Criminology in Canada Theories, Patterns, Theologys 7th Edition PDF

Crime and Criminology Learning Objectives (rs After reading this chapter, you will be able to: ee 1. Understand the scope of the field...

Crime and Criminology Learning Objectives (rs After reading this chapter, you will be able to: ee 1. Understand the scope of the field of criminology. PRESS/Paul CANADIAN THE Daly 2. Be familiar with different parts of the “criminological enterprise.” 3. Know the elements of what constitutes a crime. Os 4. Discuss the different views of crime. 5. Explain different methods and their use. Chapter Outline SL Ne 4 = What Is Criminology? 4 ay S A Brief History of Criminology 7 What Criminologists Do: The Criminological Enterprise 12 How Do Criminologists View Crime? 15 Doing Criminology 19 Ethical Issues in Criminology 23 Summary 25 Muskrat Falls, Newfoundland, erupted in protests due to the lack of consultation with Indigenous groups. An extension of the Churchill Falls hydroelectric project, traditional hunting grounds were being flooded, and protestors and journalists trying to cover the protests were arrested. NEL What people know about crime and criminal justice generally Details of Homolka’s trial were subject to a publication comes from media coverage of highly publicized cases (such ban in efforts to ensure a fair trial for Bernardo; however, as those discussed in the Profile of a Crime feature later). this ban didn’t prevent the public from learning details For example, in 2018, Bruce MacArthur was charged with of the case. The Washington Post published a story, which numerous counts of first-degree murder in connection with Canadians could read in public libraries; The Buffalo News disappearances in Toronto's Gay Village. Targeting predomi- printed an article, and Canadians drove across the border nantly men of colour, he apparently dismembered his victims to buy the newspaper. Details of the crimes were posted on and buried them in planters where he worked as a gardener. the Internet faster than news lists and discussion groups The media portrayed him as Toronto’s Pickton, a reference could be shut down. Were the media sensationalizing the to the serial killer who worked in Vancouver’s Downtown case, or were they simply responding to the public’s need Eastside in the 1980s. to know? In 2010, David Russell Williams was relieved as base And in a last, more recent example, Robert Pickton was commander at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Trenton and found guilty in December 2007 of six counts of second- charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts degree murder for the deaths of women who disappeared each of forcible confinement, breaking and entering, and from Vancouvers Downtown Eastside. In stories of the sexual assault. He was subsequently sentenced to two life investigation, the public read about body parts discovered sentences for first-degree murder, two 10-year sentences in buckets and freezers on Pickton’s pig farm. He was each for sexual assault and forcible confinement, and 82 charged in 20 other deaths, but in 2010, it was announced one-year sentences for burglary. He will serve a minimum that the prosecution of those charges would likely not be of 25 years before parole eligibility and is not eligible for pursued. early parole under the so-called faint hope clause of the Criminal Code of Canada (CCC). A successful soldier and military commander, Williams was also a decorated mili- CONNECTIONS tary pilot who had flown Canadian Forces VIP aircraft for For more examples of serial killers, see “Profile of a Crime” such dignitaries as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, later in this chapter. the governor general, and the prime minister. And yet what we saw of him in the news was the endless parade of pic- tures he took of himself posing in trophy underwear and Such cases illustrate how criminal acts can be the work the recitation of details of his sordid crimes. He became a of strangers who prey on people they have never met, or celebrity criminal. how they can involve friends and family members in intimate Similarly, in 2003, a high-profile trial brought Maurice violence. What compels a couple like Paul Bernardo and “Mom” Boucher, leader of the notorious Nomads chapter Karla Homolka to kidnap, sexually assault, and murder? They of the Hells Angels, into the public spotlight. In a police came from a community with tree-shaded parks, nice homes, raid called Operation Hurricane, assets worth a total of and sports fields. They were seen as a young couple with $29 million were seized, including houses, bank accounts, a bright future. Could such outrageous behaviour be better narcotics, 28 vehicles, and 70 firearms, including a rocket understood if the crimes had been committed by teens who launcher. Members of the Hells Angels faced charges of com- were the product of bad neighbourhoods and dysfunctional plicity to commit murder, gangsterism, and drug trafficking; homes? Research indicates that habitually aggressive behaviour after a lengthy trial involving more than 200 witnesses, they is often learned in homes where children are victimized and all pleaded guilty. Boucher had encouraged the murder of parents serve as aggressive role models—the learned violence rival bikers as the Hells Angels sought to expand their ter- then persists into adulthood.! Could someone who was ritory. He also ordered the murder of two prison guards in considered normal ever commit such horrible crimes? Does an attempt to destabilize the criminal justice system and their conviction and imprisonment deter others? Is it possible increase fear. For that order, he was convicted of murder and to deter the Picktons of our society who prey on vulnerable received two life sentences. victims? Do the media have any responsibility in reporting Such cases illustrate why crime and criminal behaviour such horrific crimes? have long fascinated people. In a more typical example, in the mid-1990s, Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo were con- victed of murdering 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy and 15-year- ; criminal justice system The stages through which old Kristen French. In a controversial plea bargain, Homolka the offender passes, including police, courts, and cooperated with the prosecution and testified against corrections. Bernardo. She was sentenced to 12 years in jail and was released on parole in 2005 amid great controversy. Bernardo intimate violence Crime that occurs in the context received a life sentence for the two murders and was declared of familiarity, such as spousal abuse, child abuse, or a dangerous offender for a string of rapes. elder abuse. NEL CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology  residents believed lenient judges were allowing gun crime to flourish in Canada’s cities—and it didn’t help that one of the suspects charged in the Boxing Day gunfight was out on parole at the time of the incident.* CONNECTIONS Experts have suggested a variety of explanations for bizarre violent episodes, such as serial homicide. Psychologists link violent behaviour to a number of psy- chological influences, including observational learning from violent TV shows, traumatic childhood experiences, mental illness, impaired cognitive processes, and a psy- Getty © Images chopathic personality structure. Chapter 6 reviews the Robert Pickton was found guilty in December 2007 of six counts of most prominent of these explanations of violence. second-degree murder in the deaths of women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Crime stories such as these take their toll on the public. Concern about crime and the need to develop effective When Paul Bernardo was on trial for his crimes, about one- measures to control criminal behaviour has spurred the third of the Canadian population said they did not feel development of the study of criminology. This academic safe walking alone in their own neighbourhood at night. discipline is devoted to the study of crime patterns This fear was more likely to be expressed by women than and trends, and the development of valid and reliable by men and was out of proportion to the actual risk of information regarding the causes of crime. Criminologists victimization. Although many Canadians thought crime use scientific methods to study the nature, extent, cause, and had increased, overall rates of victimization had remained control of criminal behaviour. Unlike media commentators, the same. Canadians were no more likely to be victims whose opinions about crime can be coloured by personal of assault, theft (either of personal or of household experiences, biases, and values, criminologists attempt to property), vandalism, or break and enter than they had bring objectivity and scientific