs.
The Chicago school
 Examined crime based on spatial distribution, zone of transitions; low cost places
where low income families could afford, less power and money; more crime in
result.
Crime and social disorganization
 By McKay; social disorganization was responsible for crime, eg immigration, over
populated area, work, lack of parenting and child control.
Stain/Anomie Theory:
 anomie meaning normlessness, by Durkheim, anomic suicide, feel lost, being in a
situation to bring pressure or stain leads to rule breaking behaviour, also
innovator means one who believes in the culturally defined goals in society but
rejects the legitimate means to achieve these goals; therefore, subculture
happens, the process of rejecting the dominant value system and endorsing the
values of the delinquent subculture value system is descried by Cohen as
reaction formation, it is a way of dealing with problems of adjustment. Also if
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
crime is caused by the strain associated with low social status then why white
collar crimes are happening, therefore this theory is criticized.
Control Theory
 by Hirschi 1969, agrees with strain theorists that an understanding of the causes of
crime includes the awareness that society plays a fundamental role in shaping
the criminal, it view society as a set of institutions that acts to control and
regulate rule breaking behaviour with the assumption of humans are risk takers,
there are four types of social bonds;
 commitments and beliefs which are inner controls
 involvements and attachments that are outer controls
 This theory predicts that children who are properly bonded or attached to her
parents would be involved in less crime than who have weaker bond, therefore,
parenting programs are offered through schools in order to secure society.
Differential Association Theory
 By Edwin Sutherland 1939; states that human being acts in references to their
environment, therefore, criminal behaviour is learned behaviour. In fact, a
person is more likely to become embedded in criminal activity if surrounded by
an excess of socializing definitions favourable towards norm-violation over
definitions that are unfavourable to the violation of social norms, also the
amount of time that one spend in being in a situation matters as well.
Labelling Theory
 Traced back to symbolic interaction where looks at interaction that takes place
btwn people through symbols, people do not respond to the word directly, but
by attaching symbolic meanings to themselves in relation to the physical and
social world.
 Frank Tannernaum in 1938 saw in a research that the stigma/ label could cause
a person to fall deeper into non-conformity by thinking himself as a bad person
which can lead to the formation of a deviant persona.
 Edwon Lemert 1969, state two concepts; primary deviant which we all do it,
secondary deviant which is from a result of unfair treat of a primary deviant act.
Therefore, here in Canada all young offenders are charged through youth
criminal justice act which means not stating their names in media (not letting
them to internalize deviant identity. Some criticism about this would be
punishment also corrects a deviant behaviour through reinforce the moral bond.
Chapter 5; a General Theory of Crime:
 Michael Gottfredson and Travis Hirschi 1990 published a general theory of crime
book, best seller, crime and other analogous behaviours such as smoking,
drinking, gambling, irresponsible sex results from low self-control. Eg children with
behaviour problems with tend to grow into juvenile delinquents and in due
course, into adult offenders. Therefore, quality of parenting they received plays
an important role here, some criticism about this; they focus too much on old
style parenting where women stayed home and men worked, and children were
disciplined through families, didn’t take into consideration of the today’s reality
which is single parenting, and avoid being in an unhappy marriage life.
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The life course perspective
 Problem behaviours-as we; as their termination-are age-related, caused by
certain events that take place in the developmental process. Through a
longitudinal research; finding was that during childhood, criminal behaviour is
not very common, a lot in adulthood, then decreases, also more disturbed
children had been in trouble in adulthood leading a low income job in later in
life, more behind in society due to criminal acts. Also being victim in younger
age was positively associated with low income.
General Strain Theory
 Members of society who find themselves in a position of financial strain, yet wish
to achieve material success, resort to crime to achieve socially desirable goals.
Agnew’s revision of general strain theory
 Negative experiences lead to stress, (a) the inability to achieve positively valued
goals, (b) the removal or the threat to remove positively valued stimuli, (c) to
present a threat to one with noxious or negatively valued stimuli. This theory was
inability to deal with why there are profound differences in levels of make crime
compared to female crime; then Agnew and Broidy found that male and
female respond differently to a strain, feel different emotions, and male said to
be lower in social control than females, male and female tend to a crime for
different reasons such as women for financial goals.
Routine Activity Theory
 Cohen and Felson 1979, found that changes in levels of crime in society are
closely associated with changing lifestyles, this theory simply begins with the
premise that crime is likely to occur when a motivated offender and suitable
victim come together in an environment that does not provide protection to the
potential victim. Eg, freedom from parental supervision resulted in greater
opportunities for youth to get into trouble. Some disagreement; opportunities to
commit crime do not necessarily lead to crime even when controls are absent.
Reducing the Risk: Crime prevention through environmental design;
 CPTED (sp-ted) by C. Ray Jeffery 1971, crime can be prevented if the built
environment is properly designed so that opportunities for motivated offenders to
commit crime are removed;
1. natural surveillance, means that correct placement of the built
environment
2. natural access control is meant to deter access to a crime target
3. territorial reinforcement
4. a well-maintained space allows for the continued use of a space for its
intended purpose
 Weak point is that crime is the result of poorly designed environments, two kinds
of people in society that one is offenders and the other one is responsible
citizens.
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Risk and Actuarial Criminology
 reality is complex and that the social world is not easily knowable, the concept
of govern- mentality by Rigakos; refers to societies where power is decentralized
and the citizenry plays an active role in their own self-governance, organization
where the state no longer provides the dominant set of social institutions that
exercise power and control over the population, society controlled by elites
through institutions like the criminal justice system.
Social Conflict Theories


Inequality generates conflict and change:
o Gender
o Age
o social class
o race/ethnicity
o sexual orientation
Are linked to society’s unequal distribution of money, power, education, social
prestige.
Critical criminology theories


Inequality and unequal power central to understanding crime and its control.
Focus should be directed at rule-makers not rule-breakers.
Corporate crime vs. street crime
Conflict theories


CONFLICT
o Society is composed of diverse social groups with different definitions of
right and wrong.
Conflict, revolution, and change
o Conflict is a fundamental aspect of social life and different groups
compete for power, wealth etc.
o Laws are created by the powerful to protect their own interests.
Radical Criminology




