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Introduction to Criminology (CRM1300)
University of Ottawa
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CRM 1300 - Class Notes
Lecture Sept. 12
- What do criminologists do? Study society’s reaction to criminal’s behavior, study crime patterns, work for the government, universities, analyze crime, work for police stations.
- “Criminology is the body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. It in- cludes the process of law making, of breaking laws and of reacting to the breaking of laws. The objective of criminology is the development of a body of general and verified principles and other types of knowledge regarding this process of law, crime, and treatment.” - Sutherland and Cressey, 1960.
- Criminologists: -study criminal behavior (causes, patterns and control of) - why does it occur more in certain cities rather than in others, with certain groups of people more etc. -uses methods of established social science (records, experiments, surveys, historical data, content analysis.) -it is interdisciplinary (sociology, criminal justice, psychology, political science, anthropology, economics, the natural sciences.)
- Subfields: criminal statistics (create valid and reliable measures of crime), sociology of law (history of law, law reform, why are certain laws in place), theory construction (pre- dicting criminal behavior).
- Poverty is the number one deterrent to committing a crime.
- Subfields cont’d: Criminal behavior systems (determining the nature and cause of spe- cific patterns), penology (correction and control of criminal behavior), victimology (na- ture and cause of victimization).
- Criminal justice system: police, courts and corrections. All three go together, one en- forces the law, one states the law, one carries out the law.
- Some concepts about society: norms are rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members. They may be either prescriptive (Don’t) or prospective (Do). There are two special types of norms that were identified by William Graham Sumner: Mores (Right and wrong) and folkways (right and rude). As we inter- nalize norms, we respond critically to our own behavior through shame and guilt. So- cial control=informal and formal mechanism methods of social control. -->Formal: government, police, military=results in some sort of sanction from the state. Informal: religion, university, parents, friends.
Lecture Sept. 14
- Time of hunters and gatherers, there were just spoken laws and codes (oral history). As time progressed we started codifying the laws (code of hamurabi the first one). If there were no codes written down how do we punish them? An eye for an eye. But then we have a system based on vengeance instead of justice. Also, until we write things down the law becomes malleable.
- What laws should be legal and what shouldn’t be? 420 vs prostitution?
Lecture Sept. 19
- Some definitions: crime: any form of human behavior that is designated by law as criminal and subject to penal sanction.
- Law: a rule with consequences.
- Rule of law: we accept that laws are rules of society and when transgressed will have repercussions. (there cannot be any arbitrary forces, it is applied equally - doesn’t matter if you are a politician, a janitor, wealthy or poor).
- Deviance: violates social norms, is subject to social control (gossip), not all crime is deviant (marijuana), not all deviance is criminal (bystander apathy-Kitty Genovese).
- John Hagan’s Typology of deviance and crime:
- Evaluation of harm: [3 levels] very harmful (sexual abuse of children), somewhat harmful (shoplifting), fairly harmless (illegal gambling).
- Agreement about the norm: [3 levels] high agreement (murder), high disagreement (abortion), confusion or apathy (copyright or violation).
- Severity of societal response: [3 levels] severe (life imprisonment, capital/corporate punishment, torture), moderate (short jail term, community service), mild (small fine).
- Legalistic definition of crime: a crime is any intentional act or omission in violation of the criminal law, committed without defense or justification and sanctioned by the state. - problems with this definition: doesn’t take into account that the state could commit crime, hard to say someone’s intention, how to justify?
- Labeling definition: not the quality of act but the label that others attach to the act. Who applies the label and who is labeled?
- Criminal act+conviction=criminal [dangerous, pedophile, child molester, rapist, felon, convict] / no criminal act+conviction=? [criminal] / criminal act+no conviction=? [not a criminal, but could have bad connotations and bad labels like O Simpson and MJ.]
- Chambliss The Saints and Roughnecks (1973) saints- middle class, roughnecks - lower class. They committed same levels of delinquency, different treatment by soci- ety. The townspeople looked at saints as they were just growing up, but looked at the roughnecks like they were growing up to be delinquents. What happened to them as adults? Saints went to uni and became golden boys. Roughnecks were bad, went to jail, died, suicide, only one went to college on a sports scholarship. - self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Sociological views of crime: (Max Vaper, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx)
- Consensus or Legalistic: Criminal law reflects agreed upon values of society, the law is fair, people are treated fairly under the law (enforcement practices are fair), con- sensus viewpoint is predominant in north american criminology. Focuses on the tradi- tional conceptions of crime (murder, property offenses).
- Conflict: laws reflect the power and economic structures of society (laws protect vested interests, law enforcement is directed at the underdog, not the powerful.) fo- cus should be on the rich and powerful (environmental crime, treatment of workers, consumer fraud, crimes against humanity).