methods to the study of crime been previously. and its consequences. Because of the threat of crime and the The public fear of crime is an important barometer of social problems it represents, the field of criminology has social health and how people feel about their communities. gained prominence as an academic area of study. The public overestimation of the likelihood of crime in their This chapter introduces criminology: how it is defined, its own neighbourhoods, despite contradictory evidence from goals, and its history. It also addresses such questions as the their own experience, points to the influence of other factors following: How do criminologists define crime? How do they on the publics knowledge of crime. People do not rely on their conduct research? What ethical issues face those wanting to experience when assessing the likelihood of being a victim conduct criminological research? of crime, but rather draw from such sources as the media. For example, even though victimization surveys often show only slight variations in personal victimization from year to year, many people often believe crime has increased in their WHAT IS CRIMINOLOGY? neighbourhood. And in an age when terrorism and aggressive anti-public acts surface, the level of public anxiety increases. Third-hand knowledge of crime has long-term effects, Criminology is the scientific approach to the study of criminal creating fear, a negative view of the police and the courts, behaviour. In their classic definition, criminologists Edwin and an attitude favouring harsher punishments for offenders. Sutherland and Donald Cressey state: The fear of crime skews the larger social agenda, resulting Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding in people being more in favour of investing resources into crime as a social phenomenon. It includes within its reducing crime than into reducing poverty. In 2005, following scope the processes of making laws, of breaking laws, the Boxing Day shooting on Toronto’s Yonge Street that killed 15-year-old Jane Creba, 87 percent of residents said criminology The scientific study of the nature, they believed that Toronto was becoming more violent, and extent, cause, and control of criminal behaviour. 64 percent of residents said they would rather see an increase in policing and stricter penalties for crime than money spent criminologist An academic who brings objectivity on social programs. Furthermore, 76 percent of Toronto and method to the study of crime and its consequences. 4 SECTION 1 | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY NEL  and of reacting toward the breaking of laws....The Criminology and Deviance objective of criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principles and of other types Criminology is also sometimes confused with the study of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime, and of deviant behaviour. However, deviance is more widely treatment.? defined as behaviour that departs from social norms and is not always subject to formal sanction. Included within the Sutherland and Cressey’s definition includes the most broad spectrum of deviant acts is sunbathing in the nude, or important areas of interest to criminologists: the development joining a nudist colony. of criminal law and its use to define crime, the cause of Crime and deviance are often confused, yet not all crimes law violations, and the methods used to control criminal are deviant or unusual acts, and not all deviant acts are illegal behaviour. Also important is the use of the scientific method or criminal. For example, using recreational drugs, such as in criminology. Criminologists use objective research methods marijuana, may be illegal, but is it deviant? Most Canadians to pose research questions (hypotheses), gather data, create surveyed think that soft drugs should be allowed for indi- theories, and test the validity of theories. They use every vidual use, and support for decriminalizing marijuana is method of established social science inquiry: analysis of high. In 2010, 40,000 demonstrators rallied at the Ontario existing records, experimental designs, surveys, historical Legislative Assembly as part of the Million Marijuana March, analysis, and content analysis. a worldwide event held annually in over 200 cities to demand An essential part of criminology is its nature as a the full legalization of marijuana. In 2012, four British multidisciplinary science. Few universities in Canada grant Columbia attorneys general called for the legalization of can- graduate degrees in criminology, but criminologists are also nabis, arguing that the (then) 89-year-old law had failed, and drawn from such disciplines as sociology, criminal justice, it now looks like the protestors will have their way. political science, psychology, history, geography, economics, Conversely, many deviant acts are not criminal even and the natural sciences. Today, criminology’ orientation is though they may be shocking. For example, suppose that a truly multidisciplinary—an integrated approach to the study passerby observes a person drowning and makes no effort to of criminal behaviour. Criminology combines elements from save that victim. Although the general public would probably many other fields to understand the connections among law, condemn such lack of action as callous and immoral, citizens crime, and justice. are not required by law to be good Samaritans. In sum, many criminal acts, but not all, fall within the concept of deviance. Similarly, some deviant acts, but not all, are considered crimes. Criminology and Criminal Justice The relationship between crime and deviance is illustrated In the late 1960s, research projects were developed to in Figure 1.1, “Hagan’s Varieties of Deviance.” This model understand the way police, courts, and correctional depicts the relationship between crime and deviance along three agencies operated.* These academic programs, devoted to dimensions: the evaluation of social harm, the level of agree- studying the criminal justice system, are concentrated in five ment about the norm, and the severity of societal response. As it university departments of criminology in Canada: Simon shows, the most serious acts of deviance are also the least likely Fraser University, the University of Ottawa, the University to occur; however, strong agreement exists over the harmful- of Montreal, the University of Toronto, and St. Thomas ness of those acts and the need for a serious societal response.? University. Students can also pursue this field in many Two issues are of particular interest to criminologists: community college programs and institutes for the study (1) How do deviant behaviours become crimes? (2) When of criminal justice. The criminal justice studies program should acts considered crimes be legalized? The first issue at Oshawa’s University of Ontario's Institute of Technology involves the historical development of law. Many acts that are is an example of such new developments in criminology legally forbidden today were once considered merely unusual studies. or deviant behaviour. For example, the sale and possession Although the terms criminology and criminal justice may of marijuana was legal in Canada until 1923, when it was seem similar, they have major differences. Criminologists prohibited under federal law.° Despite being criminalized, explain the etiology (origin), extent, and nature of crime in however, marijuana still enjoys widespread popularity: Health society, whereas criminal justice scholars describe and analyze Canada estimates that 60 percent of Canadians between the the work of the police, courts, and correctional facilities, and ages of 20 and 44 have used marijuana, and the Canadian how to better design effective methods of crime control. Addiction Survey reported that 70 percent of those aged 18 to Because both fields are crime related, they do overlap. 24 report using the substance.’ Criminologists must be aware of how the agencies ofjus- tice operate, and criminal justice experts design programs — of crime prevention or rehabilitation through their under- standing of the nature of crime. Thus, these two fields deviant behaviour Behaviour that departs from or not only coexist, but also help each other to grow and does not conform to social norms, but is not defined as develop. a crime by the law. NEL CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology  @ FIGURE 1.1 Hagan’s Varieties of Deviance SEVERITY OF SOCIETAL RESPONSE Source: The Varieties of Deviance, from Hagan, John. The Disreputable Pleasures: Crime and Deviance in Canada, 3rd ed. © 1991. Toronto; McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., p. 13. Reproduced with permission of John Hagan. If marijuana use is widespread, criminologists will con- the Supreme Court of Canada, which ruled that John Robin sider whether behaviours that were outlawed in the past Sharpe was deprived of his right to freedom of expression when have evolved into social norms and, if so, whether those police seized his pornography because the stories were for his behaviours should either be legalized or have their penalties own personal use. This case is described in more detail in the reduced. This is called decriminalization. following Key Court Cases box, “R. v. Sharpe (2001).” In sum, criminologists are concerned with the concept of deviance and its relationship to criminality. The shifting defi- CONNECTIONS nition of deviant behaviour is closely associated with our con- cepts of crime. The relationship among criminology, criminal Some of the drugs considered highly dangerous today justice, and deviance is illustrated in Figure 1.2. These are were once sold openly and considered medically also summarized in Concept Summary 1.1. beneficial. For example, the narcotic drug heroin, now considered extremely addictive, was originally @ FIGURE 1.2 named in the mistaken belief that its painkilling The Relationship among properties would prove heroic to medical patients. The Criminology, Criminal historyof drug and alcohol use is discussed further in Justice, and Chapter 13. Deviance contro penology Crime On the other hand, however, the line between behaviour that is considered deviant and behaviour that is outlawed can become quite controversial. For example, when does sexually expressive material cross the line from being merely sugges- tive to being pornographic? Can a line be drawn that separates sexually oriented materials into two groups, one that is legally acceptable and a second that is considered depraved or obscene? And, if such a line can be drawn, who gets to draw it? Ina very controversial case, a British Columbia man was charged with the possession of violent, pornographic stories involving chil- EE ee dren. He argued that the law violated his freedom of expression, decriminalization Reducing the penalty for a and he was acquitted. On appeal, the case eventually went to criminal act, and its illegality. 6 SECTION 1 | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY NEL  R. v. Sharpe (2001) Parliament took less than six weeks to enact After the province’s Court of Appeal forward after police had issued a public appeal child pornography legislation in 1993, yet upheld the ruling, Sharpe’s case was tried to those pictured in the seized photographs. section 163.1 of the Criminal Code of Canada before the Supreme Court of Canada, which In July 2004, at the age of 71, Sharpe was has been a source of relentless debate ever had to decide whether child pornography handed a prison sentence of two years less a since. Though not the first case of its kind, laws violated the freedom of expression day. Controversy regarding the Supreme Court the Sharpe case is noteworthy because it guarantee in section 2 of the Charter of Rights ruling prompted the Liberal government to challenged the federal law against producing, and Freedoms. In 2001, the Court attempted introduce legislation in December 2002 that dealing, and possessing child pornography. to strike a balance between the need to would tighten the definition of artistic merit by John Robin Sharpe was arrested at the protect children from sexual exploitation and introducing a standard of “contribution to the Canada-U.S. border in 1995 after customs the need to protect fundamental rights and public good.” However, the bill died on the officers found in his possession nude photos freedoms. Although section 163.1 of the ledger when the 2004 election was called. of underage boys and sexually explicit Criminal Code was declared constitutional, written material on several computer disks. Critical Thinking exceptions were outlined in certain cases: Police later executed a search warrant at his for materials that have artistic, educational, Does artistic merit override the need to Vancouver home. Among the materials seized or scientific merit and for purely personal protect children from exploitation? And is were more than 500 photos of 91 different materials that do not involve children in this case in any way about homosexuality, boys engaged in sexual activity and a their production. Sharpe’s case was retried, or would heterosexual images be treated in collection of personal stories entitled Kiddie and he was found not guilty in relation to the same way? Kink Classics. Sharpe was charged with two distribution but convicted on possession, and SOURCES: Various media sources, 2002-2004; counts each of possessing and distributing received a four-month conditional sentence. Robert Sharpe, Katherine Swinton, and Kent child pornography, but he was acquitted by Sharpe was arrested again in 2003 for Roach, The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the British Columbia Supreme Court in 1999. indecent assault against a man who came 2nd ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law Inc., 2002). CONCEPT SUMMARY 1.1 accurate criminal statistics and data to test the effectiveness of Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Deviance crime control and prevention programs. Criminology explains the etiology (origin), extent, and nature of Deviance refers to the study of behaviour that departs from social crime in society. Criminologists are concerned with identifying the norms. Included within the broad spectrum of deviant acts are nature, extent, and cause of crime. behaviours ranging from violent crimes to joining a nudist colony. Not all crimes are deviant or unusual acts, and not all deviant acts are illegal. Criminal justice refers to the study of agencies of social control that handle criminal offenders, specifically the police departments, Overlapping areas of concern: Under what circumstances do deviant behaviours become crimes? For example, when does sexual courts, and correctional facilities. Scholars seek more effective material cross the line from merely suggestive to obscene and methods of crime control and offender rehabilitation. therefore illegal? Or, if an illegal act becomes a norm, should society Overlapping areas of concern: Criminal justice experts cannot begin re-evaluate its criminal status? For example, debate continues to design effective programs of crime prevention or rehabilitation regarding the legalization and/or decriminalization of abortion, without understanding the nature and cause of crime. They require recreational drug use, possession of handguns, and assisted suicide. A BRIEF HISTORY OF crime and setting punishments. What motivated people to violate the law remained a matter of conjecture. CRIMINOLOGY During the Middle Ages, people who violated social norms or religious practices were believed to be witches or possessed by demons. The prescribed method for dealing The scientific study of crime and criminality is a relatively with the possessed was to burn them at the stake, a practice recent development. Although written criminal codes have that survived into the 17th century. For example, between existed for thousands of years, they were restricted to defining 1575 and 1590, the French Inquisition ordered 900 sorcerers NEL CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology  Beccaria believed that people want to achieve pleasure and avoid pain. If crime provides pleasure to the criminal, pain must be used to prevent crime. Beccaria said that “in order for punishment not to be, in every instance, an act of violence of one or many against a private citizen, it must be essentially public, prompt, necessary, the least possible in the given circumstances, proportionate to the crimes, and dictated by the laws.” This is referred to as classical criminology, characterized by several basic ideas: 1. People will freely choose criminal or lawful solutions to ~~ meet needs or settle problems. 