“RADICAL”, “CRITICAL”, “NEW”, “MARXIST CRIMINOLOGY” 1970’s – Ian Taylor,
Paul Walton & Jock Young
Drew on Marxist traditions in social and political thought as a way of explaining
crime in a system predicated on class inequalities.
If you had power you wanted to keep the status quo- and not change it.
Who has power? How is power being used?
Marx
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




Witnessed the birth of the industrial revolution = Emergence of new forms of
exploitation and oppression through the accumulation of capital by the few at
the expense of the many.
Where there is inequality, there will be resistance to inequality.
Saw answers to problem of his time.
The class you were born into will likely be the class you die in.
It is hard for you to get out of the class because of the economic and social
opportunities that are/aren’t available.
Theory




State administers to capitalist interests.
Intensive policing of the underclass.
Targeting of working class as working class crime more visible.
Crime is an outcome or a reflection of basic class divisions.
Commonalities of critical criminology


Opposition to mainstream proposals for:
o more prisons,
o more police,
o more punishment
Regards major structural & cultural changes within society as essential to
reducing all types of crime & eliminating the unequal administration of justice.
Left Realism






Political response to the law and order agenda.
Focus on how the working class itself suffers from crime.
Focus on inner city CRIME CONTROL!
In understanding the crime that was being committed by people in their own
communities.
Have a better sense of what was happening on the inner city.
The kind of policing that was occurring – Part of the reasons that started the riots
Causes of crime
1. “Relative Deprivation” – a desire for something that others have that the thief
does not.
 Difference in the haves and the have notes.
 Lower class was feeling powerless!
2. Lack of access to the political sphere
 Lack of power they felt.
3. Poor policing - police responses that anger/provoke local populations and
cause further breakdown in communities.
 They were using their power against these populations that already
had conflict.
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013

They increased the level of violence and conflict instead of
decreasing.
Feminist criminology

Main focus of analysis is:
o experiences of women in the criminal justice system (as victims,
offenders, workers)
o Critique of male-stream criminology theory.
o Examining broader intersections of gender and justice (Moore, 2008).
o Issues of power.
o Crime gender connection.
o Social Conflict theory!
o Who has power to define?
Current feminist criminology theories
o
o
Gendered Pathways
 The experience that girls have or young women early in their
lives, has a big impact on later victimization and criminalization.
 We have to look at the history of girls lives.
Intersectionality
 People have multiple overlapping factors that have to be taken
into account
 Can’t just look at gender or age, have to look at multiple
identities. – Those work together
Adult Female Portrait

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




Young < 29 yrs.
Single parent
Disproportionately Aboriginal
Poor, unemployed or low paying occupations
Undereducated/unskilled
First time offender
Drugs/alcohol problems
Victim of physical, sexual abuse (Boritch, 2003).
Textbook Notes
Critical criminology




Based on conflict theory and Marxism
Capitalism is not characterized by consensus concerning shared values
The struggle and conflict that takes place between the powerful and less
powerful classes
Mistake- laws reflect socially agreed on norms and values
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013






Directed to the rule-breakers and also rule-makers
Differs from labelling in which power is distributed
o Labelling- society having plurality of interests. – power is something
everyone strives for
Critical perspective
o Power is an issue of social class position and privilege
o Membership 2 fundamental classes
1. The bourgeoisie (economic elites) – own the means of production
and capital and property
2. Proletariat (working class)- have to sell labour to bourgeoisie
State secures interests of the economic elites because of ties
Law is a powerful tool for maintaining class power and large
Spot lighten corporate and white collar crime
o Ex. Feminist criminology, left realism, peace-making, post modern
Left Realism








Jock young (1975)
Unidirectional focus on crime committed by powerful – ignored the crime and
victimization of the working class
Highlight the victims (street crimes)
Most were working class
Crime of left realists:
 What is contained in the criminal code
Main cause of street crime
 Relative deprivation – not necessarily object poverty (homeless, stealing
for food)
 Police’s antagonistic and ineffective response – poor policing
Based on crime within groups – most steal from their circle
Practical response – community control and more policing
Criticism


Political more than theoretical theory – segues crime and crime control
should be taken more seriously
Doesn’t address women violence
Feminism and criminology




2 areas
o Victimology – mainly men’s violence against women
o Causes of female crime and deviance
Feminism – advocacy of rights and equality of women in social, political and
economic spheres – Nellie McClug
Patriarchy- any social system of male dominance and power
Sex – biological trait indicative of genital differences between men and women
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Gender – social construct pertaining to what it means in a culture to be
masculine or feminine
Male violence against women






‘virtual conspiracy of silence’ –around issue such as rape
Lorenne clark and Debra Lewis – feminists who changed laws (rape laws)
New law- men cannot rape their wives
Women are more of a victim in domestic violence
Men never use to be charged with domestic violence – RARELY
Now they must report crimes and charge men on reasonable, probable grounds
Explaining female crimes

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





Prior to 1960s women were seen as masculine and didn’t get their own category
Described in terms of ‘sexual delinquency’-sociological; crime for women tends
to spill over into sexuality
W.I Thomas supports the sexual delinquency theory
o Social disorganization theory (dismissing biological reasoning)
o Product of time
‘non-normative’ sexual behaviour – biological factors on inappropriate
socialization
Carol Smart
o Female were wither completely ignored on only off handily attuned to by
fields of criminology
o Framework not so male-centred
Interpretations of female crime scene to rest largely on biased, sexiest
assumptions
Increased level of female crime caused by more female involution
Power control theory - the amount of power a parent had in the work place was
related to the power over the teenagers
The linking of authority relations in the workplace with authority relations in the
household
Patriarchal family – higher boy deliquesce
Egalitarian – some rates
Tested; mothers in egalitarian seem stricter – oppose of control theory
2 critical comments