- Interactionist: Laws are constantly changing, laws result from interaction among indi- viduals and groups. Moral entrepreneurs try to get their values enacted in law. Being labeled deviant may promote further deviance, focus is on the process of deviance and changing definitions.
- Defining crime: crime is a violation of societal rules of behavior as interpreted by a le- gal criminal code created by people holding social and political power. Individuals who
behaviors. Limitations of surveys: it is meant to be representative, people don’t always respond, will people tell the truth?
- Longitudinal research: studies the same group over time (we want to see how a group of prisoners is doing after they get out of jail). May use diaries, interviews, health and employment records - case study. Time consuming (some go on for decades, the ini- tial researchers die out and new people take over). Sample attrition - people may drop out of the research, go back to jail etc.
- Aggregate data research: gov statistics, social indicators, UCR (uniform crime reports)
- used data to detect relationships and trends (poverty crimes and unemployment rates). However, can you depend on this research because it comes from the govern- ment? Are they biased - they may change the data because they want your vote and want the stats to look good.
- Experimental research: requires willing subjects (human guinea pigs) needs an experi- mental and control group for comparison. Subjects must be randomly assigned to groups. (gorilla illusion experiment). Many people in the 70s thought that violent porn was what caused people to be aggressive towards women - experiment: two groups; one group watched violent porn, the other watched bambi. (independent variable was the movie, dependent was how violent they were).
- This seeks out cause and effect under highly controlled conditions. Typically experi- ments are explanatory, that is, used to test hypotheses, unverified statements of a re- lationship between variables.
- Difficulties with experimental research: is it ethical? Is it realistic? Can you generalize with such small age groups (16-24)? Can you control all the relevant factors?
- Quasi-experimental research: uses a real situation for experimental purposes (e. Compare the recidivism (reoffending) rates of young offenders sent to boot camp or given community service). Hard to control assignment to groups.
Lecture: September 26
Observational Research: sometimes referred to as ethnography, participant observa- tion [join the group you wish to observe for a first look - people know what you’re do- ing] or non-participant observation [go undercover]. Difficulties: it may be dangerous [gangs, drugs, prostitution rings], is it ethical? [not keeping it anonymous, going door to door - homosexuals in the 60s], how will you affect the behavior of the group? [if ev- eryone knows you are a researcher how will this affect the participants], it is very time consuming [for every hour in the field you spend 2-3 writing down notes].
Interviews: in-depth interviews with criminals e. Serial killers, it is very time consum- ing, how do you gain trust of the criminal? [how do you avoid being used must gain trust, how do you know they are not lying to you] How do you avoid being used by the criminal? [they bargain with you to answer questions] qualitative -answers why?
Ethics: how may the research affect other people’s lives? Who will be studied? What pressure is placed on research by funding agencies and vested interests? In canada, the researchers get paid to do this kind of research (something in it for them). Do you have informed consent? Are people free to not participate? Do people know what they are getting into?
Other Methods: Archival/Historical: using existing sources is a research method in which a researcher utilizes data collected by others.
Meta-Analysis: a statistical analysis that review a large body of extent literature.
Case Study: in-depth investigation of one or few phenomenon. [anything you can get your hand on gets used to look at why something happens - during hurricane Katrina, why were people stealing TVs?]
Cyber Research: new information technology and the internet provide researchers up- to-date resources.
Uniform Crime Reports (UCR): collected by the canadian centre for justice statistics. Started in 1962, aggregated data, collected each month from all police forces. How- ever, 300 police forces are 1-2 police men (where the local police officer is the chief), when you throw in RCMP this makes up roughly 90% so they fixed it to -->
1984: revised UCR collects info about each crime, more detail, about half of police forces participate.
Collecting the UCR: incidence of crime (actual reported and founded through investi- gation), percentage of change from year to year (gone up or down), crime rate (how do we compare from time to time or place to place?)
Compare: # of crimes/population x 100,000 = standardized rate per 100,000 people. Overcomes the time and space problem. Where there is still a problem is populations under 100K.
Clearance rates by charge or otherwise (are they charged with something are they not?) is another thing we collect with the UCR
The crime funnel: only 37% of crimes reported to police (the unreported is called dark figure crime), 14% crimes cleared, 3% convictions obtained
Accuracy of the UCR: reporting practices (are people willing/able to call the police?), law enforcement practices (are police cracking down on some crimes and not others? Zero tolerance policies.), legal definitions (have the laws changed?), media practices (do new stories encourage citizens to report more incidents? Do news reports encour- age police to crack down? Crimes cause a feedback loop when they are publicized, changing the perceptions of the public and they willingness to report), methodological practices (how are the crimes counted? How do police decide if a crime is founded?)