2. Criminal choices may be more attractive because they — use less work for greater payoff. © Picture Agostini De 3. People’s choice of criminal solutions may be controlled Library/Getty During the Middle Ages, the possessed were often burned at the stake, ~ by their fear of punishment. a practice that survived into the 17th century. This painting, The Trial 4. If punishments are severe, certain, and swift, they will of George Jacobs, August 5, 1692, by J.H. Matteson (1855), depicts ~~ control criminal behaviour. the ordeal of the Salem patriarch, Jacobs. During the witch craze, he had ridiculed the trials, only to find himself being accused, tried, and The classical perspective influenced judicial philosophy executed. during much of the late-18th and the 19th centuries. Prisons began to be used as a form of punishment, and sentences and witches burned to death, and the Bishop of the German were geared proportionately to the seriousness of the crime. city of Trier ordered the deaths of 6,500 people. An estimated Capital punishment was still widely used but began to be 100,000 people were prosecuted throughout Europe for employed for only the most serious crimes. The byword was witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries. “Let the punishment fit the crime.” Then during the 19th century, a new vision of the world challenged the validity of classical theory and presented an innovative way of looking at the causes of crime. CONNECTIONS The English common law is the immediate antecedent 19th-Century Positivism of the Canadian legal system, except in Quebec, which Although the classical position held sway as a guide to crime, inherited the Napoleonic Code from France. However, law, and justice for almost 100 years, during the late 19th the influence of some of the earliest written codes, century, a new movement began that would challenge its such as those of Hebrews and Babylonians, can still be dominance. Positivism developed as the scientific method detected. Chapter 2 traces the history of the law in some detail. began to take hold in Europe, inspired by new discoveries in biology, astronomy, and chemistry. If the scientific method could be applied to the study of nature, why not use it to study human behaviour? Auguste Comte (1798-1857) believed societies pass through stages that can be grouped Classical Criminology on the basis of how people understand the world. People in By the mid-18th century, social philosophers had begun to primitive societies consider inanimate objects as having life call for lawmakers to rethink the prevailing concepts of law (for example, the Sun is a god); in later social stages, people and justice. They argued for a more rational approach to embrace a rational, scientific view of the world. punishment, stressing that the relationship between crimes and their punishment should be balanced and fair. This view was based on the philosophy called utilitarianism, which utilitarianism A view that punishment should be emphasized that behaviour is purposeful and not motivated balanced and fair, and that crime is a rational choice. by supernatural forces. Rather than cruel public executions classical criminology The perspective that people designed to frighten people into obedience or to punish those freely choose crime, and that it can be reduced through the law failed to deter, reformers called for a more moderate and just approach to penal sanctions. The most famous of the threat of criminal sanctions. these reformers was Cesare Beccaria (1738-1794), an Italian positivism A branch of social science that aristocrat whose writings described both a motive for com- sees behaviour as a product of social, biological, mitting crime and methods for its control. psychological, and economic forces. 8 SECTION 1 | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY  Positivism has two main elements. The first is the belief that human behaviour is a function of external forces that are beyond individual control. Some of these forces are social, such as the effect of wealth and class, while others are political and historical, such as war and famine. Other forces are more personal and psychological, such as an individual's brain structure and his or her biological makeup or mental ability. All of these forces operate to influence human behaviour. The second aspect of positivism is its use of the scientific method to solve problems. Positivists would agree that an CHORERON. abstract concept, such as intelligence, exists because it can be measured by an IQ test. However, they would challenge such a concept as ghosts because it cannot be verified by the scientific method. The work of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) encouraged the view that all human activity could be verified by scientific principles. Positivist Criminology LAUCERNE. By the mid-19th century, scientific methods were being applied to understanding criminality, the earliest La Phrénologie criminelle. Image © Archives/The Works Image being biological. For example, physiognomists, such as J.K. Lavater (1741-1801), studied the facial features of @ FIGURE 1.3 criminals to determine whether the shape of ears, noses, Early Positivists Believed the Shape of the Skull Was and eyes, and the distance between them were associated a Key Determinant of Behaviour with antisocial behaviour. Phrenologists, such as Franz These drawings from the 19th century illustrate what were considered to be typical criminally shaped heads. Joseph Gall (1758-1828) and Johann Kaspar Spurzheim (1776-1832), studied the shape of the skull and bumps on the head to determine whether these physical attributes Cesare Lombroso and the were linked to criminal behaviour. Phrenologists believed Criminal Man that external cranial characteristics dictate which areas In Italy, Cesare Lombroso studied the cadavers of executed of the brain control physical activity. Though their criminals to scientifically determine whether law violators primitive techniques and quasi-scientific methods have were physically different from people of conventional values been discredited, these efforts were an early attempt and behaviour. Lombroso (1835-1909) was a physician to apply a scientific approach to the study of crime (see who served much of his career in the Italian army. That Figure. 13). experience gave him ample opportunity to study the physical By the early 19th century, abnormality in the human characteristics of soldiers executed for criminal offences. Later, mind was being linked to criminal behaviour patterns. he studied inmates at institutes for the criminally insane. Philippe Pinel (1745-1826), one of the founders of Lombrosian theory can be outlined in a few simple French psychiatry, claimed that some people behave statements. First, Lombroso believed that offenders are abnormally even without being mentally ill. He coined born criminals who engage in repeated assault- or theft- the phrase manie sans délire (mania without delusion) to related activities because they have inherited criminal traits denote what eventually was referred to as a psychopathic that impel them into a life of crime. This view helped spur personality. In 1812, an American, Benjamin Rush (1745— interest in a criminal anthropology.!! Second, Lombroso 1813), described patients with an “innate preternatural held that born criminals suffer from atavistic anomalies moral depravity.”? Another early criminological pioneer, English physician Henry Maudsley (1835-1918), believed that insanity and criminal behaviour were strongly criminal anthropology Early efforts to discover a linked: “Crime is a sort of outlet in which their unsound biological basis to crime through physical measurements, tendencies are discharged; they would go mad if they were usually associated with Cesare Lombroso. not criminals, and they do not go mad because they are criminals.”!° These early research efforts shifted attention atavistic anomalies (or traits) The physical to brain functioning and personality as the keys to criminal characteristics of “born criminals” that indicate they are behaviour. throwbacks to primitive people. NEL CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology  (or traits)—physically: that is, they are throwbacks to more primitive times when people were savages. Thus, criminals CONNECTIONS supposedly have the enormous jaws and strong canine teeth In Chapter 2, the historical development of laws and legal common to carnivores who devour raw flesh. In addition, codes is discussed. In addition, the evolution of certain — Lombroso compared criminals’ behaviour with that of people crimes is discussed, such as breaking frames, which was — with mental illnesses and those who had certain forms of caused by developments such as industrial capitalism. epilepsy. He concluded that criminogenic traits could be acquired through indirect heredity: from a “degenerate family with frequent cases of insanity, deafness, syphilis, epilepsy, and L.A.J. Quetelet Quetelet was a Belgian mathematician who alcoholism among its members.” For Lombroso, this indirect began (along with André-Michel Guerry, from France) what is heredity is the primary cause of crime. Direct heredity—being known as the cartographic school of criminology.'* Quetelet related to a family of criminals—is the second primary cause made use of social statistics developed in France in the early of crime. 