1. Common delinquencies, not serious or repetitive
2. Supports ‘liberation’ egalitarian mothers having higher crime rates
Are these ‘male stream; theories effective in explaining female crime
Inconsistent with lives of females
No effective female criminality to date
Violent Crime and Victimization
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Violence against women







Every 6 days a woman in Canada is killed by her intimate partner.
3,000 women & their 2,500 children are living in an emergency shelter.
The rate of spousal homicide against women was about three times higher than
that for men (Stats Canada, 2011).
Over 50% of Canadian women will experience violence.
Most BEFORE they are 25!
In most cases, women know their abuser.
More likely to know the person.
Violence against girls



Girls are targets of abuse within the family more than boys.
79% of victims of family-related sexual assaults are girls
55% of physical assaults by family members are against girls.
Sexual violence




93% of reported adult sexual assault victims are female.
Almost 50% of Ontario high school girls have experienced unwanted sexual
comments.
80% of victims of dating violence are female.
Only 10% of all sexual assaults are reported to police.
o Most underreported crime
Increased risk of violence
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Aboriginal women
Young women
o 66% of all female victims of sexual assault are under the age of 24%
o 11% are under the age of 11
women with disabilities
Immigrant women
Defining violence

What criteria do you think should be included in a definition of “violence”?
o Act/omission
o Intent/deliberate
o Physical force/power imbalance
o Consequence/injury
o Context
Violence?
o
o
o
Suicide
Homicide/femicide/IPV
Gang violence
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o
o
o
o
o
School violence
Sports violence
Environmental violence
Corporate violence
War/terrorism
What theory/theoretical category?
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Charles Manson
o “F___ them. If that’s what they think I am, and I have to bear that cross, I
got nothing’ to lose in being all they think I am”.
o Labelling Theory – Social process theory
Manson’s life before entering prison for the last time was filled with many
examples of loss that would fit into?
o Strain theory.
Manson was essentially surrounded through his formative years by persons who
despised the law and those by whom it was enforced.
o Differential association
Textbook Notes
Social Exclusion
 ‘process of being shut out, fully or partially, from any of the social, economic,
political, or cultural systems that determine the social integration of a person in
society’
 May be seen as the denial (or non-realization) of the civil, political, and social
rights of citizenship
 Multi-dimensionality – interconnectedness of people’s positions on the different
dimensions. Some people may be included within some parts of society but may
be excluded in other ways.
Homeless Youth
 ‘Any male or female for whom the street has become his or her habitual abode
or source of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised, or
directed by responsible adults
Hagan and McCarthy study:
 Engagement in crime had to do with their current adverse situations than with
their disadvantaged backgrounds; experiences of contending with the
conditions of street life were related to criminal activity (ex. steal/ property crime
to feed themselves, prostitution to make money)

But backgrounds of many homeless youth marred by turmoil; grew up in
economically marginalized households (frequent parental unemployment),
physically/sexually abused, and settings characterized by parental criminality
and alcohol and drug abuse
Overrepresented by experiences of criminal victimization:
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More street youth than high school students reported being physically assaulted
in the past year. Also prone to sexual assaults than high school counterparts
Homeless youth are more vulnerable to exploitation than youth who are housed;
potential predators recognize that young people who are homeless have few
resources to defend themselves and little resource for challenging them
Strain, social bonding, self-control, differential association, and rational choice all
used to explain why crime pays a significant role in the lives of street youth
The Exiting Process (Karabanow 2009) –p.150
 ‘How do young people get off the street’
 Why a socially excluded individual must rely on ‘deviant’ work to survive
(In order)
1. Precipitating factors
2. Courage to change
3. Securing help
4. Transitioning form
5. Change in routine
6. “Successful” exiting
Youth Gangs
 In Canada, very little systematic info is available about street gangs; not possible
to state if numbers of youth in gangs is increasing or not
 Statistics Canada does not collect data about crime in Canada on the basis of it
specifically being ‘gang related’
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
Info about gangs that appears in mass media is most often generated from
police reports and press conferences; paints a picture of increasing and violent
activity
Gang membership is often associated with youth from certain ethnic, minority,
immigrant groups:
o Toronto: depicted as ‘black’ problem
o Vancouver: depicted as being overrepresented by Asian and South
Asian youth
o Prairie provinces: depicted as Aboriginal youth
Gang:
 ‘a group of recurrently associating individuals with identifiable leadership and
internal organization, identifying with or claiming control over territory in the
community, and engaging either individually or collectively in violent or other
forms of illegal behaviour’
Frederick Thrasher (1927):
 Found that gangs were most likely to flourish in neighbourhoods that were
‘socially disorganized’.
 Disadvantaged social conditions give rise to the formation of gangs
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Contained less than 30 members
Mainly groups of juvenile males neighbourhood and kinship based
Mainly fulfilled the function of sociability
‘discouraging other youth from occupying their neighbourhood’ (protection of
neighbourhood ‘turf’)was a fundamental role that gangs played
Modern gang:
 1960’s gave rise to the ‘super gang’
 Less juveniles, became larger and more powerful; more sophisticated and
violent because:
1. Economic restructuring and deindustrialization that eliminated many
working-class jobs from many inner cities across America
2. Role played in drug trade; rise in demand for illegal street drugs;
financially attractive for uneducated youth who possess few marketable
skills
Tanner and Wortley (2005):
 Research revealed that power, money, respect, protection, and social support
were the reasons that the Toronto youth identified with gangs
 Provides strong evidence that youth are initially attracted to gang life because
of the protections it provides from an unsafe and intimidating neighbourhood
environment
Female gang members – Campbell (1990):
 Economically impoverished and socially disadvantaged backgrounds with high
numbers of visible minorities
 Appeal for them to joining a gang has to do with a perception that gang life
would be the complete opposite of their current reality; represents power,
control, material possessions, parties, and excitement – all aspects of life that
they currently lack
 ‘deliberately fooling themselves’
Joe and Chesney-Lind (1998):
 Girl gang members are much more likely than their male counterparts to have
experiences parental physical and/or sexual abuse
 Joining a gang for a female is considered to be a refuge of sorts and a social
support in the form of an alternative family.
Aboriginal People in Canada
 Overrepresentation in the Canadian criminal justice system; incarcerating
Aboriginal people at rates far above national averages:
o 17% of federal inmate populations
o 19% of inmates in provincial institutions
*but they stand for only 3% of the total Canadian population
Why?
1. Discriminatory treatment (racial profiling and selective enforcement)
2. Economic and social inequality (ex. unable to pay fines so they end up
serving time in jail)
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LaPrairie (2002)
 Unemployment substance abuse, low levels of formal education, homelessness,
and lone-parent families cannot be overlooked as factors accounting for the
representation.
 Suggests that because Aboriginal people often reside in areas of Canadian
cities that are characterized by poverty and isolation, ‘criminogenic structures
and cultures arise’
Remedies to alleviate overrepresentation – Robert and Melchers (2003):
1. Educate criminal justice professionals (judges) about the severity of the problem
and to have them adopt a broader range of sentencing alternatives
2. Reduce the numbers of Aboriginal people who are being brought into the
criminal justice system; improve the social conditions that plague communities of
Aboriginal people
Hate Crime
 ‘crime motivated by antagonisms towards race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or
religion’
+ Legal definition found in sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code