Self-report surveys: [How do you obtain these numbers if they’re unreported? The other 63%] People tell on themselves anonymously. Used with captive audience like students and prisoners, problems with accuracy (lying, forgetting, bragging), emphasis is on minor offenses, delinquencies. Are the most deviant least likely to respond?
Victim surveys: began in 1980s, canadian urban victimization Survey (CUVS), General Social Survey (GSS), violence against women survey (VAWS), includes questions about fear of crime. We had to start looking at the victims and not just criminals.
Problems with victims surveys: 1) sampling leaves out homeless and poor which are most likely to become victimized (they don’t have address so we can’t send them sur- veys. The rich don’t want to participate). 2) accuracy (under and over reporting - our memory is not very accurate). 3) focuses on crimes with victims (property and per- sonal crimes leaves out corporations).
These sources are not compatible. They measure different things UCR vs Victim sur- veys. Survey rates are higher than reported rates, self-report depends on honesty, ac- curacy and integrity. They are compatible in this way: they are complementary, they show similar trends, they agree on serious crimes and criminals, they agree on the lo- cation of crime.
So all these men out to war, 10% of population dying, church not helping - nobles came up with vagrancy laws. If you were found on the king’s land (anything and every- thing belongs to him) and able to work you have a choice of prison or work. Prison was torture and you weren’t likely to survive. MARXISM
Modern vagrancy laws: prostitution, squeegee kids, loitering...
Criminal law in Canada: British common law is major source of law in Canada. Under BNA Act in 1867 only federal gov can make criminal law. Police of Canada act was in
- Criminal code of Canada developed in 1892. Uneven development of law en- forcement across Canada.
Classification of law: Summary offenses or indictable offenses
Functions of the criminal law: providing social control, discouraging revenge [cannot take matters into your own hand like days of lex taliones], expressing public opinion and morality, deterring criminal behavior (specific deterrence [putting you yourself in
prison] and general deterrence [by hearing about someone else going to prison for 25 years]), maintaining the social order.
- The state Drugs and the Law:
- Criminalization: refers to the current status in Canada where manufacturing, distribution, sale, and use of certain drugs are illegal.
- Legalization: to legalizing manufacture, distribution, sale and use of currently prohibited substances. Propositions range from regulated sale and places of use (as is done with alcohol) to no regulation, putting full responsibility on the indi- vidual.
- Decriminalization: the elimination or substantial reduction of penalties for pos- session of drugs for personal use (no intent to sell or distribute). The manufac- ture, distribution, and sale of these same drugs would still be illegal.
- Harm reduction: refers to attempts at reducing the harm (physical, psychologi- cal, and social) associated with drug use. Generally, under this view, drug use
Summary Offenses: Indictable Offenses:
-Serious offenses (murder)
-Minor or petty offense (loi- tering)
-No limit on prosecution
-6 month limitation on pros- ecution
-Preliminary hearing
-Heard in provincial court -May allow for jury trial
-Max fine: $2000 -May be heard in the higher courts
-Max sentence: 6 months -Higher penalties (2yrs or more in prison)
is most properly a health issue and should be handled within the medical, not the penal, community.
- Who used opiates 1880-1890s? 60% were females, average age was 40, educated and from the middle and upper classes, more likely to be white. Why them? Women were hitting menopause and this is why they took it, this was doctor’s solution- this profile of women. (Companies put it in coke, elixor etc)
- Narcotics legislation: opium act of 1908 (origins with Mackenzie King Deputy Labour Minister: Anti-Asiatic Riots 1907, Payment of Compensation, Finds that opium is easy to purchase, Racial conflict), racial conflict + cultural stereotypes = Drug Acts
Lecture: Oct. 3
- Narcotics legislation: another view [around 1908 railroad construction was declining, economy was struggling] - asians cheap labour, diffuses the growing power of unions, asians paid 1/2 of whites, gambles and smoked opium, legal but immoral, construction expansion over, no need for excess labour force, causes labour unrest.
- Shift in user: the law would serve to socially construct a criminal pathology. The greater severity of punishment naturally led to increased business risks, risks that were passed on to the consumer in the form of high prices. The addict became quite literally an individual who had to steal to support a craving. The legal creation of false scarcity was socially responsible for the self-fulfilling assertion - the addict as lowly predator. [if you make something someone needs illegal and then sell it they make a ton of cash. When something becomes illegal it has a huge detriment to people. Peo- ple want more of it but it will cost more.]
