Volume
44, No. 4
October 2002
Editorial
Vice
lessons: A survey of prostitution offenders enrolled in the Toronto
John School diversion program
Scot Wortley, Benedikt Fischer, and Cheryl Webster
Gun
Control in Alberta: Explaining public attitudes concerning legislative
change
Timothy Hartnagel
A
Social control explanation of the relationship between family structure
and delinquent behaviour
Christopher A. Kierkus and Douglas Baer
Commentary
Con Game
and restorative justice: Inventing the truth about Canada's prisons
Liz Elliot
Reflections
on "Con Game"
Dan Gardner
Reading
about prisons: Substance over sensationalism
Allan Manson
Books Received
Instructions
to Authors
Index to
Volume
Book Reviews
Arctic Justice
-On Trial For Murder, Pond Inlet, 1923
Shlagh D Grant
Bearing
Witness to Crime and Social Justice
Richard Quinney
Colonial
Justice Justice, Morality, and Crime In the Niagara District, 1791-1849
David Murray
Costs and
Benefits of Preventing Crime
Brandon C. Welsh, David P. Farrington, and Lawrence W. Sherman
Multi-problem
Violent Youth: A Foundation for Comparative Research on Needs, Interventions
and Outcomes
Raymond R. Carrado, Ronald Roesch, Stephen D. Hart, and Jozef
K. Gierowski
Restorative
Justice: Healing the Foundations of our Everyday Lives
Dennis Sullivan and Larry Tifft Monsey
Uncertain
Justice, Canadian Women and Capital Punishment 1754 - 1953
F. Murray Greenwood and Beverley Boissery
Xth International
Symposium on Victimology (Symposium Proceedings)
Arlène Gaudreault and Irwin Waller
Abstracts/Résumés
Only abstracts
of full articles are contained in these Web pages. Research notes
and commentaries are usually not summarized into abstracts. Readers
who need the complete texts should contact the CCJA and subscribe
to the Journal. They can also purchase single copies of back issues
that are still in stock.
VICE
LESSONS: A SURVEY OF PROSTITUTION OFFENDERS ENROLLED IN THE TORONTO
JOHN SCHOOL DIVERSION PROGRAM
Scot Wortley
Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
Benedikt Fischer
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
and
Cheryl Webster
Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario
This paper
provides a description and evaluation of the Toronto 'John School'
Diversion Program. This alternative sentencing strategy is designed
for the male clients of female prostitutes who have been charged with
an offence under Section 213 of the Criminal Code. Upon entering a
guilty plea, these men are diverted into a one-day educational program
that focusses on the social harms caused by the sex trade. After completing
the program, the original prostitution charge is withdrawn. Results
from a pre- and post-program survey of John School participants (N=366)
indicate that the program is somewhat successful in achieving some
of its principal objectives. After attending the program, participants
are more likely to accept responsibility for their actions, more likely
to admit that they might have a sex addiction and are less likely
to report favourable attitudes towards prostitution. There is also
evidence of significant post-program improvement in the respondents'
knowledge of Canadian prostitution law and an increased awareness
of both the victims and dangers associated with the sex trade. After
completing the program, the vast majority of John School participants
indicate that they will never again attempt to purchase sexual services
from a prostitute. However, one out of every ten participants indicate
that they will continue to use prostitutes in the future. The paper
concludes with a discussion of the potential benefits and problems
associated with the John School model.
GUN
CONTROL IN ALBERTA: EXPLAINING PUBLIC ATTITUDES CONCERNING LEGISLATIVE
CHANGE
Timothy F. Hartnagel
Department of Sociology, University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Gun control
was the subject of increased public attention and debate in Canada
in the 1990s as more restrictive legislation was passed by Parliament.
Although there was a good deal of public support for these increased
restrictions, there was also vocal opposition in some segments of
the population. However, there has been little multivariate research
directed at explaining variation in attitudes toward gun control in
Canada. The present research uses data from a telephone survey of
adult residents of the Province of Alberta to test hypotheses concerning
instrumental and ideological explanations of support for universal
registration of firearms. These hypotheses are tested with controls
for characteristics of the respondents. The results are mainly supportive
of the instrumental perspective: respondents who believe gun control
is effective at crime control are more likely to support universal
registration, although there is some evidence that internal attributions
of the causes of crime results in less support for universal registration.
A
SOCIAL CONTROL EXPLANATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAMILY STRUCTURE
AND DELINQUENT BEHAVIOUR
Christopher A. Kierkus
State University of New York at Albany, School of Criminal Justice
Albany, New York
and
Douglas Baer
Department of Sociology, University of Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia
Despite the
copious amount of literature that has been published regarding the
influence of family structure on delinquent behaviour a clear understanding
of this phenomenon is yet to emerge. The majority of previous studies
have only investigated if family structure is related to misbehaviour.
However, they have failed to establish why this relationship exists.
Some authors who have addressed this issue have attempted to use social
control theory to explain their findings. However, their conclusions
were frequently contradictory. The purpose of this study was to determine
if the parental attachment component of social control theory could
explain why family structure is related to delinquency. Multivariate
logistic regression was used in the investigation. A representative
sample of school children from the province of Ontario was analyzed
(n=1,891). The findings suggest that family structure is a significant
predictor of most self-reported delinquent behaviours at the zero
order level and when age, sex and SES are controlled. However, when
parental attachment is entered into the regression equation, the magnitudes
of the relationships between family structure and delinquency are
substantially reduced. This suggests that the parental attachment
component of social control theory may provide a plausible explanation
for why certain family structures are linked to delinquency.
