Effective
Crime Prevention in the 1990s
Paper spoken
to by David Kilgour, M.P. Edmonton
Southeast
at the CAVEAT SafetyNet Conference
Sheraton Hotel, Hamilton
19 September 1994
Canadians have been calling for
years for changes that would include
an effective crime prevention
strategy. According to a recent
poll (June, 1994), two-thirds
of respondents believe there has
been an overall rise in crime
in their community in the last
five years. Fully one in four
Canadians reported they were the
victim of a crime during the past
two years. While most Canadians
cited unemployment and other social
factors as the main reason for
crime, 82% said they believe our
courts are too lenient. Fully
86 per cent favored manual labor
as punishment for young offenders.
Violent crime
Polls suggest that the fear of
crime is becoming a more significant
factor in the quality of life
of Canadians, whether or not it
is fully justified by the numbers
of reported criminal offenses
in a given period. Newspaper articles
and television reports on sensational
crimes create an impression of
omnipresent criminals. The growing
size of the communities with which
we identify gives us the impression
that we are more vulnerable to
these events.
A study released by criminologist
Irwin Waller in 1992 concluded
that Canada's violent crime rate
is second only to that of the
United States among industrialized
countries. Some experts blame
crime in our society on the glorification
of violence in popular culture.
A report published by the American
Psychological Association says
the average child in the U.S.
has seen 8,000 deaths and 100,000
other acts of violence on television
by the time they leave elementary
school. The programs were found
to devalue and stereotype social
groups, especially Afro-Americans
and women, by either excluding
them from shows or giving them
negative roles. The report, based
on a five-year study by nine psychologists,
showed that the violence on television
influences viewers, particularly
children and teenagers, to use
violence to resolve conflicts
and makes them more accepting
of sexual violence and rape.
After forty years of extensive
research, the prestigious British
medical journal "The Lancet"
concluded in its January 15, 1994
issue that "it is clear that
television violence can lead to
harmful aggressive behaviour."
According to the journal’s
editors and other leading researchers,
the scientific debate over television
violence is now over and the link
with real violence is established
fact.
A consolidated effort by parents,
educators and policy makers should
aim at stemming the avalanche
of violent images broadcast into
our homes as well as reducing
the time our children watch TV.
Any effort by the media to help
eliminate violence is truly commendable;
like the "Speak Out Against
Violence" campaign, launched
last April by private broadcasters
in partnership with six federal
departments. Over 390 private
radio and television stations
across the country pledge air
time to share and promote activities
to help eliminate violence in
their communities.
Victims
Under our present legal system,
crimes are committed "against
the state" when they are
in fact mostly done against specific
victims. All too often victims
are treated as nothing more than
another piece of evidence in the
state's case against an accused.
The interests of the victim must
be more fully recognized and protected.
Criminal conduct is primarily
a violation of the rights and
security of the person(s) against
whom crimes are committed. Many
victims require compassionate
treatment and information, explaining
each stage of the legal proceedings
as well as access to necessary
trauma programs, services and
compensation.
If the perpetrator of a violent
criminal act is apprehended, convicted
and sentenced to a term of years
in prison, the victim of the crime
should feel relatively safe. Often,
however, this is not true because
violent criminals, sex offenders,
and drug pushers can still apply
for parole after serving a third
of their sentence.
Offenders with a history of parole
violations and persons with records
of violence should be denied any
form of early release. Conditional
early releases have often proven
a disaster. The protection and
safety of Canadians should take
priority over the wishes of the
convicted offender.
Criminologists have debated the
issue of crime for centuries.
It is now widely recognized that
traditional criminal justice responses
are weak deterrents to acts that
threaten public safety and security.
The "police, courts, and
corrections" approach to
crime is invoked only after an
offense has been committed. Critics
maintain, however, that identifying
and punishing criminals are ineffective
ways to reduce the risk of future
crime and promote community safety.
The United States affords a glaring
example of the limited impact
that criminal justice responses
have on crime. In 1991, the U.S.
Senate Judiciary Committee described
the U.S. as "the most violent
and self-destructive nation on
earth." Every hour, approximately
200 Americans become victims of
violence, despite the fact that
United States' annual expenditures
on police, courts and corrections
exceed $70 billion and that the
United States imprisons its population
at a higher rate than any other
country for which data on incarceration
are available. Thankfully, the
Canadian crime situation is not
as critical as that of our neighbor
but much evidence from the U.S.
indicates that repressive measures
alone often fail to deter crime.