Police reports and victimization surveys are the two primary methods used to
collect info about hate crime:
o Unlike general crime statistics where victims and offenders often know
one another, in almost 50% of incidents of hate crime the perpetrator was
unknown to the victim
o 2004 report showed that largest single ethic group targeted by hate crime
was Jewish people, second was blacks
o ‘Precipitating factors’: Racial slurs (most common) and Sexual orientation
(gay bashing)
o 2003 report showed differences in the experiences of victimization
reported by lesbians and gay men; members of lesbian community are
more likely to report being victimized by people they know, and assaults
that take place within the private realm. But gay men were more likely to
be victimized by strangers, male youths in the public domain
Who is implicated in hate crimes?
 2001 report showed 84% accused of hate crimes were male and average age
under 30
Why hate crimes committed? –Levin and McDevitt (1993):
 Through humour, religion, and politics a growing culture of hate is emerging
whereby people who differ from the in-group are targeted.
 This growing culture provides a basis for degrading, insulting and essentially
excluding people on the basis of difference
Violence against Women
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
Women are most likely to experience the severest forms of violence and are
more likely to be killed by men within the context of heterosexual relationships

Women in common-law relationships are the most likely victims in spousal
homicides
Age plays a factor – younger people tend to be more likely to co-habit without
being married; age is a key predictor of intimate partner violence

Defining domestic violence:
 Research focuses generally on what the Criminal Code would classify as Physical
Assault Level 1
o Pushing, slapping, punching, and face-to-face threats
 but a focus on physical assaults assumes that these acts are more destructive
than psychological, sexual, or economic harm (DeKeseredy and Schwartz)
^^difficult to estimate just how much spousal violence against women actually
occurs because of these definitional issues
Why women stay:
1. Fear and uncertainty – expect fallout or retaliation from the abusive partner
2. Economic exclusion – many abused women are economically dependent on
their spouses and do not have marketable employment skills (this is key reason
for the rise of the shelter movement)
3. ‘learned helplessness’ – constant abuse essentially renders them inoperative
without the capability of leaving; repeated beatings (like lab rats) negatively
affect a woman’s ability to respond resulting in a passive state, and over time
causing depression, anxiety, and low self esteem
Section 143 of the Criminal Code:
 Amended in 1983 whereby the ‘rape’ statute was changed to sexual assault
 Current legislation allows for husbands to be charged with sexual assault
irrespective of whether penetration has occurred
 Both those accused and the victims can be either male or female
 Contains 2 levels of assault that are based on the seriousness of the crime
‘Date rape’:
 Refers to sexual assault that occurs within the context of a dating relationship;
individual found guilty is liable to the same punishment as a person convicted of a
sexual assault in a situation where the victim and offender were strangers

