Volume
45, No. 2
April
2003
Articles
The
Social Context of Police Discretion with Young Offenders: An Ecological
Analysis
Jennifer L. Schulenberg
Technologies
of Crime: The Cyber-Attacks on Electronic Gambling Machines
John L. McMullan and David C. Perrier
La
remise en liberté sous conditions par les policiers dans des
événements de
violence conjugale
Sonia
Gauthier
The
Incarceration of Aboriginal Offenders: Trends from 1978 to 2001
Julian V. Roberts and Ronald
Melchers
Do
Youthful Offenders Reject Adult Punishment Norms?
Jane B. Sprott
Book
Reviews / Revues de livres
Abstracts/Résumés
The
Social Context of Police Discretion with Young Offenders: An Ecological
Analysis
Jennifer L. Schulenberg
This paper explores the relative
contributions of four ecological theories of crime - urbanization
theory, social disorganization theory, opportunity theory, and the
overload hypothesis - to understanding crime rates and the use of
discretion by Canadian police in their decision making about youth.
Data on crime rates and police charging practices in 447 communities
in Canada in 1991 were regressed on indicators of the characteristics
of the police force and the community, within a path analytic framework.
Support was found only for social disorganization theory as an explanation
of crime rates; and for both urbanization theory and social disorganization
theories as explanations of the police use of discretion with youth.
No support was found for opportunity theory or the overload hypothesis.
Technologies
of Crime: The Cyber-Attacks on Electronic Gambling Machines
John L. McMullan and David C. Perrier
This paper examines the criminal
technologies and criminal organization associated with gambling-related
computer crimes that occurred in the video lottery terminal industry
in the province of Nova Scotia. We emphasize the techniques of VLT
crime, such as cracking protection codes, boot tracing, ghost programming
and down-lining, as rationally geared to neutralizing social control.
We analyze how the cyber-attacks were socially organized and we conclude
by discussing the implications that our case study has for the field
of computer crime.
La
remise en liberté sous conditions par les policiers dans des
événements de
violence conjugale
Sonia Gauthier
Cet article porte sur l'utilisation,
par les policiers, d'un pouvoir que leur a conféré le
Code criminel canadien en 1994 : celui de remettre les suspects en
liberté sous conditions en attendant leur première comparution
(art. 499 [2] et 503 [2.1]). Nous avons mené une recherche
portant sur 1'usage de cette pratique dans le cas de ceux soupçonnés
d'un crime de violence conjugale. Des entrevues semi-dirigées
ont été conduites auprès de 18 policiers (enquêteurs
et lieutenants-détectives) du Service de police de la Ville
de Montréal, entre les mois de mars et octobre 2000. Les enquêteurs
rapportent que ce nouveau pouvoir leur a permis de libérer
une proportion importante de prévenus. Toutefois, l'ampleur
de cette pratique varie entre les enquêteurs, qui disent utiliser
cette mesure pour 35 % à 90 % des prévenus. Cette décision
est prise si l'enquêteur détermine que le prévenu
ne risque pas de récidiver. Les facteurs les plus déterminants
dans la décision que les enquêteurs doivent prendre sur
le statut des prévenus sont la présence ou non d'antécédents
de violence (judiciarisés ou non) ou de bris d'ordonnance ainsi
que la gravité de l'accusation. La condition de remise en liberté
qu'ils considèrent la plus importante et qu'ils imposent presque
systématiquement est celle sur la non-communication avec la
victime.
The
Incarceration of Aboriginal Offenders: Trends from 1978 to 2001
Julian V. Roberts and Ronald Melchers
The high rates of Aboriginal
admissions to custody have been noted by Commissions of Inquiry, all
levels of government, and Corrections texts in Canada or some time.
In the most recent year for which data are available (200-2001), Aboriginal
offenders accounted for 19% of provincial admissions and 17% of federal
admissions to custody. This article examines provincial custodial
sentenced admissions for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal offenders since
1978, when national statistics including the ethnicity of the offender
were first published. Particular emphasis is paid in this analysis
to recent trends during a period in which Parliament and the Supreme
Court have tried to address the problem, the former by statutory recognition
of the unique nature of Aboriginal offenders, the latter by judgements
interpreting Criminal Code sentencing provisions introduced in 1996.
The findings suggest that little progress has been made in reducing
the number of Aboriginal sentenced admissions over the past few decades.
Although the volume of Aboriginal admissions to custody has declined
since 1993-1994, non-Aboriginal admissions have declined at an even
faster rate, suggesting that specific policy changes are not responsible
for the Aboriginal decline.
Do
Youthful Offenders Reject Adult Punishment Norms?
Jane B. Sprott
This study investigates whether
or not people see young offenders as a distinct group of youths who
reject society's punishment norms. Specifically, views from members
of the public and from young offenders on appropriate punishments
in three hypothetical cases are explored. Results reveal that not
only do members of the public see young offenders as a distinct group
of youths who prefer more lenient punishments than do other adolescents,
but young offenders themselves also believe that other young offenders
would prefer lenient punishments. Young offenders, however, actually
suggest harsher punishments than members of the public suggest. Moreover,
young offenders are aware of public support for punitive sanctions
and of the desire to keep offenders out of the community through incarceration.
These findings support earlier findings by Beaquisto and Freed (1996)
that offenders do not reject society's punishment norms. Young offenders'
misconception that the public is punitive, however, may present a
challenge for reintegration.