- Some conclusions: 1) lack of political advocacy by the medical and scientific commu- nity on the behalf of the drug users. [not disclosing the truth about marijuana] 2) vocal, racist, and politically powerful moral reform movement. [prohibition] 3) international diplomacy relating to china. 4) specifically in the US: an effort by the medical profes- sion to gain control of prescribing powers.
- Political crime: may be defined as the use of force, terror, violence, fraud, deception, economic pressure, bribery, or blackmail to create, maintain, or enhance the power, interests or ideology of a group, organization, or institution to the detriment or destruc- tion or rival groups, often causing fear in and victimization of innocent people.
- Crimes against the state: treason, riots, assassination [Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr.] states cannot stand for this or there will be a failed state.
- Crimes by the state: Human rights violations, concentration camps, internment camps.
- Crimes against other groups: hate crimes [WWII is the state but gays is hate crime].
- C. Wright Mills chapter 2: The Promise personal troubles and public issues (Rosa Parks) she suffered just as everyone else did but she came out and made it a public issue.
- Defining terrorism: an act of violence, political motive or goal, perpetrated against in- nocent persons, requires and audience whose reaction is fear and terror, the act of terrorizing: the use of force or threats to demoralize, intimidate and subjugate a popu- lation or peoples expressly as a political weapon or policy. Without the audience ter- rorism does not work. END OF TEST #
even more upset and take it out on their victim. This doesn’t explain why males rape other males or females rape other females - no reproduction.
- Sean Connery was the manliest man in those times and he came out in public saying that he assaults his wife to keep her in line. Violence and sex are intertwined, no doesn’t necessarily mean no, be in control and be dominant - we see this when a women in a movie smacks a man in the face and he smacks her then they have sex.
- Boys watch James Bond, women watch princess movies (women are taught to be submissive, dependent, damsel in distress).
- Male socialization: stereotypes of masculinity. Social learning and pornography - ev- eryone and everywhere experiences rape but not everyone is exposed to porn.
- Sexual motivation: always about power. People who have been sexually harassed (victimized earlier) learn to like those acts later (give them pleasure) and do it to others
- Rape and the law: legal barriers resulted in underreporting, under-charging, and reluc- tance to convict. 1983 rape was replaced by 3 degrees of sexual assault: common sexual assault [smacked in the ass], assault with a weapon, aggravated sexual as- sault [injured by the act].
- Law reform: issue of consent no means no legislation goes through in 1992 [or safety word for people who like rough sex]. Rape shield laws in 2000 (limited access to coun- seling records - issues back in the day was that in court your sexual history was brought up and the women was not believed especially among prostitutes). Corrobora- tion - no longer mandatory [witness no longer needed - ridiculous].
- Homicide: first degree murder requires that the action be planned and deliberate. Sec- ond degree murder involves malice but no premeditation. Manslaughter is the killing of another person through gross negligence. Infanticide is killing of an infant.
- Most homicides in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. West higher than east (cowboy men- tality, natives)
- Homicide rates for selected countries: Japan, Hungary and Switzerland the lowest. US, Finland and New Zealand the highest. (Canada is the 5th)
- Suspects: mostly men and mostly 18-24 years old.
- Trends in canada: (2006) 605 homicides reported, 58 fewer than the previous year. Per 100,000= 1. Provinces high: Manitoba 3, BC 2, Sask 4 -- low: Newfoundland 1, PEI 0, Nova Scotia 1. CMA’s high/low: Winnipeg 3, Vancouver 2, Quebec 0, Ottawa 1, Saskatoon 3, Gatineau 3, Oshawa 0, St. John’s 0.
Lecture: Oct. 17
Methods of killing: 35% stabbing, 31% firearms [handguns account for 57% of the firearms used in homicide, 816 firearm related deaths in 2002 = 80% due to suicide, 15% homicide, 4%accidents], 19% beaten, 8% were strangled. Others: drowning, car accidents, pushing someone off high heights.
Closer you are to a person affects which method you choose: more intimate will choose stabbing. 1991-2010 family and acquaintances were much more likely to kill you than a stranger (or people with criminal relationships even less).
Homicide trends in 2006 in Canada: 83% of solved homicides committed by: an ac- quaintance 34%, family member 37% or stranger 17%. 52% of all female victims and 8% of male victims were killed by person they have had an intimate relationship with.
Victims: males 18-24 the most, next males 30-39. Suspects as well mostly males.
Serial/Mass murderers: serial kill in sequence, mass kill multiple all at once. Examples:
Ken and Barbie: Karla Homolka and Husband, they gave her sister ether so that her husband could have sex with her because Carla wasn’t a virgin when they got mar- ried. He went around raping women. 2 catholic school girls: kidnapped them and used them as sex objects (they cut their Achilles tendon so they couldn’t escape, when they were done with them they cut up their bodies) - typically with criminal couples: the women is coerced into doing it. But Carla was just as bad. Carla went to jail for ten years then got out (she made a deal) but there was a public outcry: she is banned form Ontario. Paul is in jail for life (with faint hope clause).
