Volume
39, No. 3
July 1997
Factors
affecting the referral of young offenders for medical and psychological
assessment under the Young Offenders Act
Lindsay A. Jack and James R.P. Ogloff
Fear,
victimization, and attitudes to sentencing, the courts, and the police
Jane B. Sprott and Anthony N. Doob
Selling
newspapers or educating the public? Sexual violence in the media
Maria Los and Sharon E. Chamard
La
pratique des tribunaux face aux renvois vers les centres de traitement
de la toxicomanie
Serge Brochu et Andrée Drepeau
Current
Research
Book
Reviews
BRODEUR: Comparison in Policing: An International Perspective
Christopher Murphy
JACCOUD:
Justice blanche au Nunavik
Guy Rocher
Books
Received
Coming Events
In
Memoriam - Noël Mailloux, o.p.
Memo
to Authors
Abstracts/Résumés
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Factors
affecting the referral of young offenders for medical and psychological
assessment under the Young Offenders Act
Lindsey A. Jack and James R.P. Ogloff
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.
Section 13(1)
of the Young Offenders Act (YOA) provides only a vague description
of the circumstances that warrant referral of a youth for medical
and psychological assessment. Judges must therefore make referral
decisions with little explicit guidance, basing them upon factors
that remain largely unknown. Court records of 190 youths (95 referred,
95 non-referred), adjudicated at the Vancouver, B.C. Youth Court,
were examined for demographic and criminal case variables that distinguish
referred from non-referred youths. Referred individuals tended to
be white youths charged with several offences, at least one of which
was an offence against person. Referred youths had substantial behavioural
and psychological problems, becoming court-involved at a younger age
than non-referred youths. Youths perceived as high risk for recidivism
are more likely to be referred. Amendments to s. 13 (under Bill C-37)
reinforce the premise that recidivism risk should result in referral;
as a result, the system could become overloaded.
Fear,
victimization, and attitudes to sentencing, the courts, and the police
Jane B. Sprott and Anthony N. Doob
Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Many Canadians
perceive the criminal courts as being too lenient in the sentencing
of offenders. A common explanation for the widespread perception of
leniency is that people have inadequate knowledge of the courts generally,
and of sentencing in particular. It may be that knowledge is only
part of the story and that another widespread feeling - fear - is
partially responsible for these views of sentencing. Using data from
Statistics Canada's 1993 General Social Survey, it was found that
those who fear crime are more likely to view adult sentences as being
too lenient. This held for both victims and non-victims and was still
evident when other variables (gender and age) were controlled. Moreover,
the higher one's fear, the more likely one was to rate the courts
and the police negatively. The relationship between specific victimizations
and views of sentencing, the courts, and police was complex and appeared
to be independent of the relationship of fear with these variables.
Selling
newspapers or educating the public? Sexual violence in the media
Maria Los
Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
and
Sharon E. Chamard
Rutgers-SUNY, New York, USA
The research
discussed in this paper focuses on the ways the print media discourse
surrounding sexual aggression was affected by the 1983 sexual assault
legislation and the campaign that preceded it. The research combined
the quantitative and qualitative approaches. In addition to the question
of (re)presentation of rape/sexual assault, the study also looked
at the processes of the media (re)construction of both women and the
feminist movement.
The authors
discovered that feminist criticism of the media's over concentration
on sexual aggression by psychopathic strangers ('monsters') might
have indeed prompted a shift toward more coverage of the 'acquaintance
rape'. Not surprisingly, however, this has lead to the portrayal of
rape as an ambiguous interaction that has more to do with sex than
violence. By departing from the 'pure rape' scheme that matches the
ideal subject/object relation, the reporting on the acquaintance sexual
assault treats the complainant as a partner rather than a victim.
In sexual assault stories, this peculiar construction of women as
subjects can only be achieved through their vilification and the denial
of a historical social context in which the perilous interaction takes
place.
La
pratique des tribunaux face aux renvois vers les centres de traitement
de la toxicomanie
Serge Brochu
Centre international de criminologie comparée (CICC),
Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec
et
Andrée Drapeau
Avocate et criminologue, Montréal, Québec
La loi modifiant le Code criminel
en matière de détermination de la peine a été
mise en application à la fin de l'année 1996. Par les
nouvelles possibilités d'emprisonnement avec sursis que cette
loi propose, les ressources offrant des programmes de traitement en
toxicomanie se sentent interpellées et entrevoient un alourdissement
de leur clientèle. L'objectif général de cette
étude consiste à prévoir les retombés
réelles de cette loi dans les affaires impliquant des toxicomanes.
Une méthode tripartite consistant à 1) analyser les
écrits scientifiques pertinents; 2) analyser les références
jurisprudentielles reliées; et 3) à rencontrer les principaux
acteurs pénaux impliqués dans l'application de ces modifications
au Code criminel fut utilisée. Bien sûr, les conclusions
sont à l'effet que la sentence d'emprisonnement avec sursis
ajoute à la panoplie des mesures sentencielles une alternative
supplémentaire pour une clientèle de contrevenants.
Par contre, son application soulève des interrogations et son
succès est lié à un certain nombre d'éléments
qui sont explorés dans cet article.