One of key issues is proving that a sexual act or unwanted touching occurred
without the consent of the victim; key reason why so few date rapes are ever
reported to police
^often male has expectation that date will be sexually compliant if he spends
enough money etc. and feels entitled to sex
Youth Crime
Common Beliefs about Youth Crime
1. It is increasing dramatically;
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
More serious violent crimes are being committed by youths;
Youths are involved in crime at an earlier age;
Youths receive lenient sentences; and
# of youths charged by police is increasing
Out of control youth population.
Welfare or Justice Model?
Welfare Model
 based on protection & humanitarian measures
 Thinking about youth as needing protection, needing guidance. As if the
state were a parent.
 If they get in trouble the youth needs to be punished as if a parent was
punishing them.
 delinquency caused by forces acting on in so limiting their personal
responsibility
 We aren’t going to hold them as accountable as we would if they were
adults
 treatment programs to rehabilitate based upon indeterminate sentencing
 The state has the child's best interest. They don’t have to worry.
Justice Model
 Called for greater accountability of young offenders while offering certain
legal rights.
 Balance between individual rights and crime control.
 based on Classical School of Criminology
 The youths should have the same legal rights as adults.
 determinate punishment to ensure justice is done and further delinquency
deterred
 Wants to hold them accountable but ants to make sure their legal rights
are there.
 Talking more about the notion of punishment or vengeance
Youthful offenders Act, 1894
 Parliament passed the 1st piece of federal legislation on juvenile delinquency
 step toward formal state intervention and control of the delinquent youth
Juvenile delinquents Act
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parens patriae philosophy
o The state was like the parent for the child.
Youth in need of care and guidance
o Youth as worthy of the state’s attention.
Governed 7-15 or 17 yrs.
Informal court procedure (trials held in camera, lawyers discouraged)
o THEORY: LABELLING.
o We don’t want this to look or feel like the adult system because the more
involvement and interaction we have the more likely the youth gets
labelled a delinquent and thus the labelling theory prevails.
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Transfer to adult court possible >14
Sentences: industrial school, $25 max. fine, probation
o Guided in a way where they were
No max custody or probation term
o Example of indeterminate sentences.
Young offenders act
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due process rights of the accused youth
Permitted alternative measures but not part of formal process
12-17 yrs.
Right to counsel, trials in open court
o Tends more to the rights of the youth.
Open & secure custody options (max 2 yrs.), max fine $1000, and max probation
2 yrs.
o The old one there wasn’t a maximum. \
o Determinate sentencing model.
Transfer hearing required to adult court
o Have to actually have a separate hearing before being transferred.
Youth had the right to get a lawyer. – An option that was now presented
Criticized for being too soft, sentences being too light, not an effective tool
dealing with youth crimes.
Development of a new federal – identified a few important objectives.
o Importance of enhancing public protection
o Promoting prevention
o Open to looking at alternatives to a formal youth justice system.
o Wanted to try to come up with consequences that were more meaningful.
o Emphasizing on rehabilitation and rehabilitation
YCJA preamble
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‘‘have a youth criminal justice system that reserves its most serious interventions
for the most serious cases and reduces the over-reliance on incarceration for
non-violent young persons.’’
In response to the 90s and pre 2003, when the rate of incarceration for youths
were a lot higher. And a lot more of the criminal justice system was bringing
youth into the system – the ycja was an attempt to balance the cricisms of the
two acts before,
o Trying to balance the welfare model and the justice model.
Principles of YCJA
1. The youth criminal justice system is
intended to:
1. prevent crime by addressing the circumstances underlying a young
person’s offending behavior,
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
2. rehabilitate young persons who commit offences and reintegrate
them into society, and
3. ensure that a young person is subject to meaningful consequences
for his or her offence
2. in order to promote the long-term
protection of the public
Youth Criminal Justice Act
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Restorative justice philosophy
o Trying to restore justice, fairness, and the harm that has been causes from
the offence.
o Has to take into account more than the offender
o Including not just the offender and the victim but the entire community.
Statement of principles
Encourages diversion outside of court
o Increased the use of “extrajudicial measures”
o Looking for things beyond traditional custody tactics.
12-17 yrs.
Due process followed (legal aid for counsel)
o Not only are lawyers allowed, but they ensure that they have legal aid if
they cannot afford a lawyer.
Trials in open court
Limited use of custody, rehabilitation key, intensive supervision & custody options,
max fine $1000, and max probation 2 yrs.
Adult sentences available in YJC no transfer (>14 yrs.)
o You can hand down a sentence without going through adult court.
Extrajudicial Measures
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community service;
written project;
curfews;
paying back the victim and community;
voluntary participation in counselling programs, such as anger management
sessions; and
An agreement by the offender not to associate with a person or a group.
The offender is required to apologize in every case.
Looks very different across Canada – a lot has to do with resources.
Youth that don’t have programs available to them may get a tougher sentence.
Safe streets and Communities Act

amends the Youth Criminal Justice Act;
o Highlights protection of society as fundamental principle
o Violent and repeat offenders can be more easily detained in custody
while awaiting their trial
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o
o
o
Definition of “serious offence” expanded
Remove barriers to sentencing youth to custody
Require crown to consider seeking an adult sentence for serious violent
offences …
YCJA changes re: Bill C-10 to YCJA March 2012
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the youth criminal justice system is intended to protect the public by
(I) holding young person’s accountable through measures that are proportionate to
the seriousness of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the young person,
(ii) promoting the rehabilitation and reintegration of young persons who have
committed offences,
(iii) supporting the prevention of crime by referring young persons to programs or
agencies in the community to address the circumstances underlying their offending
behavior;
Even though it is part of the principle, no one checks on the people if they’re doing
it.
Theories to explain youth crime
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Status Frustration– Lack of access/legitimate means for lower class youth to gain
social status and acceptance in conventional society – produces strain –
frustration & delinquency.
Strain – young people unable to achieve “culturally prescribed” goals
legitimately they experience strain and resort to other ways to fit which may
include illegitimate activity
Differential Association – young people learn how to be bad from others.
Labelling – in the process of interacting with formal authorities of social control
young people are defined as “delinquent”, which leads to self-definition.
Social Control theories/Social Bonds- Not successful socialization therefore
necessary bonds not formed.
Left Realist: when youth’s expectations are not fulfilled, they replace legitimate
and conventional interests with discontentment and this combined with an
inability to change things legitimately increases criminal activity.
Feminist: inequality, girls more likely to be victims & therefore coping can lead to
survival crimes. Girls treated more harshly by criminal justice system, more likely to
be charged with status offences.
National Security
Securitization


“Politically and socially constructed process of governments and the media
presenting threats to national or state security in a highly dramatized and
persuasive form of public discourse (Buzan, Waever, and de Wilde,
1998)(Murphy, 2007)”.
A process that uses a media to emphasize and construct meaning
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Impact on community policing
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Community as security problem, “enemy within”
Some urban communities into security problems
Crime problems to security problems
Communities at risk to communities of risk
o The language of risk, the language of having to assess the level of risk and
trying to manage that risk. (Increase resources and try to make sure
you’re getting information, etc.)
Characteristics:
o People that are policing us, are also us. We see the police as one of us.
o About developing relationships
Border to national security
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More widespread effort to identify threats.
Nation became central focus – gov’t focus shifted from protecting the border to
protecting the public.
National security legislation
Anti-terrorism act
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focus on “terrorist”
new terrorism offences
tough penalties for convicted offenders
electronic surveillance against terrorist groups
judicial hearing for individuals alleged to have information related to a
terrorist group or offence
Purpose: to prevent terrorists from getting into Canada and to protect
citizens from terrorist attacks.
Identify, rossess, convict terrorist.
Help keep the boarders secure.
Argues to address the root causes of terrorism
offences for collecting or giving funds, in order to carry out terrorism
information of national interest to be suppressed during judicial
proceedings
Arrest of people on the grounds of reasonable suspicion to prevent a
terrorist activity (Daniels, 2001: 4).
Definition of “terrorist activity”
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An act or omission in or outside of Canada
Committed in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose,
objective or cause, and
With the intention of intimidating the public, … with regard to its security … and
Intended to cause harm such as death or seriously bodily harm …
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Definition was challenged. With respects to section 2 of the charter of rights and
freedoms.
Concern that definition could have negative impact on society,
Impacts that it will have with profiling. It is found to not go against the charter of
rights and freedoms
Immigration and Refugee Protection act