19th century, and was one of the first social scientists to use Lombroso$ version of criminal anthropology was very pop- objective mathematical techniques to investigate the influ- ular in North America and Europe, and he attracted a circle of ence of social factors, such as season, climate, sex, and age, followers who expanded on his vision of biological determinism. on the propensity to commit crime. Quetelet’s most impor- By the turn of the 20th century, authors were already discussing tant finding was that social forces were significantly corre- the science of penology and the science of criminology. lated with crime rates, and that the same law-like mechanical regularity observed in the heavens and in nature also existed in the world of social facts.!° Quetelet was a pioneer of socio- CONNECTIONS logical criminology. He identified many of the relationships The theories of criminology that have their roots in between crime and social phenomena that still serve as a basis Lombroso’s biological determinism will be discussed for criminology today. in Chapter 6. Some criminologists believe that crime has both a biological and environmental basis and Emile Durkheim Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) was one use the term biosocial theory to reflect the link among of the founders of sociology and a significant contributor to physical and mental traits, the social environment, and criminology. !* behaviour. According to Durkheim, crime is normal because it has existed in every age, in both poverty and prosperity. It is virtually impossible to imagine a society in which criminal behaviour is totally absent, and people acted The Development of Sociological exactly alike. The inevitability of crime is linked to the Criminology human differences within society. Because people are so different from one another and use such a variety of At the same time that biological views were dominating methods and forms of behaviour to meet their needs, some criminology, another group of positivists were developing will resort to criminality. Even if crimes were eliminated, the field of sociology to scientifically study the major social human weaknesses and petty vices would then be elevated changes taking place in 19th-century society. to the status of crimes. As long as human differences exist, Sociology was an ideal perspective from which to crime is inevitable, serving as a symbolic reminder of moral study society. After thousands of years of stability, the boundaries. world was undergoing a population explosion: The Durkheim also argued that crime could be useful, and population, estimated at 600 million in 1700, had risen even healthy, for a society. The existence of crime implies to 900 million by 1800. People were flocking to cities that a way is open for social change and that the social in ever-increasing numbers. For example, Manchester, structure is not rigid orinflexible. Put another way, if England, had 12,000 inhabitants in 1760 and 400,000 crime did not exist, it would mean that everyone would in 1850. The development of such machinery as power behave the same way and would agree totally on what is looms had doomed cottage industries and given rise to a right and.wrong. Such universal conformity would stifle factory system in which large numbers of people toiled for creativity and independent thinking. Durkheim offered the extremely low wages. The spread of agricultural machines example of the Greek philosopher Socrates, who, simply increased the food supply while reducing the need for a because he questioned the social order, was considered a large rural workforce; the excess labourers further swelled criminal and sentenced to death for corrupting the morals the cities’ populations. of youth. When given the chance to flee to save his life, The foundations of sociological criminology can be traced Socrates refused, saying that doing so would negate his ideal to the works of L.A.J. (Adolphe) Quetelet (1796-1874) and of standing up for what he believed. In addition, Durkheim Emile Durkheim (1858-1917). argued that: crime is beneficial because it calls attention 10 =SECTION1 | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY NEL  to social ills. A rising crime rate can signal the need for social change and promote a variety of programs designed CONNECTIONS to relieve the human suffering that may have caused crime in the first place. The ecological approach of the Chicago School was In The Division of Labor in Society, Durkheim described the applied to the study of crime in cities such as Chicago, consequences of the shift from a small, rural society, which New York, and Montreal. In particular, the Chicago he labelled mechanical, to the more modern organic society, School became known for the concentric zone model of deviance, in which crime is found to be higher in the more - characterized by a large urban population, division of labour, and personal isolation. From this shift flowed anomie, or socially disorganized areas of a city. For a discussion of the norm and role confusion, a powerful sociological concept application of this approach to Montreal, see Chapter 7. that helps describe the chaos and disarray accompanying the loss of traditional values in modern society. Durkheim's research on suicide indicated that anomic societies maintain During the 1930s, social psychologists argued that the high suicide rates; by implication, anomie might cause other individual’ relationship to education, family life, and peer forms of deviance to develop. relations is the key to understanding human behaviour. In any social milieu, children who grow up in a home wracked by conflict, attend an inadequate school, and associate with The Chicago School and the deviant peers become exposed to pro-crime forces. People McGill School learn criminal attitudes from older, more experienced law violators, and crime occurs when families fail to control ado- The primacy of sociological positivism was secured by lescent misbehaviour. research begun in the early 20th century by Robert Ezra By the mid-20th century, most criminologists had Park (1864-1944), Ernest W. Burgess (1886-1966), Louis embraced either the ecological or the socialization view of Wirth (1897-1952), Frederic Thrasher (1892-1962), and crime. However, these were not the only views of how social their colleagues. Known as the Chicago School, these institutions influence human behaviour. In Europe, the writings sociologists pioneered research on the social ecology of of another social thinker, Karl Marx (1818-1883), had pushed the city and inspired a generation of scholars to conclude the understanding of social interaction in another direction and that social forces operating in urban areas create criminal sowed the seeds for a new approach in criminology.!’ interactions, thereby making some neighbourhoods almost natural areas for crime.!? These urban neighbourhoods maintain such a high level of poverty that critical social Conflict Criminology institutions, such as the school and the family, break down. The resulting social disorganization reduces the ability of Oppressive labour conditions prevalent during the rise of social institutions to control behaviour, and the outcome is industrial capitalism convinced Marx that the character of society a high crime rate. is determined by the way people develop and produce material The Chicago School sociologists and their contemporaries goods. The most important relationship is between the owners focused on the functions of social institutions and how their of the means of production—the capitalist bourgeoisie—and breakdown influences behaviour. They pioneered the eco- the people who do the actual labour—the proletariat. The logical study of crime, which involves looking at crime in economic system determines all facets of human life as people’s the context of where a person lives. Important works in the lives revolve around the means of production. Marx felt the Chicago School tradition were The Gang (1927) by Frederic exploitation of the working class led to class conflict. Thrasher, The Ghetto (1928) by Louis Wirth, Gold Coast and SHS Slum (1929) by Harvey Zorbaugh, and The Hobo (1923) by anomie Rapidly shifting moral values produce Nels Anderson, a professor in the sociology department at the normlessness, where the individual has little guide University of New Brunswick. to what is socially acceptable, usually associated with Less well known is the work of Carl Dawson and his Robert Merton. colleagues at McGill University. Dawson, a native of Prince Edward Island and a graduate of Acadia University, studied Chicago School Early 20th-century sociological at the University of Chicago before he went to Montreal to research on the social ecology of the city and the study head McGill’ social work and sociology departments. He and of urban crime. his students studied the processes of industrial development, bourgeoisie In Marxist theory, the owners of the transportation, poverty, ethnicity and immigration, housing, means of production; the capitalist ruling class. juvenile delinquency, and welfare. This work constituted a significant contribution to early sociology and criminology in proletariat In Marxist theory, the working class, who Canada.!