[keep sociological imagination in mind] the Halo effect: because people are pretty or smart, they go further in life, they are trusted, they don’t look like murders. That is why it is called the “Ken and Barbie” murders.
These were nice catholic girls and they cared about them going missing but when 20 girls go missing in Vancouver (Robert Pigton) because they were prostitutes and no one really cared, the cops did not send out anyone.
Son of Sam: David Burkowitz (1977) went around killing brunette women in NYC, he left delusional notes at the scene of the crime. He would sign them son of Sam. He lived next door to a family with a dog and thought it was the devil who made him do all this. He used a 44 calibre (baseball at the time 44: Reji Jackson, conspiracy that he was the killer).
Marc Lepine: ’89 ecole polytechnic and killed all the women - femocide. He grew up in a patriarchal family. He got rejected from the school, he didn’t understand why he didn’t get in but women were allowed in. Fought against the policy making school ad- mission equal between genders.
My Lai: in Vietnam in ‘70s, a village completed destroyed by US military unit. Killed 250 people and covered by US. Only one person was convicted and he was confined to the american base (which is barely a sentence - a base is like a small city).
Washington Sniper Trials: (sniper shooter profile: Caucasian, males, early 20s, bad re- lationship with families, made fun of as a kid). People were being shot at all over the place, during the day. What was actually going on: 2 african american men working to- gether, they were charged with terrorism.
Lecture: October 19
- White-collar, corporate and organized crime
- Edwin Sutherland (1883-1950) focused on corporate crime; it is typically hidden from criminologists [difficult to get information on criminals], cause high financial cost, dam- ages social institutions and social relations [affects families who lost their money].
- White-collar crime is committed by individuals who use the marketplace for their crimi- nal activity. Middle-class deviance: tax evasion, credit card fraud, bankruptcy fraud. Professional elite deviance: medical fraud, investment fraud. [labelled as deviant be- cause so many people do it and it isn’t considered criminal by the society] Business
do not. They say: white-collar crime is rare, people who get ahead in business have learned self-control, and not likely to engage in crime. Similar to street crime in terms of who does it (gender, race and age). (do not agree with that)
Offenders are egocentric, often repeat offenders (business is egocentric - the whole point is to benefit you and your business)
Benson and Moore (1992) 3 types of white-collar offenders: impulsive - low self-con- trol, calculating - high self-control, and opportunistic - medium self-control.
Conflict theory: prosecution is rare (which is why don’t know much about white-collar and who does it not publicized), few are punished, sentences are light (club med feel, no electric fences etc), small and medium sized business are major targets of enforce- ment (large enforcements get away with things because they have better lawyers, pay off, government will want to keep big businesses around, or else so many people would lose jobs).
They also do not see white-collar criminals as real criminals. They see them as the person they golf with, attend galas with, etc. But street crime: with weapons you scare people it is a social problem, enlisting fear - 20 years of jail. Gun vs pen.
Law enforcement: largely dependent on government administrations/inspectors. Gov- ernment cutbacks, complaint-based rather than proactive. RCMP: focuses more on or- ganized crime (bikers - hell’s angel type), drug trafficking. Difficult for police to get in- volved with corporations and white-crime.
Corporate policing: (Traub 1996) security measures [contract security personnel, closed circuit TV - smart phone camera going to your computer], screening and edu- cation [truth scales on job application tests; integrity testing], whistle-blowing [anony- mous but people still don’t use it - a lot of fear in the society].
Control strategies: economic incentives to obey the law [ administrative agencies, leg- islation, and fines. Awarding government contracts based on compliance], problems [ineffective with deregulation, pro-business government, penalties are seen as a busi- ness cost (airline fined thousands of dollars for falsifying maintenance records, it is peanuts for them just another cost].
Deterrence as a control strategy: detect crimes, convict and punish offenders as a warning to others (Bernie Maddoff example) - US research indicates that public and judicial tolerance of white-collar crime may be decreasing, long sentences are rare.
White-collar offenders make up a small percentage of convictions.
Organized crime: structured organization, which systematically provides illegal goods and services like; prostitution, gambling, drugs, pornography.
Look up the hell’s angel badge and what each part represents.
Conspiratorial: coordinated specialties, hierarchical. Goals: profits and power, monop- oly on illegal goods and services. Also involved in businesses that seem legitimate. Money laundering*, land fraud, computer crimes, protection rackets.
