July/juillet
2005
Volume 47, no. 3
Articles
The Sentencing
of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Youth under the Young Offenders Act:
A Multivariate Analysis
Jeff Latimer and Laura Casey Foss
Needing Treatment:
A Snapshot of Provincially Incarcerated Adult Offenders in Nova Scotia
with a View towards Substance Abuse and Population Health
Heather A. Kitchin
Can
Mediation Be Therapeutic for Crime Victims? An Evaluation of
Victims' Experiences in Mediation with Young Offenders
Jo-Anne Wemmers
and Katie Cyr
L'effet des
interventions légales sur les accidents mortels et associés
à
la conduite avec facultés affaiblies au Québec entre
1980 et 2001
Étienne
Blais et Marc Ouimet
Commentaries
Commentary
J. Paul Fedoroff
Inflammatory
Rhetoric? Baseless Accusations? A Response to Gabor's Critique of
Racial Profiling Research in Canada
Scot Wortley and Julian Tanner
Book
Reviews / Recensions de livres
See/voir <http://www.ccja-acjp.ca/>
Books
Received / Livres reçus
Coming
Events
Abstracts
/ Résumés
The Sentencing
of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Youth under the Young Offenders Act:
A Multivariate Analysis
Jeff Latimer and Laura Casey Foss
This paper examines the sentencing
of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth under the Young Offenders Act,
using youth court data from five major cities in Canada. Three separate
sentencing decisions are examined using logistic and multiple regression
analyses: (1) the imposition of a custodial sentence versus a non-custodial
sentence, (2) the use of secure custody versus open custody, and (3)
the length of the custodial sentence. First, there is no evidence
that Aboriginal youth are more likely than non-Aboriginal youth to
receive a custodial sentence. Sentencing judges appear to base the
decision to impose custody on traditional factors such as criminal
history and the severity of the offence. Second, there is no convincing
evidence to suggest that Aboriginal youth are more likely than non-Aboriginal
youth to receive a secure custody sentence. Lastly, there is evidence
to suggest, however, that Aboriginal youth are likely to receive a
longer custodial sentence than non-Aboriginal youth, regardless of
standard aggravating factors such as criminal history and offence
severity.
Needing
Treatment: A Snapshot of Provincially Incarcerated Adult
Offenders in Nova Scotia with a View towards Substance Abuse and
Population Health
Heather A. Kitchin
Currently, Nova Scotia Correctional
Services offers little by way of programming or treatment for adult
offenders incarcerated under its authority, despite research showing
a positive correlation between substance abuse and crime. Through
both qualitative and quantitative data, this research report (1) situates
the case of Nova Scotia within other literature that addresses crime
and substance abuse; (2) presents a snapshot of the demographics and
programming needs of provincially incarcerated adult offenders in
Nova Scotia; (3) speaks to the need for accredited substance abuse
programming for provincially incarcerated offenders; and (4) asserts
that "warehousing" inmates may be addressed and potentially
ameliorated through a population health approach to addiction policy,
programming, and related treatment services. The purpose of this article
is to report findings from research conducted with adult offenders
incarcerated provincially across Nova Scotia, with a view to exploring
links among crime, addiction, and population health. It is found that
a large majority of provincial inmates in Nova Scotia are challenged
by substance abuse, that crime in Nova Scotia, as elsewhere, is largely
correlated to addiction, and that adult offenders appear to be motivated
to participate in substance abuse programming while in custody. Prospects
for future research are also considered.
Can Mediation
Be Therapeutic for Crime Victims? An Evaluation of
Victims' Experiences in Mediation with Young Offenders
Jo-Anne Wemmers and Katie Cyr
Victims' experiences in the
justice system may help or hinder their healing process. Restorative
justice aims to heal the suffering caused by victimization (Zehr 2002).
However, some victim advocates have expressed concern that restorative
justice may augment victims' suffering. This article presents the
results of an evaluation of the experiences of crime victims who were
invited to participate in a mediation program. Using therapeutic jurisprudence
as a framework, the study looks at how victims' fear was affected
by the program and whether their participation in the program helped
with their recovery.
L'effet
des interventions légales sur les accidents mortels et associés
à
la conduite avec facultés affaiblies au Québec entre
1980 et 2001
Étienne
Blais et Marc Ouimet
La conduite avec facultés
affaiblies par l'alcool (CFA) étant une cause importante des
accidents mortels, plusieurs pays ont promulgué des lois pour
dissuader ce comportement. Bien que plusieurs évaluations témoignent
de la capacité des lois à améliorer le bilan
routier, cette position ne fait pas l'unanimité chez les criminologues.
Plusieurs reproches aux évaluations de ne pas opérationnaliser
les concepts reliés à la théorie de la dissuasion,
ce qui ne permet pas de bien comprendre pourquoi la loi se solde par
un succès ou un échec. Notre étude prend en considération
les critiques précédentes. Nous optons pour une méthode
évaluative qui intègre les actions des différentes
instances pénales et nous opérationnalisons nos variables,
en tenant compte des concepts centraux à la théorie
de la dissuasion. Nos résultats montrent que l'augmentation
de la probabilité d'être incarcéré (combinée
à un maintien élevé des arrestations policières)
et les campagnes médiatiques accompagnant la loi C-18 de 1985
ont significativement fait diminuer les accidents mortels associés
à la conduite avec facultés affaiblies au Québec
entre 1980 et 2001. Pour cette période, nous estimons à
un peu moins de 2 000 le nombre d'accidents mortels prévenus
par l'augmentation de la probabilité d'être incarcéré.
Inflammatory
Rhetoric? Baseless Accusations? A Response to Gabor's Critique of
Racial Profiling Research in Canada
Scot Wortley and Julian Tanner
Racial profiling has become
one of the most controversial issues facing the Canadian criminal
justice system. In a recent article, Thomas Gabor dismisses much of
the evidence of racial profiling in Canada as "baseless"
and "inflammatory." We address Gabor's critique by highlighting
findings from a Toronto survey which suggest that black youth are
much more likely to report being stopped and searched by the police
than youth from other racial backgrounds. Logistic regression analysis
reveals that the impact of race remains strongly significant after
controlling for social class, self-reported criminal activity, gang
membership, drug and alcohol use, and public leisure activities. The
article concludes with a discussion of the impact that racial profiling
has on minority communities and a brief review of the potential benefits
- and consequences - of mandating the police to collect their own
stop and search data.
