Criminology Midterm - Penal Populism, Bail, Parliament & legislative process, Deinstitutionalization, and Policing

When emailing what should you include?

University email, course and section number ()

Lecture vs. seminar?

Lecture:

• formal

• instructor-led

Seminar:

• smaller

• interacive

–> this class includes portions of lecturing but also requires student engagement

What is CRIM 131: Criminal Legal Systems?

Covers how the criminal justice system works, why it operates the why it does, and how it affects different groups.

• explore concepts, thrones, institutions, and principles that shape Canadas criminal legal system

• examines how the system is developed specifically in canada through the roles of parliament

• also looks at how these policies impact different groups of people in society.

What is the difference between the Constitution Act (yr?) and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (yr?)? Why are these highlighted in CRIM 131?

The Constitution Act 1867

• outlines the separation of responsibilities between the federal government and provincial governments

• divides law-making authority between governments (sections 91 & 92)

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)

• fundamental rights and freedoms for individuals living in Canada

• can limit what the government can do. for example, it protects the right to be presumed innocent in a criminal trial

This is important to CRIM131 because it explains how Canadas criminal legal system is organized and the different responsibilities in our government. We also understand peoples legal rights and what limits the government must follow

• to evaluate the criminal justice system: when the government proposes a new law, we need to consider whether it falls within its constitutional authority and whether it respects charter rights

Why are sections 91 and 92 of the constitution act, 1867 relevant to CRIM131?

Sections 91 and 92 of the Constitution Act 1867 are relevant because they establish the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments, dictating who has the authority to create, enforce and administer criminal laws in Canada

How are responsibilities divided among federal, provincial, and municipal governments?

Federal = whole country

• criminal law

  • federal prisons (penitentiaries)

Provincial = the province

• provincial courts

• prisons

Municipal:

• parks

• roads

• local police and rescue services (VPD)

What happens if you serve a sentence above or below 2 years? How does this change if you are a youth? What is considered youth and criminal responsibility?

2+ years –> federal penitentiary

2 years less a day: provincial correctional centre (jail)

Youth: under 18

• ages 12-17 are criminally responsible and dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act

• Youth custody facilities are designed to address young people’s developmental needs and emphasize rehabilitation

• why?: youth are still developing and the youth justice system has to emphasize rehabilitation and reintegration into society so they can get the help they need and try to prevent reoffending.

Differentiate and define laws, regulations, and social norms. How are these connected?

Laws

• official rules established by the government that are legally enforced and if broken result in legal consequences such as imprisonment

• passed by a legislative body psych as parliament

Regulations

• a rule created to support a law that explain how the law must be applied

• consequence: fine

Social Norm:

• unwritten expectations about how people should behave in society

• consequences: social disapproval

–> all connected because the legal system helps create, enforce, and interpret laws and regulations, while social norms influence what society considers acceptable behaviour.

How would you describe penal populism?

when criminal Julie policies are shapes by public opinion and popular more punitive demand for punishment, rather than primarily by evidence, or expert research.

• for example, if the public demands for harsher prison sentences after a high-profile crime occurs that is sensationalized by the media. Politicians might introduce more punitive sentencing laws to appeal to voters, even if evidence doesn’t show that harsher punishments would reduce crime.

What does Garland (2021) say about penal populism? 4 major claims

Garland argues that penal populism is when politicians claim to represent the public’s views on crime and punishment instead of relying on criminological research and expert knowledge

• Main points:

  • public opinion over expertise: politicians prioritize what they believe the public wants rather than evidence-based recommendations from criminologists

  • harsher punishments: penal populism leads to punitive punishments and policies, although it doesn’t always have to

  • media influence: news headlines and emotional stories about crime influence public opinion and prompt politicians to appear tougher on strategies for crime prevention and punishment

  • Importance of evidence and experts: Garland believes that the public shoulnt’t be ignored fully but criminologists should explain their research clearly so the public is more informed rather than only consuming sensationalized media. Garland suggests that criminologists should learn from the public health experts, making research more accessible to the public

Whats is populist punitiveness?

populist punitiveness: the public wants harsher punishments for people who commit crimes

• not all punitive policies are populist: a policy can impose harsh punishments without being based on public opinion

What is criminological expertise?

knowing crime and criminal justice based on criminology research and evidence

• aims to answers the questions of:

  • why does crime happen?

  • who commits the most crimes?

  • how is it measured?