Predatory tactics: intimidation, violence, corruption. Control over their members (you don’t leave until you are dead), violence, family members, demotion (beat you if you do something wrong). Many different groups besides mafia engage in this. But does not include terrorists dedicated to social/political change.
Activities: provide illegal goods and services such as; drugs, prostitution, gambling, pornography (dark side when people are forced into it). May infiltrate legitimate organi- zations: unions.
Involvement in legitimate business: providing a front or service (toxic waste removal), protections rackets (pay someone for protection), monopolies or cartels, corruption of officials (bribing police), manipulations of legal products (stocks and bonds).
Alien conspiracy theory: national syndicate of crime families. First groups: irish in NY slums, replaced by Italians. There are blocked opportunities for these minorities (racism).
Criticisms of the Mafia Myth: Jenkins 1987, little evidence of italian crime family control of organized crime. Crime is loosely organized, involving: professional criminal, law enforcers, politicians, business men; chaotic, many power struggles.
Groups: Asian - drugs migrant smuggling, street gangs. East European - sophisticated Internet and financial frauds, phony credit card. Italian - Sicilian, primarily narcotics, gambling, extortion, loansharking (agrarian based economies in the South - MAFIA acronym for mala a french, stuck around after fighting against Napolean)
Outlaw motorcycle gangs: Hell’s angels, outlaws, rock machine. Drugs, escort ser- vices, extortion, intimidation, murder. Native outlaw gangs: Manitoba warriors, Indian Posse.
Emerging crime groups: interweaving of ethnic criminal groups, use of cell rather than hierarchical structure. Organization of groups is a response to law enforcement. Orga- nized crime generates of $20B/year in Canada,mostly drugs, moving into weapon sales, toxic wastes, etc.
Organized crime abroad: Columbia drug cartels (Pablo Escabar). Japan Yakuza gangs. China smuggling of illegal immigrants. Russia much gang activity since 1993 break up of USSR.
Lecture: Nov. 7
- Wine and cheese placement info nov. 22 4-6pm. Field placement: 360 hr placement during last year, apply at the end of 2nd year, 30 people from english program are ac- cepted.
- Cocaine only grows in certain climates - south America.
- Controlling organized crime: proceed of crime legislation. Forfeit money and goods ob- tained by crime (so even if things are bought but you bought it with illegal money - it will be taken away). Money-laundering legislation: mandatory reporting of large cash deposits (anything over a certain amount $5000), cross border reporting. Limiting po- lice liability in dealing with crime. Anti-gang legislation, becomes extremely problem- atic how do you define a gang? Becomes difficult to prove, girl guides are in uniform and go together.
- Policing in canada: the charter, police facts, roles and responsibilities, functions, ori- gins of policing,
- Augustus and the praetorian guard: a concern is the involvement of military in policing. His uncle Julius Caesar? The notion in crossing the Rubicon - point of no return (Rome river) they did not use their own military to control their on people, once you were there you were a regular citizen again not a soldier. Praetorian Guard: wore pur- ple and they protected the emperor first and city to a certain extent.
- justice.gc canadian criminal code, download it. It defines everything that could be done (riot, assault, rape, homicide, etc). It defines what a peace officer is not a po-
ing of security in the community, promote and preserve civil order, provide other ser- vices on an emergency basis.[no greater deterrence to crime than police presence]
- Function of police in society: liberal concept - safety, service, crime fighting. Conserva- tive concept- riot control, order maintenance. Marxist conception - moral enforcement, class control [enforcing law unevenly on lower classes].
- Sir Robert Peel: (9 policies of policing) known as father of modern policing. He was one of the great PMs of GB, after Queen Victoria.
- Origins of policing: Sir Robert Peel and two traditions of policing (civil and military). Royal irish constabulary 1812 - military emphasis, strong connection to Canada. Lon- don Metropolitan Police 1829 - civilian emphasis, development of policing principles. The industrial revolution is cradled in GB and makes the cities boom, cities become huge. You don’t rely on neighbors so you need someone - police - to protect you. With more people, nowadays, we are more disconnected. London became a hot bed for crime (and back then they only have military, or militia which were citizens who were there in absence of military).
- Militia is made up of citizens who probably know the people causing havoc so they of- ten don’t enforce order. Peel notices this and came up with solution = modern policing.
- They were on horses, armed and had uniforms. Not initially accepted in London, goes to Ireland. London cops were looked at as being dumb, they really didn’t like it.
- Check outline for police duties.
- Organization of the RCMP: commissioner 1, deputy commissioners 7... ser- vants 5,129 = total 25,417. Look up history of the RCMP.
- The british wore red so no one could see when they were shot. But RCMP wore red because they wanted to be visible, wanted to show that there was still connection to british, and if the canadians go out to war the first nations will find them and help them just as they help the british without even asking - loyalty (royal family had very good relations with first nations).