Focus on “foreign national”
o Expedites removal of people deemed as security threats
o Harsher penalties for migrant smuggling
o Expanded inadmissibility categories on the basis of security e.g. s.34 (d)
Being a danger to the security of Canada.
Public Safety Act
o
o
Amends 18 federal laws
E.g. airlines can be compelled, without warrant, to disclose personal
information about passengers to police for anti-terrorism purposes
(Aeronautics Act)
Combatting Terrorism Act
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Investigative Hearings reinstated – individuals can be required to appear at a
secret meeting, if polic3 think that they know anything about terrorism
Preventative detentions reinstated– individuals can be held for 3 days – and they
may have to have conditions like parole
Are significantly different than the due process that we are used to. Move away
from a very well established theory.
Offences for foreign travel with intent to commit terrorism
Facilitating terrorism in another country
Quis cusotdiet ipsos custodes?”

Who will guard the guards?
Theory- Left realism
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similar to those who engage in street crimes,
Many terrorists are socially or economically disenfranchised young men who
become involved in terrorism through connections with similarly situated
members of the fringe population, and “get tough” policies on terrorism will
backfire (Gibbs, 2010:172).
What comes with terrorist is strain.
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
The language they use that is like strain, relative deprivation; being frustrated
that they can see others that have the means, both in terms of structural
opportunities and power to make change.
 Square of crime
 More new right kinds of measures will actually fail
– WILL MAKE THINGS WORSE.
 Informal that may work on people is not working.
 Social control theorist – we need to be involved
in our communities, those more informal control things
help to keep us in line.
 The victim is part of the explanation.
Left Realism and Terrorism
1. People are recruited into terrorist organizations because of relative deprivation
2. Terrorist organizations are subcultures that provide peer support
3. Victims/ targets are selected based on opportunity/ routine activities
4. “Get tough” policies that create a police state may backfire
Theory – Critical Criminology
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Terrorism is most UNLIKELY when two groups or societies have relatively equal
levels of power and prestige (Boyns and Ballard, 2004:22).
Political and economic inequalities are identified as the root causes of
“collective violence”. Terrorism can be seen as the culmination of a conflict
process escalated to an extreme.
If you have got unequal power, you will probably have resistance to that power.
THERE IS TENSION THERE IS CONFLICT THERE IS VIOLENCE.
Strain/Anomie

Adherence to extremist beliefs can be conceptualized as a particular
adaptation to anomie or normlessness. In the rebellion adaptation, cultural goals
and means are rejected, but new ones are substituted. Rebels attempt to alter
society and create a new world with new goals and means (Riedel and Welsh,
2011).
Social control and strain
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
Low social controls can contribute to strain. Government control over extremist
groups is weak. Corruption, poverty, a lack of civic institutions and social services,
and the perception of legal systems that are biased and brutal … (Riedel and
Welsh, 2011).
GREATER INFORCEMENT IS REQUIRED!
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Social learning theory
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Terrorist acts are acquired, reinforced, and maintained through interactions with
significant others, especially one’s primary group, but also through secondary
agents of socialization (e.g. social, religious, and political organizations). Through
interactions, one may learn attitudes, beliefs, rationalizations, justifications that
favor terrorism.
Interaction with others,
Receiving messages- it’s those messages coming from primary sources, and
secondary sources
Through those interactions that make you feel rationalized.
Textbook Notes
Corporate Crime
White- collar crime

Illegal activities of people within institutions whose purpose is personal profit &
gain through legitimate business transactions (Siegel & McCormick, 2003:333).
1. Stings & swindles – stealing through deception
 Trying to get your money by deceiving you
2. Chiselling - cheating an organization or its consumers regularly
 Ex. Getting charged for bogus repairs.
3. Individual Exploitation of Institutional Position – using your power to take
advantage of others
4. Influence Peddling and Bribing – individuals sell their power, influence and
information to outsiders
5. Embezzlement & Employee Fraud use positions to embezzle company
funds or property for themselves.
6. Client Frauds – theft by a client from an organization that advances credit to its
clients
7. 7. Corporate Crime - corporate representatives willfully violate the laws that
restrain these institutions from doing social harm
Corporate crime

Socially injurious acts committed by companies to further their business interests:
o General public
o Environment
o Company’s workers
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Examples of corporate crime
o
o
o
o
General public (consumers target of corporate crime:
 Nestle in 1970’s -Selling baby formula to 3rd world countries.
 Dalkon Shield in 1980’s -Birth control. Tons of examples of infections
and deaths. Sent them to 3rd world countries.
 Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Company – rejecting safety designs
costing between $1.80 and $15.30 per Pinto
 Car had major problems. They made a decision to continue
to sell it.
 Civil suits estimated at $49.5 million total and safety features
would cost $137 million per year.
The way that consumers are impacted.
Environment as target of corporate crime:
 Pollution, toxic waste
 Bhopal leak at Union Carbide factory in India, 1984 3,800
people die and approx. 60,000 injurey
 Exxon Valdez Disaster, 1989- ran aground on a reef off the
coast of Alaska, dumping 11 million gallons of crude oil and
fouling 700 miles of shoreline
 Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., 1999 has pleaded guilty to
dumping oil and hazardous chemicals in U.S. waters off
Florida and then lying about it to the Coast Guard.
Employees as targets of corporate crime:
 Unsafe working conditions
Corporate crime disappears
1. through decriminalization (the repeal of criminal law),
2. through deregulation (the repeal of all state law, criminal, civil and
administrative) and
3. Through downsizing (the destruction of the state’s enforcement capability)
(Snider, 2000).
Theories
Social Conflict Emphasis