Why is penal populism a characteristic of democratic societies such as the USA

Because politicians depend on public support and votes to remain in power. When sensationalized media generates fear and anger about crime, politicians might respond to those emotions by promising harsher punishments to appeal to voters

• sensationalized media creates emotional reactions such as fear, anger, and desire for retribution

  • Retributivism: punishment is justified because something wrong

What does it mean when Garland says politicians construct an image of ‘‘the public” or '““create and orchestrate” the popular opinion it claims to express.”?

public opinion is not necessarily a fixed, unified set of beliefs that politicians merely report. It can be shaped by media coverage, political messaging, and the way opinions are selected and numerically measured by surveys.

Penal populism changed the legal system from _______ to ______?

From:

• value of criminological evidence and expertise

  • → what research tells us about crime, punishment, and rehabilitation

• nuance

  • → recognizing that crime has different causes and different situations require different responses

• prevention

  • → understanding how to prevent crime rather than focusing on punishing offenders

• complexity

  • → considering the social, economic, and psychological factors on punishing offenders

To:

• “The people”

  • → what the politicians present ordinary citizens as one unified group whose views they claim to represent

• “common sense”

  • → relying on what seems obvious or intuitively correct to ordinary people, rather than carefully examining criminological evidence to the complexity of criminal justice issues

  • → for example people may reason that more punitive punishments to crime will deter overall crime. However, a criminologist would investigate whether longer sentences do deter crime, how effective rehabilitation is, and what factors contribute to reoffending.

What was highlighted in Polievre and Carney’s speeches and how does this represent penal populism?

Polievre: “Canada will be safe again”

• title frames public safety as a problem that needs to be corrected through political action

• uses fear mongering, oversimplification, emotional language to elicit an emotional response → leading to populist punitiveness as the statement reinforces demands for stricter bail rules and tougher punishment

  • uses or weaponizes “exceptional case” meaning a rare or extreme event to elicit emotional response leading to overgeneralization and blame

• the statistic about “the same 40 offenders in vancouver were arrested 6,000 times” creates this idea that the current justice system is ineffective and suggests that if you vote for him he will restore public safety

• also creates an “us” vs “them” divide making it. seems as though offenders are fundamentally different from everyone else and deserve to be locked up because they are dangerous instead of thinking about factors such as socioeconomic inequalities that can foster criminality

Carney: “Combating Crime”

• officers standing behind him providing a visual symbol of authotity, law enforcement, and public protection which strengthens carneys credibility by visually associating him with the people responsible for enforcing the law

• the specific wording of combating crime presents crime as an opponent that the government must fight rather than a more complex issue.

• The use of wording and the political symbolism of the police officers reinforces a more legalistic approach to crime which can make tougher enforcement and punishment feel necessary

What do I mean by public opinion ≠ public understanding

public opinion → what people feel or think about crime

public understanding → knowing the facts, causes, and evidence about crime

• opinion is shaped by how crime is presented to us

  • media and politicians influence how people perceive crime through the stories they choose to highlight and the language they use

• crime is framed through emotion rather than evidence

  • presented in ways that trigger fear, anger, or a desire for punishment instead of encouraging people to examine facts and research

  • for example, describing offenders as people who are repeatedly released to commit more crimes can make stricter bail laws seem like the obvious solution

What are the 6 major drawbacks of penal populism?

1. Worsening conditions of confinement:

• penal populism often encourages harsher punishments and more imprisonment which increases the prison population

  • overcrowding:

  • → less space and fewer resources for each person

  • → Illness: overcrowding can make it harder to maintain hygiene and provide adequate healthcare

  • → Violence: poor conditions, stress, and limited resources can contribute to conflict and violence inside prisons

2. Less rehabilitation and fewer support services;

• when the focus is on harsher punishment rather than rehabilitation, prisoners may have less access to education, counselling, addiction treatment and other services

  • → makes it harder for them to reintegrate into society after release

  • → without adequate support, some people may return to criminal behaviour

3. Higher financial costs:

• imprisonment becomes expensive

  • est. $100,000 per person $200,000 for women annually

  • → if policies lead to more people receiving longer prison sentences, public spending increases

4. longer processing times for trials

• more punitive approaches can increase the number of cases involving pre-trial detention and bail hearings

  • → can put additional pressure on courts and contribute to delays

5. punitive responses to criminal behaviour

• penal populism emphasizes harsher sentences and punishment instead of considering a wider range of responses

  • → results in punishments that are disproportionate to the seriousness of an offence or the circumstances of the individual

  • harsher punishments ≠ greater public safety. that depends on prevention, rehabilitation, and addressing the causes of offending

6. complex causes of crime are oversimplified:

• crime can be fostered by socioeconomic inequalities, mental health challenges, social inequality and other factors

• reduces crime to a simple problem of “bad people” that need to be locked up

Review Questions:

1. what is penal populism?