- Maple leaf, Mountie, peace keeper - canadian recognized symbols. American: star- bucks, McDonald’s, Apple, IBM, other corporations. Difference: consumerism, free- dom, pursuit of happiness where canada is peace, order, good government. Law and order symbols where that has nothing to do with US.
- Confederation and nation building, 2) 1873 NWMP, 3) Dominion police, 4) early 20th C: strikes breakers NS, QU, BC; 1871-1950 assume provincial policing duties; war time mounties, 4) mid-20th C [many are sent abroad to fight for Canada during WWI, first military police force in Canada/ then worried about communism so they be- come involved in intelligence gathering - now given to Canadian Intelligence Services CIS], 5) late 20th C and early 21st
Lecture: Nov. 14
Winnipeg general strike look up. History of RCMP: confederation, NWMP Dominion police, early 20th C: use of RCMP in riots and labor disputes. Mid 20th century: 1960s and surveillance, FLQ/universities, MacDonald Commission. Late 20th century and early 21st: contract policing.
They were known to have students watch professors, profs watch students and profs watching other profs - spying, very well planned and documented.
What do the courts do? Responsible for determining the guilt or innocence of accused and with imposing an appropriate sentence on the convicted. (guilt/innocent then sen- tence, they must do those two things).
But they can also, protect rights of the individual and society (sometimes rights of indi- vidual can overwrite rights of society - during torture. Right of minority groups can overwrite majority rights: gay marriage, hate crimes..). They also monitor other CJ agencies 1) policing 2) courts and 3) corrections.
Court system: proof prior to trial (there must be something to give us probable cause). Proof to convict (beyond reasonable doubt). Participants: defendant, crown prosecu- tor, defense counsel, judge, jury, victim (not always, prostitution, speeding ticket, drugs, etc), witness (not always - but evidence). Procedures: governed by law, tradi- tion, and judicial authority.
The plea: there is a 90% chance people will plead guilty [because it will get them a deal, lighter sentence, they will probably lose and it is way too expensive] The rich get richer, the poor get prisoned -Jeffrey Reimond.
Plea bargains are not necessarily accepted [if you are a repeat offender or the crime is too serious]. Guilty plea must be free and voluntary (assume this). You may be sen- tenced at this point, right then or there - or remanded [at that moment].
Not guilty pleas: trial date is set [probably only in a year, unless more serious crime]. Type of court depends on seriousness of offense.
Jury trial: Limited to offenses with min sentence of 5 years of more. Usually at the re- quest of the defendant but may be ordered by the judge. (the judge could possibly not want to deal with it, be responsible, if it is very serious they will turn it over to commu- nity.)
Convicted: may appeal verdict or sentence or criminal responsibility. prosecution may also appeal. May apply for release while under appeal. Appeal court: may order new trial or overturn conviction. [grounds for a new trial, an appeal can be small, a judge doing something wrong - error]. May also overturn an acquittal and convict.
Supreme court: hears only cases involving important points of law - Must conflict with the charter. Summary conviction of appeals: are usually heard in superior courts (most cases go here). The courts are divorce court, juvenile courts, other courts, then supe- rior and lastly supreme courts for serious.
Sentencing options: fine, suspended sentence, probation, imprisonment. New options: (towards RJ): mediation [you rob someone, you’re a kid, they put you and the store owner in a room, the mediate the situation and work out a deal among the two of you] or community sentence.
The role of corrections in society: “to contribute to the maintenance of a just, peaceful and safe society” by: 1) carrying out the sentence of the court, 2) providing the degree of custody necessary to contain the risk presented by the offender, 3) Encouraging of- fenders to adopt acceptable behavior patterns and to participate in education, training, social development and work experiences. 4) providing a safe and healthy environ- ment to incarcerated offenders which is conducive to their personal reformation
Effective corrections means: 1) distinguishing between offenders who need to be sep- arated from society and those who can be safely and better managed in the commu-
Types of conditional release: 1) temporary absence granted for medical, administra- tive community service, family contact and personal developmental reasons (could be escorted or not). 2) work release: to do paid or voluntary work in the community under supervision. 3) day parole: eligible six months before full parole. Inmate required to re- turn to institution or halfway house. 4) full parole: normally eligible after serving 1/3 of sentence or 7 years (whichever is less). 5) statutory release: most offenders released by law after serving 2/3 of sentence. Does not apply to offenders serving life or inde- terminate sentences.