Critical Theory (Marxist, Feminist, Environmental Criminology)
o Concerned with issues of oppression and injustice which stem from
structural inequalities in resource allocation and decision making power.
o Structure of capitalism creates opportunities for crimes of the powerful.
o law enforcement and criminalization may have limited value since state
has an active interest in maintaining good relations with the monopoly
capitalists
Social structure Emphasis
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Strain Theories
Institutional anomie theory (Messner and Rosenfeld, 1997)
o Combination of strong pressures to succeed monetarily and weak
restraints on the means encourages people to use illegal means to
achieve culturally approved goals.
Control and Differential Opportunity Theories
o Combination of low self-control and presented with an opportunity to
engage in criminal activity (Hirschi and Gottfredson)
Social Process Emphasis

Differential Association (Edwin Sutherland)
o Corporate leaders commit crimes as a result of learning from others both
techniques and rationalizations.
o Corporations create pressures on executives and managers to “cut
corners”, to achieve organizational goals for which they will be rewarded.
Policing
Crime justice systems’ response to crime
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“Regulation” of criminal justice process
o Policing
o Courts, Corrections
We see some of that balance
Question for Canadian criminal justice
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Q. How to ensure public safety while guaranteeing justice in a free society?
A. Balancing INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS vs. PUBLIC ORDER
Crime control through Due Process
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It is this model of law enforcement, infused with the recognition of individual
rights which provides a workable conceptual framework for understanding the
Canadian system of criminal justice system (Schmallenger, et al. 2004).
Canadian criminal law procedure
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Takes into account 3 interrelated concerns:
o Pursuit of truth
o Respect for human dignity (protection of society & preservation of peace)
o Protection against the risk of convicting innocent persons (Law Reform
Commission of Canada, 1988)
Substantive and Procedural
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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How does the law accomplish the task of protecting society and preserving the
peace?
o Substantively through the creation of prohibitions & penalties
o Procedurally through the regulation of the processing of suspects, trial,
sentencing or appeal of accused persons
Public order advocates
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Crime control model of justice
o values the efficient arrest and conviction of criminal offenders
o THE PURSUIT OF TRUTH
IND rights advocates
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Due process model
o Careful and informed consideration of the facts of each individual case.
o Police required to recognize the rights of suspects during arrest,
questioning, and handling.
o expansion of legal rights
o secure the rights and freedoms for each of its citizens – including the
criminally accused
o Sometimes necessary to sacrifice some degree of public safety and
predictability in order to guarantee basic freedoms.
o Limits police powers and holds justice agencies accountable to the
highest evidentiary standards.
o LEGAL RIGHTS – POLICE POWERS ARE LIMITED
Charter of rights and freedoms
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Legal Rights (s. 7-14)
o s. 7 Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the
right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles
of fundamental justice.
o The challenges the Supreme Court is looking at.
o The sex workers are saying that some sections of the criminal code made
it impossible for them to do business.
o SUBSTANTIVE LEGAL RIGHT
Search and seizure
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Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.
o Not to have our privacy invaded by police or other government searches,
but only where our expectation of privacy is a reasonable one (Stuart in
Schmallenger et al. 2004:190).
The police are regulated seizurly.
o They need to preform searches in a seizurly way to insure it doesn’t affect
our rights
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Racism in the justice system
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Policing
o Entry point into system
o Enormous power/discretion
o Products of their own social location
Police are important segment of the CJS, because they are the first entry point.
Changes in the law that the discretion is not as great.
Shouldn’t be surprised there is racism in the CJS, because they're all folks that
have been socialized just like us. It shouldn’t surprise us that this is an issue that we
need to assume.
Ottawa’s biggest racial profiling study to date in Canada
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Profiling problem for pedestrians & everyday life
Timeframe of project – should be ongoing
Doesn’t’t address racism
Hire/recruit/train police
Learned behavior 17:09/18:12 carded/22:00
There has been great debate to collect race base statistics.
Ottawa has decided a way to better to identify racial profiling is to keep race
based statistics.
They have a project called “traffic stop race data collection project”
Racial profiling
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“any action undertaken for reasons of safety, security or public protection that
relies on stereotypes about race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, or place of
origin rather than on reasonable suspicion, to single out an individual for greater
scrutiny or different treatment” (Ontario Human Rights Commission, 1995).
Racialization
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Consists of the classification of people into groups by reference to their skin color
or physical features and the process of stereotyping that emerges as a result of
this classification system” (Miles 1989) (Wortley & Owusu-Bempah, 2011:402).
Fit theoretically: it argues that this is a process.
Racialization happens in a way that it is dependent on the day and place and
our assumptions of the world.
We make decisions of how we are going to treat or act towards people based
on assumptions.
Over-policing
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“Mistreatment of minorities by the police either by excessive use of force towards
minorities or discriminatory practices against them that include excessive routine
of ‘stop and search’ and disproportionate arrest rates” (Ben-Porat, 2008:415).
Attending too specifically to populations based on race.
Black males are experiencing over policing.
Under- policing
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“Under-policing is largely about police neglect of minorities and their needs.
Thus, complaints of racial harassment and attacks against minorities by racist
groups can be ignored or not taken seriously” (Ben-Porat, 2008:415).
As racially based.
Ignoring certain population based on race.
The lack of attention that the missing aboriginal women have received. (IN BC)
Commissions, reports and research
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Research that has given us information about racism in the CJS.
Ones she highlighted:
o 1995 report on the commission on systematic racism in the Ontario
criminal justice system
o 2003 Ontario human rights commission – aboriginal experiences of racial
profiling.
o Kingston police study (2005) – in Kingston black residence were stopped
1/3 more times than whites
Secret policeman documentary
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Racism that happens within police.
Research done in the UK.
Reporter goes undercover and becomes a police officer
To see racism WITHIN POLICE SERVICES
After his first:
2nd research to see if things have changed
TAVIS
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Toronto anti-violence intervention strategy
o Goal: to make life better for families, by making it safe.
o Fights guns and gangs
Racism in the justice system
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Courts
o Bail and bail conditions
 Whites less likely detained before trial
 African Canadians denied bail more often
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Convictions
 Visible minority offenders are incarcerated more often for drugrelated offences than Caucasian offenders