© provide the labour in capitalism. | NEL CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology 11  Although Marx did not develop a theory of crime and justice, his writings were applied to legal studies by other CONCEPT SUMMARY 1.2 social thinkers, including Ralf Dahrendorf, George Vold, and Willem Bonger.!® Though these writings laid the foundation The Major Perspectives of Criminology for a Marxist criminology, decades passed before Marxist The focus is on individual factors (biological, psychological, and theory had an important impact on the discipline. The choice theories), social factors (structural and process theories), Vietnam War, the development of an anti-establishment political and economic factors (conflict), and multiple (integrated) counterculture movement in the 1960s, the civil rights factors. Ree eee ee ee ee ee ee ee movement, and the women’s movement were all important CLASSICAL/ CHOICE _ Situational forces: Crime is a function of events challenging the model of social consensus underlying PERSPECTIVE free will and personal choice. Punishment is the functionalism of the Chicago School. Young sociologists a deterrent to crime. who became interested in applying Marxist principles to the BIOLOGICAL/ Internal forces: Crime is a function of study of crime began to analyze the social conditions that PSYCHOLOGICAL chemical, neurological, genetic, personality, were felt to promote class conflict and crime. What emerged PERSPECTIVE intelligence, or mental traits. was the conflict-oriented radical criminology of the 1970s that STRUCTURAL Ecological forces: Crime rates are a indicted the economic system for producing the conditions PERSPECTIVE function of neighbourhood conditions, that support a high crime rate. The radical tradition has cultural forces, and norm conflict. played a significant role in criminology ever since. PROCESS Socialization forces: Crime is a function of PERSPECTIVE upbringing, learning, and control. Peers, parents, and teachers influence behaviour. Criminology Today CONFLICT Economic and political forces: Crime PERSPECTIVE is a function of competition for limited The various schools of criminology developed over 200 years. resources and power. Class conflict Although they have undergone great change and innovation, produces crime. each continues to have an impact on the field. For example, INTEGRATED Multiple forces: Biological, social- classical theory has evolved into rational choice and deter- PERSPECTIVE psychological, economic, and political rence theories, discussed in Chapter 5. Choice theorists argue forces may combine to produce crime. that criminals are rational and use available information to decide whether crime is worthwhile, while deterrence theory says this choice is structured by the fear of punishment. inherently unfair economic structure of advanced capitalist Criminal anthropology has also evolved considerably, as countries is the engine that drives the high crime rate. This seen in Chapter 6. Although criminologists no longer believe effect occurs in two ways: First, the lack of resources causes a single trait or inherited characteristic can explain crime, the poor to commit crimes, such as prostitution; and second, some believe biological and mental traits interact with envi- the powerful are able to define the actions of the poor as ronmental factors to influence all human behaviour, including crime. This view is discussed in more detail in Chapter 9. criminality. Biological and psychological theorists study the Criminology, then, has had a rich history that still association between criminal behaviour and such traits as exerts an important influence. These major perspectives are diet, hormonal makeup, personality, and intelligence. summarized in Concept Summary 1.2. Sociological theories, tracing back to Quetelet and Durkheim, maintain that individuals’ lifestyles and living conditions directly control their criminal behaviour. Those at the bottom of the social structure cannot achieve success WHAT CRIMINOLOGISTS DO: THE CRIMINOLOGICAL and, as a result, experience failure and frustration. This theory today is called the structural perspective, which is described in detail in Chapter 7. Some sociologists who have added a social psycholo- ENTERPRISE gical dimension to their views of crime causation find that individuals’ learning experiences and socialization directly control their behaviour. Children learn by modelling their Regardless of their background or training, criminologists behaviour after others, while other criminal offenders are are primarily interested in studying crime and criminal people whose life experiences have shattered their social behaviour. As Wolfgang and Ferracuti put it: bonds to society. This view, the social process perspective, is A criminologist is one whose professional training, described in detail in Chapter 8. occupational role, and pecuniary reward are primarily The writings of Marx and his followers continue to be concentrated on a scientific approach to, and study influential. Today, conflict criminologists still see social and and analysis of, the phenomenon of crime and political conflict as the root cause of crime. In their view, the criminal behaviour. !9 12. SECTION1 | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY NEL  Within the broader arena of criminology are several subareas that, taken together, make up the criminological CONNECTIONS enterprise. Criminologists may specialize in a subarea in the same way that psychologists might specialize in areas such as For an example of how statistics are used to measure child development, perception, personality, psychopathology, patterns, see the Comparative Criminology box on inter- or sexuality. Some of the more important criminological national crime trends, later in this chapter. subareas are described in this section and are summarized in Concept Summary 1.3. Sociology of Law Criminal Statistics Another subarea of criminology, the sociology of law, is concerned with the role that social forces play in shaping The subarea of criminal statistics involves measuring the criminal law and, conversely, the role of criminal law in amount and trends of criminal activity. How much crime shaping society. Criminologists study the history of the law in occurs annually? Who commits it? When and where does an effort to understand how criminal acts, such as theft, rape, it occur? Which crimes are the most serious? Criminologists and murder, evolved into their present form. Criminologists interested in criminal statistics try to create valid and reliable might also join in the debate when a new law is proposed, for measurements of criminal behaviour. For example, they example, regarding music sharing software. Criminologists create techniques to use the records of police and court would ask what role should the law take in curbing the agencies. They develop paper-and-pencil survey instruments, public’s access to media and culture? Should society curb and then use them with large samples of citizens to determine actions that some people consider illegal, but by which no the percentage of people who actually commit crimes and the one is actually harmed? When a company is denied profits, is number of law violators who escape detection by the justice it harmed? Is the behaviour that online shareware allowed any system. They also develop techniques to identify the victims different from videotaping a documentary from the television of crime and establish more accurate indicators of the true or sharing a CD owned by a friend? number of criminal acts, and what percentage report crime When most people are surveyed, of course, they think to police. The study of criminal statistics is a crucial aspect that music file swapping should be legal. The Canadian courts of the criminological enterprise because conducting research have ruled that the music industry cannot force Internet and creating criminological theories is dependent on reliable service providers to identify online music sharers, and that information. using an online download service for personal use does not amount to copyright infringement. Criminologists also participate in updating the content of criminal law. The law must be flexible and respond to changing times and conditions. Theft from automated bank CONCEPT SUMMARY 1.3 machines, identity theft, and illegally tapping into satellite TV signals are acts that obviously did not exist when the criminal The Criminological Enterprise law on theft was originally formed. These subareas constitute the field or discipline of criminology. The law must be flexible in responding to new versions of traditional acts. For example, Sue Rodriguez, who