Certain people ask to stay in jail because the community knows about them (sex of- fenders) and they ask for a change of name. The sex offender list does not get up- dated and the police can no longer survey them
Community and crime. What does concept of community mean? Religious communi- ties, things you are apart of, ethnicity, race, gender, geographic area, online communi- ties: Facebook, Twitter, Bloggers, Youtube, gaming... Drug communities.
Lecture: Nov. 21
- Community defined: social relationships that take place within geographically defined areas. May refer to relationships that are not locally operative but exist at a most ab- stract level (gay and lesbian, lifestyle, not by neighborhood, etc).
- Leighton’s three ingredients: common local, solidarity/activities, social interaction. However a community should not be bound by geography.
- Social network approach: a network is a specific set of linkages among a defined set of persons with the additional property that characteristics of these linkages as a whole may be used to interpret the social behavior of the persons involved. We can predict people’s behaviors with networks: compare past patterns to what is going to happen. What kind of crimes do we see on campus? (theft) our network to figure this out is the university.
- Redefined: a community is a unit of social organization consisting of overlapping per- sonal network communities represented by relatively enduring social ties that routinely exhibit a high level of social interaction characterized by flows of resources. schaden- freude german = laughing at other people’s pain
- Community based policing led by: 1) rising crime rate/fiscal crisis. 2) Policing de- viance: corruption within police services, excessive use of force [with minorities]. 3) technology: dislocation from the community [b/c of cars, from foot to pavement - 70s.]
- Iron fist and velvet glove (60s-70s): military model (default model for policing): adop- tion of ideas and practices that originated in the armed services. As well as the inter- action between the military and law-enforcement. Technology [they swipe your driver’s license and see past], political surveillance [RCMP], impact policing (SWAT).
- Velvet glove: Pacification model “the idea that police departments should engage in some sort of community relations”. Women begin to enter the police services: putting a nicer face on policing (not as harsh, mean, they deal with the community). Team policing: scottish concept of CBP, police officers are assigned fix neighborhoods and become personally acquainted with that community. Whereas before you never got to know your police officers - now they are assigned a location.
- Broken Windows Theory (1982) James Q Wilson and George Killing. Tremendous in- fluence in law-enforcement, the observed that if someone breaks a window and it is
not repaired quickly, others will break more windows and eventually the broken win- dows will create a sense of disorder. Therefore, it sends a message that nobody cares about the neighborhood and it will attract criminals.
- This was seen in universities, if you see garbage on your desk, you will more likely leave yours too. See other people do it and it becomes normal. “sweating the small stuff”. The example of daisy chaining the people who jumped turn style at metros.
- This theory was analyzed by the governor during 9/11 and the guy who put John Gotti in jail. - fixing NYC: Rudy Giuliani
- Problem-oriented Policing: the view that underlying social conditions cause crime. To control crime effectively, police must uncover and address the existing social prob- lems. Some see it as an alternative and others see it as community based policing. (creating places for kids to go - rec. center so they don’t get in trouble).
- The difference between traditional and contemporary policing: for those who find these confusing, traditional police methods are primarily reactionary, the phone rings and the police respond/react. Contemporary policing acknowledges that the commu- nity is a stakeholder or has ownership in regard to community safety. This style of policing includes the community and the police identifying and resolving community is- sues together.
- Restorative justice: a process whereby parties with a stake in a specific offense re- solve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offense and its implications for the future. It is a perspective with principles - community oriented but not a theory.
- Principles: crime is an offense against human relationships. Victims and the commu- nity are central to the justice process. Crime affects all of us. The first priority of justice processes is to assist the victims of crime.
- The second priority is to restore the community, to the degree possible. The offender has a personal responsibility to victims and to the community for crimes committed. When we put victims and offenders in the same room - communicate and restore.
- Stakeholders share responsibilities for restorative justice through partnerships for ac- tion. The offender will develop improved competency and understanding as a result of the restorative justice experience.
- Summary: to attend fully to the needs of the victim, reintegrating offenders into the community, enable offenders to assume active responsibility for their action. Create a working community that supports the rehabilitation of offenders and its victims, as well as being active in preventing crime. Avoid escalation of legal and associated costs.
- Concluding remarks: doesn’t our current system do this already? Limitations of restorative justice: voluntary cooperation, resources and skills.
Nov. 28
- Real life super heroes: cops catching criminals.
- He does this to protest all things wrong with society - vigilante like Batman. He was abused as a child, has a background that explains why he is in this line of work.
- They care about the world, corrupt governments and corrupt policemen. They fight for the good, they have their reasons even if they aren’t directly affected by the crime.
- They turned their lives around, they had bad lives, they saw themselves going down a bad path - it would be a waste to not use themselves to help people.
Lecture notes, all lectures
Course: Introduction to Criminology (CRM1300)
University: University of Ottawa
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