 Conviction rate higher for non-white accused
Corrections
o Harsher and longer sentences for visible minority offenders
o
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Debate on crime stats by race
In favour
 Those who want to “prove” that
particular groups have a greater
propensity to criminality.
 Those who want to demonstrate
systemic bias, and show the need
for reform of the system.
 Increase system accountability
Oppose
 Data may not be used to benefit
minority groups
 We know discrimination exists, let’s
do something about it.
 Data collection questions i.e.
construction of racial categories
Corrections
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Aboriginal People in Federal Custody
o Aboriginal people represented 22% of federally-sentenced offenders
representing 3% of the Canadian adult population (CSC, 2009).
MOTO
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“It is better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent man be convicted”
Wrongfully convicted
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1971 Donald Marshall
1971 David Milgaard
1992 Guy Paul Morin
1959 Steven Truscott
Shifts in punishment and correction
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1848 Royal Commission of Inquiry (Brown)
o Investigated charges of corruption
o Condemned use of corporal punishment
o Crime prevention & rehabilitation
Debate whether men come to prison as punishment or for punishment vs. the
argument that jails should be punishment.
o Taking them away is not enough
1956 report (Fauteux) recommended treatment model, expand probation,
professional staff
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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1969’s report (Ouimet) discarding of medical model, expansion of community
based facilities & programs
1977 report (MacGuigan) improving life inside for inmates and staff
1990 Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women (Creating Choices)
o P4W closed, small regional facilities created
o Gender specific needs/issues
Creating choices- female offenders
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Principles:
o Empowerment
o Meaningful & responsible choices
o Respect & dignity
o Supportive environment
o Shared responsibility
Canadian Corrections
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1990s – 2006
o Split between federal & provincial model of correctional practice
Federal level – proactive intervention & involvement of social and justice
agencies responding to crime
Provincial level – punishment-oriented American approach (Griffiths, 2004)
Ontario = punishment oriented model
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“super jails” to replace 31 facilities
Performance standards i.e. # of escapes, suicides, disturbances
Zero tolerance for inmate acts of violence
Tighter regulations re: parole/release
Prisoner Work Program (orange coveralls)
Offenders earn privilege of early release
Strict discipline facilities for youth/community corrections (Griffiths, 2004).
Purpose of sentencing
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718. The fundamental purpose of sentencing is to contribute, along with crime
prevention initiatives, to respect for the law and the maintenance of a just,
peaceful and safe society by imposing just sanctions that have one or more of
the following objectives:
o (a) to denounce unlawful conduct; sounds like consensus model – idea to
collectively decide that there are things that are wrong/right
o (b) to deter the offender and other persons from committing offences;
send messages to everyone as part of specific and general deterrence
o (c) to separate offenders from society, where necessary; incapacitation
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o
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(d) to assist in rehabilitating offenders; assumes: that we can address what
has brought them there- worth us sending time to rehabilitate you so you
can go back out
(e) to provide reparations for harm done to victims or to the community;
and restorative justice
(f) To promote a sense of responsibility in offenders, and acknowledgment
of the harm done to victims and to the community. It was your choice so
you can be held responsible. & the idea to acknowledge the harm that
has been done to the individual and the community – restorative justice
Sentencing objectives
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Denunciation
Deterrence
Incapacitation
Rehabilitation
Reparation
Responsibility
Sentencing options
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Absolute discharge – guilty not convicted
Conditional discharge – released but comply
Fine - $
Suspended sentence – suspended pending successful completion of probation
Intermittent sentence - <90 days i.e. on weekends
Probation – supervision in community & conditions
Conditional sentence – confinement served in community under supervision
Imprisonment – period of confinement
Argument
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“[M]en come to prison as a punishment, not for punishment”
Vs.
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“Jails should be punishment … Just taking away a prisoner’s liberty is not enough;
convicts must also be subjected to a harsher environment
Community corrections
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20th C probation & parole cornerstones of “community corrections”
o Supervision
o Programming
o Community involvement
Restorative Justice
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SOC 1500 Exam Review Fall 2013
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"Restorative Justice approaches crime as an injury or wrong done to another
person rather than solely a matter of breaking the law or offending the state"
Privatization of Prisons
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What do you hear in “Corporate Lockdown” about the:
o Advantages of privatization
o Disadvantages of privatization
R. vs. Gladue decision
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The Gladue decision, which is based on section 718.2 of the Criminal Code of
Canada, is a cornerstone for building Restorative Justice Practices in Canada,
and opens the door for the creation of alternative sentencing.
s. 718.2 (e)
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When imposing a sentence, Section 718.2 of the Criminal Code of Canada
requires a court to consider the following principle:
o “e) That all available sanctions other than imprisonment that are
reasonable in the circumstances, should be considered for all offenders,
with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders”.
 What frames a restorative justice response?
Corrections and conditional release act (CCRA)
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(3) … contribute to the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society by:
o carrying out sentences imposed by the courts through the safe and
humane custody and supervision of offenders; and
o Assisting the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the
community as law-abiding citizens through the provision of programs in
penitentiaries and in the community.
Federal legislation – corrections
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Current examples of federal legislation which reflects philosophy & impacts
corrections/prisons
Tackling violent crime, 2008
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Indeterminate Dangerous Offender sentence (3 or more convictions violent/sex
offences)
Tougher mandatory prison sentences for serious gun crimes;
Bail reverse onus accused of serious gun crimes show why they should be
released while awaiting trial
Safe streets and communities act, March 13th 2012
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establish new mandatory minimum penalties for offences related to child
exploitation
provide mandatory minimum penalties for serious drug offences
highlight the protection of society as a fundamental principle of the Youth
Criminal Justice Act;
deter terrorism and demonstrate Canada’s leadership against supporters of
terrorism around the world;
increase offender accountability and support victims of crime;
Not criminally responsible reform act
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2013 explicitly make public safety the paramount consideration in the court and
the Review Board decision-making process relating to accused persons found to
be NCR or unfit to stand trial.
NCR accused held in custody & not considered for release until designation
revoked by a court.
Textbook Notes
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