Comparing
American and Canadian Local Television Crime Stories: A Content Analysis
Kenneth Dowler
Commentaries
Watching the
Web: Thoughts on Expanding Police Surveillance Opportunities under
the Cyber-Crime Convention
Laura Huey and Richard S. Rosenberg
Actuarial Risk
Assessment and Human Rights: A Commentary
Ivan Zinger
Taking Down
the Straw Man: A Reply to Webster and Doob
Kelley Blanchette and Laurence L. Motiuk
"Taking
Down the Straw Man" or Building a House of Straw? Validity,
Equity, and the Custody Rating Scale
Cheryl Marie Webster and Anthony N. Doob
Book
Reviews / Recensions de livres
Books
Received / Livres reçus
Coming
Events / Prochaines manifestations
Index
to Volume 46 / Index du volume 46
Instructions
to authors / Directives aux auteurs
Editorial Announcement
I would like to
announce that as of January 2005, Peter Carrington will assume the
editorship of the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
In a future issue he will announce additional changes to the editorial
structure of the journal. At this time I would like to express my
appreciation to the journal's staff, the members of the Editorial
Committee and Editorial Advisory Board, and the journal reviewers
for their assistance over the past 12 years of my term as editor.
Julian V. Roberts
Mot de la rédaction
C'est avec plaisir
que j'annonce la nomination de M. Peter Carrington à titre
de rédacteur en chef de la Revue canadienne de criminologie
et de justice pénale. M. Carrington, qui intégrera ses
nouvelles fonctions en janvier 2005, vous fera part dans un prochain
numéro de certaines modifications supplémentaires qui
seront apportées à la structure des activités
de rédaction de la Revue. Je profite de l'occasion pour exprimer
ma reconnaissance au personnel de la Revue, aux membres du Comité
de rédaction et du Comité consultatif de la Revue ainsi
qu'aux rédacteurs de revues de livres pour tout le soutien
qu'ils m'ont offert au cours de mon mandat.
Julian V. Roberts
Abstracts
/ Résumés
Lifetime
Sex Offender Recidivism: A 25-Year Follow-Up Study
Ron Langevin, Suzanne Curnoe, Paul Fedoroff, Renee Bennett, Mara
Langevin, Cheryl Peever, Rick Pettica, and Shameen Sandhu
A sample of 320
sex offenders and 31 violent non-sex offenders, seen for psychiatric
assessment between 1966 and 1974, were compared retrospectively on
lifetime recidivism rates to 1999 over a minimum of 25 years. A number
of criteria and data sources were used; RCMP records and hospital
records were the best sources, albeit the RCMP had records for only
54.1% of the cases. Approximately three in five offenders reoffended,
using sex reoffence charges or convictions or court appearances as
criteria, but this proportion increased to more than four in five
when all offences and undetected sex crimes were included in the analysis.
Group differences in recidivism were noteworthy, with child sexual
abusers and exhibitionists most likely to reoffend and incest offenders
least likely. Time at large and time incarcerated played a relatively
minor role overall in results, except in the case of offenders who
were sexually aggressive against adult females, courtship disordered,
or violent. The typical known criminal career spanned almost two decades,
indicating that sex offence recidivism remained a problem over a significant
part of the offenders’ adult lives.
The
Development of Early Delinquency: Can Classroom and School Climates
Make a Difference?
Jane B. Sprott
Previous research
has found that school and classroom climates have important effects
on children’s perceptions and behaviours. More specifically,
there are thought to be two types of support (emotional and instrumental)
provided at the level of the classroom and the school. Emotional support
within the classroom has been found to be most important for some
higher-risk children. There has, however, been little research using
these concepts with outcomes such as delinquency. Therefore, using
two years of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children
and Youth, this study investigates the role of classroom and school
climates on the development of early violence and property offending.
Results revealed that an emotionally supportive classroom when these
children were 10 to 13 years old was related to lower levels of violence
two years later, when they were 12 to 15 years old. In addition, a
classroom that focused on academics (instrumental support) was predictive
of lower property offending. Interpretations and policy implications
are discussed.
Comparing
American and Canadian Local Television Crime Stories: A Content Analysis
Kenneth Dowler
Crime is a staple
of local television newscasts. However, there is debate regarding
the differences between Canadian and U.S. crime coverage on local
television broadcasts. The purpose of this study is to explore differences
and similarities between Canadian and U.S. local crime coverage. The
results suggest that there is no difference in the type of crimes
that are presented on Canadian and U.S. newscasts. However, multivariate
analysis reveals that sensational stories, live stories, and stories
that report firearms are more likely to appear in U.S. markets. Conversely,
national stories and lead stories are more likely to appear in Canadian
markets. To provide context, the propaganda model developed in Herman
and Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent (1988) is applied. At the
local level, American and Canadian news makers engage in selective
news construction in an attempt to appease owners or advertisers and
uphold traditional attitudes toward criminality and justice.
