Volume 39, No. 4
October 1997
Crime
among the provinces: The effect of geographic mobility
Timothy F. Hartnagel
Self
control, social control and evolutionary psychology: Towards an integrated
perspective on crime
Augustine Brannigan
Public
opinion of statutory maximum sentences in the Canadian Criminal Code:
Comparison of offenses against property and offences against people
Kevin S. Douglas and James R.P. Ogloff
Sentencing
in Canada: Recent statistical trends
Julian V. Roberts and Andy Birkenmayer
Book
Reviews
BARNETT et LAVIOLETTE: It Could Happen to Anyone. Why Battered
Women Stay
Dianne Casoni
PRADEL:
Droit pénal comparé. GARAPON: Le gardien des promesses:
Le juge et la démocratie. ROBERT et ZAUBERMAN: Du côté
des victimes: Un autre regard sur la délinquance. ROCHÉ:
La société incivile: Qu'est-ce que l'insécurité.
STANCIU: Flamme et lumière en criminologie. NÉGRIER-DORMONT:
Criminologie de l'acte: Étude sur les tueurs en série.
MONJARDET: Ce que fait la police: Sociologie de la force publique
André Normandeau
Books
Received
Coming
Events
Instructions
to Authors
Index
to Volume 39
Abstracts/Résumés
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Research notes and commentaries are usually not summarized into abstracts.
Readers who need the complete texts should contact the CCJA and subscribe
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that are still in stock.
Crime
among the provinces: The effect of geographic mobility
Timothy F. Hartnagel
Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta
Canadian provinces
persistently exhibit a regional trend in their crime rates: western
provinces have generally higher rates. There is little research directed
at explaining this trend. The present analysis investigates the effect
of geographic mobility as a possibly disintegrative force weakening
informal social control, resulting in higher crime rates. Multiple
regression techniques are used to assess the effect of geographic
mobility net of several other potential predictors. The results support
the hypothesis of a positive net effect of geographic mobility on
both violent and property crime rates over a twenty-year period.
Self
control, social control and evolutionary psychology: Towards an integrated
perspective on crime
Augustine Brannigan
The University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
A General Theory
of Crime proposed by Gottfredson and Hirschi identifies low self control
as a critical condition for individual choices associated with delinquency.
The disposition towards low self control arises from failures in supervision,
discipline, and informal control in the family during the child's
first eight years of life. This approach to control theory is complemented
by the life cycle theory explored by Sampson and Laub, particularly
in their stress on the process of informal social control and the
structures of social capital, as these contribute to desistance among
life-long offenders. Hagan's power-control theory tackles the significant
contribution to crime of gender socialization and the division of
labour in child supervision. The revised control perspective still
suffers from significant anomalies which cannot be explained within
a classical framework. It is suggested that an examination of distal
explanations of violence derived by Daly and Wilson from an evolutionary
view provides clues to these anomalies. This essay outlines the relative
strengths of these approaches and suggests the foundations for an
integrated theoretical synthesis.
Public
opinion of statutory maximum sentences in the Canadian Criminal Code:
Comparison of offences against property and offences against people
Kevin S. Douglas and James R.P. Ogloff
Department of Psychology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.
An important
principle of Canadian society and jurisprudence is the value of human
life and safety. While many areas of the law reflect this tenet, the
system of maximum sentences (maxima) in the Canadian Criminal Code
appears to be inconsistent with it. With the exception of offences
such as homicide many offences against the person have maxima which
are less severe than those for offences against property. The present
research surveyed the general public and college students for their
perceptions of offence seriousness, and preferred and estimated maximum
sentences for 15 Code offences (5 offences against people, 5 traditional
property offences, and 5 white-collar offences). Responses of 155
participants were compared across offence categories and to Criminal
Code maxima. Results showed that people considered offences against
the person as more serious and warranting greater maxima than property
or white-collar offences. People preferred maxima for offences against
the person which were greater than Criminal Code maxima, and which
were lower than Criminal Code maxima for property offences. Preferred
white-collar maxima did not differ from or were greater than Criminal
Code maxima. Estimates of maxima were significantly inaccurate for
12 of 15 offences. Estimated maxima, though largely incorrect, consistently
were lower than preferred maxima.
Sentencing
in Canada: Recent statistical trends
Julian V. Roberts
Department of Criminology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
and
Andy Birkenmayer
Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, Ottawa, Ontario
Sentencing
statistics are not routinely published in Canada. In this article,
we summarize the principal findings from a data-base recently created
by Statistics Canada. The sentences derive from provincial courts
in nine jurisdictions across Canada over the period 1993-1994. These
are, accordingly, the most systematic sentencing data collected in
decades. The sentencing data-base contains information on 551, 682
individuals and over one million sentences. The findings reported
here are restricted to single charge cases, in which one charge is
associated with a case. A fine was the most frequently imposed sanction;
fines were imposed in over half the cases. A term of imprisonment
was imposed in one-quarter of the cases. Sentences of imprisonment
were frequeltly accompanied by a period of probation to be served
at the conclusion of the term of custody. Sentencing patterns at the
trial court level bore little relationship to the maximum penalty
structure, thereby underlining the importance of a comprehensive revision
of the maximum penalties currently found in the Criminal Code.