As Jane Jacobs puts it in her
book, Death and Life of Great
American Cities, "The
first thing to understand is that
the public peace ... is not kept
primarily by the police, necessary
as police are. It is kept primarily
by an intricate, almost unconscious,
network of voluntary controls
and standards among the people
themselves . ... No amount of
police can enforce civilization
where the normal, casual enforcement
of it has broken down."
Crime prevention
At the National Symposium on
Community Safety and Crime Prevention
in March 1993, the then Minister
of Justice said that our traditional
responses to crime were costing
Canadians upwards of $14 billion
a year. This includes $8 billion
spent on policing, courts and
corrections, as well as at least
$6 billion more on private security,
insurance and other responses
and reactions to crime.
Intelligent strategies for effective
crime prevention have gained international
significance and support. According
to one crime prevention promoter
(Irwin Waller), "Effective
crime prevention has been called
for by the United Nations, The
Council of Europe, by the European
and North American Conference
of Mayors, and by the Cordoba
Declaration for Latin America.
It is time to move from rhetoric
to action." The objectives
of crime prevention include: to
prevent people from becoming crime
victims; to curb fear; to make
streets safe; and to improve police-community
relations. Community policing,
reducing opportunities for crime,
and altering the conditions that
breed crime are program approaches
to realizing these objectives.
Community policing in the 1990s.
Research and practical experience
have demonstrated clearly that
joint participation of police,
the community and policy makers
is far more conducive to crime
prevention and control than the
individual efforts of any one
group.
There is a growing consensus
among police professionals, community
representatives, academics and
others, that "community policing"
is the most appropriate response
to the problems of the next decade.
In some communities, there has
already been a shift away from
traditional law enforcement to
a more preventive approach involving
public input to the policing process.
One outcome of public participation
is that police are more accessible
to the citizens they serve and
more informed about the crimes
that are of concern to the local
population. Ideally, the community-based
policing model fosters partnership
between police, other community
agencies and citizens.
A recommendation in the draft
resolution made to the United
Nations Economic and Social Council
by the Committee on Crime Prevention
and Social Control was for member
states to take steps to ensure
"...that one of the essential
tasks of the police is to prevent
crime and that, in order to carry
out this task, it must develop
prevention initiatives that involve
citizens and community organizations."
Opportunity-reduction: watch-type
programs
Reducing opportunities for crime
requires action by individuals
and communities often in cooperation
with local police forces to protect
themselves from becoming victims
of public violence and property
crime. In Canada, community-based
crime prevention programs were
introduced with the establishment
of the highly successful Block
Parents program in 1972 and
the development of Neighborhood
Watch by 1980. It is estimated
that a third of residences in
Canada have now become involved
in Neighborhood Watch programs.
The very pervasivness of these
programs testifies to their success.
Neighborhood Watch can
serve as the foundation for programs
to reduce burglary and robbery,
strengthen neighborhoods in transition,
prevent arson, reduce fear of
crime and make communities more
stable. Neighborhood Watch
successes are difficult to quantify,
but there is no doubt that citizens
and local law enforcement strongly
support and want to continue these
programs. In the final analysis,
that may be the most important
indication of its effectiveness.
These prevention measures attempt
to modify the behaviour of victims
or alter physical environments
to prevent crime and reduce fear.
The focus is on criminal acts,
not on offenders. In addition,
the YMCA, church groups, schools,
park boards, volunteer groups
and local governments are all
strongly committed to the idea
that strengthening community institutions
is a sound way to prevent crime.
They constantly look for additional
ways to alter social conditions
that are commonly associated with
criminal activity.
They are defensive strategies
aimed at reducing public
violence and property crimes that
are usually done by strangers.
It is unlikely, however, that
such measures have an inhibiting
effect on violence such as wife
battering and child abuse that
occurs in homes.
Crime prevention through social
development
A social development approach
involves positive interventions
in the lives of the disadvantaged
in order to seek a reduction in
anti-social tendencies. It assumes
measures that do not tend to tackle
criminal acts directly; rather,
a long-range view is taken, with
the elimination of society’s
underclass being of paramount
importance.
Chronic offenders and their families
display a myriad of problems:
poverty; poor school performance;
low self-esteem; unemployment;
drug abuse; violence in the family;
inadequate housing. These conditions
marginalize people from the community
mainstream and weaken their loyalty
to its norms of conduct.