suffered SUBAREA Primary Focus from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's CRIMINAL Gathering valid crime data disease), committed suicide in 1994, after losing her bid before STATISTICS Devising new research methods the Supreme Court for legally assisted suicide. In looking Measuring crime patterns and trends at how the law should respond to these controversial SOCIOLOGY OF Determining the origin of law issues, a commission called Dying with Dignity began LAW Measuring the forces that can change laws hearings in 2010. and society Although some believe that euthanasia is socially THEORY Predicting individual behaviour harmful, others are not quite so certain. Many Canadians CONSTRUCTION Understanding the cause of crime rates and felt great sympathy for Sue Rodriguez’s plight, and before trends international media coverage of the issue, no law existed CRIMINAL Determining the nature and cause of specific that banned second-party help in suicides. In response to BEHAVIOUR crime patterns the actions of Jack Kevorkian, the state of Michigan passed SYSTEMS Studying violence; theft; and organized, legislation making it a felony to help anyone commit suicide. white-collar, and public-order crimes Is assisted suicide the product of care and concern for PENOLOGY Studying the correction and control of criminal behaviour VICTIMOLOGY Studying the nature and cause of victimization criminological enterprise The totality of criminology, which inchides many fields, or subareas, of study. NEL CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology 13  human suffering, or is it a callous criminal act? Should a law disapproval, do they steal, rape, and murder? Why do people be passed that a majority of the general public disapproves behave the way they do? Does crime have a social or an of—a condition that makes the law virtually unenforceable? individual basis? Is it a psychological, a biological, a social, a Conversely, should criminal law be restricted to only those political, or an economic phenomenon? Some criminologists acts that are unpopular with the general public? have a psychological orientation and view crime as a function Another example of the criminal law changing and how of personality, development, social learning, or cognition. it is worthy of study happened in 2010. The federal govern- Others investigate the biology of antisocial behaviour and ment was appealing a ruling by a lower Ontario court that the study the biochemical, genetic, and neurological linkages laws around prostitution are unconstitutional. Justice Susan to crime. Sociologists look at the social forces producing Himmel had found that the anti-prostitution provisions of the criminal behaviour, including neighbourhood conditions, Criminal Code of Canada violate sex workers’ constitutional poverty, socialization, and group interaction. right to security of the person by denying them an opportunity Understanding the true cause of crime remains a difficult to pursue options for conducting their business more safely. problem. Criminologists are still unsure why, given similar Those provisions make illegal the operation of brothels, conditions, one person elects criminal solutions to his or her living on the avails, and communicating for the purposes of problems while another conforms to accepted social rules of prostitution. While prostitution is legal in Canada, those provi- behaviour. Further, understanding crime rates and trends has sions effectively force sex trade workers to conduct hasty and proved difficult: Why do rates rise and fall? Why are crime rates furtive conversations on the street with prospective customers. higher in some areas or regions than in others? Why do some Because this does not give them time to assess whether a “date” groups seem more crime-prone than others? Is it possible that could be a problem, it makes the work more dangerous. crime is relative to societal standards and thus a social con- And, yes, the trading of money for sex and sex for money struction created by the media, politicians, and social alarmists? is legal in Canada. It just can’t occur in the same place, be talked about in public, or benefit anybody else. So that means sex trade workers can’t hire security guards, or secretaries to make appointments. And being an LGBTQ sex trade worker Criminal Behaviour Systems brings even other complications, as the Crime in the News Similar to theory construction, this subarea of criminology feature discusses. involves research on specific criminal types and patterns, such The provisions against the operation of brothels and living as violent crime, theft crime, public-order crime, and organized on the avails of prostitution were passed in the early 20th cen- crime. For example, Marvin Wolfgang's famous study Patterns tury. They did not stop the practice of prostitution, of course, in Criminal Homicide is considered a landmark analysis of but effectively decentralized it, forcing it out into the bars and the nature of homicide and the relationship between victim hotels. When those places were subject to enforcement, the and offender.*° Another study, Edwin Sutherland’ analysis of trade was further decentralized onto the street. These waves business-related offences, helped coin a new phrase—white- of enforcement have not been effective in eradicating prosti- collar crime—to describe economic crime activities.?! tution, but rather have worked to make the problem worse, The study of criminal behaviour also involves research more visible, and more dangerous. on the links between different types of crime and criminals, In the 1970s, the anti-solicitation provision of the known as crime typology. Some typologies focus on the Criminal Code was challenged and struck down on the basis criminal, such as professional criminals, psychotic criminals, that it was too vague. The federal government then created occasional criminals, and so on. Other typologies focus on a law against communication in 1985, which was upheld by the crimes, clustering them into such categories as property the Supreme Court of Canada in 1990. crimes, sex crimes, and so on. So, let’ get this straight, communication for the purpose of buying a hot dog on the street is okay, but communication for the purposes of prostitution, even though the act is legal, Penology is not. And yet the need to do so forces sex trade workers to make deals that put them at risk. It seems that Judge Himmel The study of penology involves the correction and control was right on track in striking down the three problematic of criminal offenders. Penologists formulate new strategies sections of the Criminal Code. for crime control, and then help implement these policies. Some criminologists view penology as involving rehabilitation and treatment, providing behaviour alternatives for those convicted of law violations. This view portrays the criminal Theory Construction Another area of criminological work is theory construction. r For example, criminologists have long been intrigued by the white-collar crime Crime committed by those with reasons why people engage in criminal acts. Why, when they power, such as embezzlement, false advertising, or know their actions can bring harsh punishment and social stock market manipulation. 14. SECTION1 | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY NEL as someone whom society has failed; someone under social, psychological, or economic stress; and someone who can be HOW DO CRIMINOLOGISTS helped if society is willing-to pay the price. Others argue that crime can be prevented only through a strict policy of VIEW CRIME? social control. They advocate such strict measures as capital punishment, mandatory prison sentences, and selective As you will see in this text, criminology is multidisciplinary, incapacitation for repeat offenders. drawing on biology, psychology, sociology, and other fields. In addition, professional criminologists align themselves with underlying philosophical perspectives: the consensus, conflict, CONNECTIONS and interactionist perspectives. Each perspective maintains its In recent years, criminologists have devoted ever-increasing own view of what constitutes criminal behaviour and what attention to the victim's role in the criminal process, causes people to engage in criminality. When biologists, looking at how individuals’ lifestyles and behaviour may psychologists, sociologists, historians, and economists bring actually increase the risk that they will become crime vic- these different perspectives to research, it affects how they tims. Living in a high-crime neighbourhood increases risk, define the nature and cause of crime itself. Criminologists’ as does associating with dangerous peers and companions. theoretical perspectives and conceptualizations of crime also For a discussion of victimization risk, see Chapter 4. affect their research orientations. This section discusses the three most common concepts of crime used by criminologists. Victimology The Consensus View of Crime The last subarea of criminology considered here is This view holds that crimes are repugnant to all elements of victimology. This area of research is relatively recent. In the society. Criminal law, with its definition of crimes and their mid-20th century, two classic texts on the topic, one by Hans punishments, reflects the values, beliefs, and opinions of von Hentig and another by Stephen Schafer, first identified society. The term consensus implies that general agreement the critical role of the victim in the criminal process. exists among a majority of people on what behaviours should These authors suggest that victim behaviour is often a key be outlawed by the criminal law and viewed as crimes. An determinant of crime, that a victim's actions may precipitate example of a consensus crime is homicide. or provide an opportunity for crime, and that the study of Several attempts have been made to create a concise crime is not complete unless the victim’s role is considered.