Improvements to the quality of
lives through effective policies
and programs are regarded as essential
to compliance with societal rules
and deterring a criminal career.
The family situation has been
found to be a significant factor.
Delinquent groups as a whole tend
to come from homes that were physically
and emotionally less adequate
than those of the non-delinquent
group. It is also documented that
the environment in which delinquents
were raised were less likely to
produce "healthy, happy and
law-abiding children" than
those in which the non-delinquent
children were raised.
American studies have found that
the greatest incidence of delinquency
could be found in the inner zones
of a city - areas in transition
from residential to business and
industrial use. A study in Chicago
covering eight years showed that
in the areas that had been weakened
socially by the encroachment of
business and industry, and where
physical destruction of buildings
had taken place, the highest incidence
of crime and delinquency occurred.
An American sociologist's study
of over 1,300 gangs in Chicago
found that delinquent gangs existed
wherever there were overcrowding,
poverty, and slum conditions.
If we expect children to become
contributing members of society,
we must provide them with the
nurturing, love and assistance
they need. By supporting children
early in their lives, we may be
able to identify and deal with
certain problems before they become
more serious and expensive. Examples
of such support include pre-natal
care, nutrition, parenting, literacy,
job training, and alcohol and
drug programs. According to the
advocates of crime prevention
through social development, such
initiatives unblock opportunities,
foster a sense of self worth and
create safer communities overall.
Canadian youth
In some provinces, the youth
unemployment rate is almost 20
per cent. Young people roam our
streets aimlessly, often destructively,
with no prospects. More than one
million Canadian children and
youths live in poverty. Some of
our cities seem to be falling
apart literally at the seams.
A walk through any large city
will certainly illustrate the
urban decay and human misery -
the breeding grounds of criminal
activity. A large number of young
Canadians today as elsewhere in
the world are unfortunately failing
to learn integrity, personal responsibility,
and respect for others’ rights
and property.
According to Statistics Canada,
the number of youths under the
age of 18 who were charged with
violent crime nationwide more
than doubled from 1986 to 1991,
reaching nearly 19,000. Of these,
in 1991, 20% involved female youth.
This represents a marked increase
over a decade previously.
By 1990, five years after the
Young Offender Act came into effect,
violent crimes by young offenders
had increased 30%. The recent
rash of brutal and fatal shootings
and stabbings by teenagers has
pushed public anger to its limit.
Equally shocking to many Canadians
is the reality that a teenage
killer can be released from jail
in as little as 12 months; that
at least was the sentence served
by a 16-year-old Toronto adolescent
for a 1992 second-degree murder
conviction.
In September 1993, The Globe
and Mail reported that "Several
violent incidents at Metro Toronto
schools since classes began have
increased fears that school grounds
are becoming battlegrounds and
that more and more students are
carrying knives, hand guns and
other concealed weapons along
with their textbooks." In
Ontario, one-fifth of teachers
said that they felt physically
threatened while on the job. In
British Columbia, the number was
one-tenth. An independent report
released by the Solicitor General
in August 1994, confirmed that
knives are the common weapons
in schools and that more girls
and younger people are involved
in acts of violence than ever
before.
The criminal habits being adopted
by these young people may stay
with them all of their lives at
horrendous cost to themselves
and society. The rising trend
towards criminal involvement by
young people must be addressed
to prevent both future crime and
the unacceptable waste of human
potential.
Let me conclude with some strong
words from the prize-winning author
Carsten Stroud’s recent book,
Contempt of Court:
"...the corrections people
are out of control; social workers
are all over the justice system
like a plague of missionaries;
the Young Offenders Act is still
creating gang violence and feeding
new talent into the criminal
mainstream. Lawyers are playing
asinine games with the Charter.
"...as for the rest of
us, we have been sheep. We have
given up our streets, we’re
nervous in the parks and we’re
making cocoons of our houses.
"That’s not good
enough for me, it’s not
good enough for my children
and it shouldn’t be good
enough for you....you won’t
like (this book), but if I get
it right, you may get mad enough
to DO something about it. At
least, I hope so. Because if
you don’t, you’d better
get used to staying home Friday
nights."
The responsibility for our safety
does not lie solely with the police,
the judges, the lawmakers - nor
should it rest most heavily on
their shoulders. Rather, it is
a mutual responsibility that we
all must bear equally, because,
as Edmund Burke put it: "The
only thing necessary for the triumph
of evil is for good men to do
nothing."
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