*+ consensus definition of crime, as in Edwin Sutherland and The areas of particular interest in victimology include Donald Cressey: using victim surveys to measure the nature and extent of Criminal behavior is behavior in violation of the criminal behaviour, calculating the actual costs of crime to criminal law.... [It] is not a crime unless it is prohibited victims, creating probabilities of victimization risk, studying by the criminal law [which] is defined conventionally victim culpability or precipitation of crime, and designing as a body of specific rules regarding human conduct services for the victims of crime. Victimology has taken on which have been promulgated by political authority, greater importance as more criminologists focus their which apply uniformly to all members of the classes attention on the victim's role in the criminal event. to which the rules refer, and which are enforced by punishment administered by the state.”° This approach implies that the definition of crime is applied uniformly to everyone in society. This statement reveals the faith of an ideal legal system that can deal adequately with all classes and types of people. For example, laws banning burglary and robbery are directed at controlling the neediest members of society, while laws banning insider trading, embezzlement, and corporate price-fixing are aimed at controlling the wealthiest. The consensus model of crime is accepted by many crimi- nologists; however, they do argue over whether the law is applied uniformly. The Conflict View of Crime © Images Getty via Star In contrast to the consensus perspective, the conflict view Russell/Toronto Steve depicts society as a collection of diverse groups—owners, A protestor participates at a 2013 Idle No More rally promoting justice and equality for First Nations people. workers, professionals, students—who are in constant NEL CHAPTER 1 | Crime and Criminology 15  IPARATIVE CRIMINOLOGY International Crime Trends In 1981, there were 88 residential burglaries Similarly, China, another relative safe made about crime across different countries per 1,000 households in the United States, nation, has experienced an upswing in vio- using a number of reliable data sources. compared with 41 per 1,000 households lent crime. Chinese police handled almost The United Nations Survey of Crime Trends in England (including Wales). Ten years 5 million criminal cases in 2005, and though and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems later, the U.S. rate had decreased to 54 per this number was down slightly from the pre- (UNCJS) collects cross-national data. The 1,000 households, but the English rate had vious year, the decline comes after years of International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS) increased to 68 per 1,000 households. By steady increases. And though crime declined is conducted in 60 countries and managed 2006, the divide had increased even fur- in general, theft and robbery remain a by the Ministry of Justice of the Netherlands, ther, with the United States at about 60 and serious problem, especially in public places the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and England at about 100. Canada, on the other such as railway stations, long-distance bus the United Nations Interregional Crime and hand, was just slightly above the average, stations, and passenger docks. The Chinese Justice Research Institute. INTERPOL, the and below the United States. Ministry of Public Security reports that international police agency, collects data from The English experience is not unique. police agencies in 179 countries. The World a Criminals are targeting richer people Health Organization (WHO) has conducted Crime rates appear to be increasing around and/or entities. surveys on global violence. The European the world even as they decline in Canada to = Car theft is on the rise. rates not seen since the 1960s and 1970s. Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice a Criminal cases happen more often in public Asian countries now report an upswing in Statistics provides data from police agencies spaces—meaning that the streets are serious criminal activities. Cambodian offi- in 36 European nations. becoming less safe than they used to be. cials are concerned with drug production/ m The average age of criminals is International Crime Rates trafficking and human trafficking. Drugs lowering—more kids are involved in produced in neighbouring countries are What do these various sources tell us about illegal activities. being trafficked into Cambodia for local con- international crime rates? = New types of criminal activities are sumption, and drug traffickers routinely use emerging: blackmailing, cons, and Cambodia as a transit country for distributing Homicide prostitution via the Web. narcotics around the world. The trafficking of Many nations, especially those experiencing Cambodian women into Thailand for sexual Though these trends are alarming, making social or economic upheaval, have high activities and the presence of a large number international comparisons is difficult because murder rates. The OECD reported in 2012 of Vietnamese women in Cambodia who are the legal definitions of crime vary from that Canada’s rate was 1.8 homicides per engaged in prostitution are also major con- country to country. There are also differences 100,000 people, which is relatively low. cerns. Even Japan, a nation renowned for its in the way crime is measured. For example, Why are murder rates so high in low crime rate, has experienced an upsurge in Canada, crime is measured by counting nations such as Brazil? Law enforcement in crime linked to its economy. Japan’s criminal acts reported to the police or by using officials link the upsurge in violence to economic bubble burst in 1990, and more victim surveys, whereas in many European drug trafficking, gang feuds, vigilantism, than 15 years of economic stagnation has countries, crime is measured by the number and disputes over trivial matters in which resulted in climbing numbers of reported of cases solved by the police. Despite these young, unmarried, uneducated males are crime. problems, valid comparisons can still be involved. SERRE mene Sl ee Se Oe and continuing conflict. Groups able to assert their polit- for the 2008 economic meltdown have yet to face any pen- ical power use the law and the criminal justice system to alties at all! advance their economic and social position. Criminal laws In the conflict view, the definition of crime is controlled are created to protect the haves from the have-nots. For by wealth, power, and position, and not by moral consensus example, contrast the harsh penalties exacted on the poor or the fear of social disruption.** Crime is a political concept for their street crimes (burglary, robbery, and theft) with the designed to protect the power and position of the upper minor penalties the wealthy receive for their white-collar classes at the expense of the poor. A conflict theorist would crimes (securities violations and other illegal business prac- see the following as crimes: violations of human rights, tices). While the poor often go to prison for minor law unsafe working conditions, inadequate childcare, inad- violations, the wealthy are usually given lenient sentences equate opportunities for employment and education, for even the most serious breaches of law. In fact, to this substandard housing, pollution of the environment, price- date, the financial institutions and their agents responsible fixing, police brutality, assassinations, and war making.*? 16 SECTION1 | CONCEPTS OF CRIME, LAW, AND CRIMINOLOGY