2. why does it increase prison populations?

3. why is there a push for harsher punishments?

4. What do we mean by division of power?

1. penal populism is when politicians or governments shape criminal justice policies heavily on public opinion rather than on criminological research about what reduces a crime

2. Politicians introduce harsher laws, longer sentences, and stricter bail polices to appeal to “the people”. Sensationalized media influences public opinion and politicians can capitalize on the fear by providing such “solutions”

3. the push for harsher punishments is feuled by emotional responses to crimes and the assumption that longer and harsher sentences deter and reduce crime. Media coverage and political speeches such as Polievre or Carney can create an us vs. them mindset. This meaning that they portray ordinary citizens “us” as needing protection from dangerous offenders “them”, making toucher punishments seem necessary

4. How the authority of the government is distributed between different levels which is highlighted in the constitution act 1867, specifically in sections 91 and 82.

Why is the Constitution Act 1867 important, specifically sections 91 and 92, especially regarding penal populism?

Sections 91 and 92 divide law making powers between federal and provincial governments in Canada. This matters regarding penal populism because politicians cannot simply make any law or policy and they must act within their constitutional authority

What is bail?

bail or judicial interim release, is when someone who has been accused for a crime is released into the community while waiting for their trial.

• the court can release the person with conditions to maintain primary, secondary, and tertiary grounds but must always start with the presumption of innocence (11d) and right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause (11e)

  • cause meaning a risk or breach of one or more of the grounds

• Alternatively, the accused can be kept in custody while waiting for their trial. this is known as pre-trial detention or remand.

→ bail happens when someone is accused of a crime awaiting trial. does not mean individual is convicted or determined guilty

What is the three legislative criteria for denying bail

1. primary ground; RISK OF NOT APPEARING

• evaluates whether the accused is likely to attend their future court dates

  • looks at if they have failed to appear in the past. Takes community involvement or amount of family members in the area into account

2. secondary ground: PUBLIC SAFETY

• evaluates whether releasing the accused would create a risk to public safety

  • looks at history of violence or relevant behaviour

3. tertiary ground: PUBLIC CONFIDENCE

• examines whether releasing the accused would undermine the publics confidence in the justice system

What is onus & reverse onus?

onus:

• onus is legal responsibility to demonstrate why a particular decision should be made. generally, when the crown seeks to detain an accused person the crown must show the court why detention is justified under one of the legal grounds. This protects the right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause (11e)

reverse onus:

• burden of proof falls onto the accused person to demonstrate why they should be released on bail and not on remand. currently only used for specific serious/violent offences and reoffendiung

  → increasing trend of reverse onus previsions

What is the ladder principle?

Means that courts show consider the least restrictive form of release first and should only movie to more restrictive conditions when the law and circumstances justify it

What is the process of bail?

Depending on the circumstances generally the accused will have a bail hearing where a judge decides whether they should be released or detained. This decision has to consider specific legal criteria and follow policies such as the ladder principle

What is remand? What government has authority over it? and what are the issues with remand?

• remand is pre-trial detention where an accused person awaits their trial or another stage of their criminal proceedings

• provincial governments operate jails where many people held on remand are housed

  • 75% if people in custody are on remand

• a huge portion of people in custody are awaiting the outcome of their cases, rather than serving a sentence. This shows that remand can contribute to overcrowding, increased costs, and overall negative impact on conditions of confinement

• remand can also contribute to reoffending with a disruption to everyday life which could lead to someone losing their job, home, connection to education, and or family. It increases the exposure to negative influences such as those poor conditions of confinement creates. The exposure to such things makes reintegrating more difficult

• Loss of employment and housing:

• Limited rehabilitation:

• Exposure to harmful prison conditions:

• Disrupted social support:

• Difficulty reintegrating:

What are some examples of bail conditions

• Stay in the province.

• Abide by curfew.

• No alcohol and/or drugs.

• Restricted network and internet.

What is the legislative process?

Process to create an official law through multiple steps and stages in both the House of Commons or the Senate

• starts with a written legislative proposal “BILL” that must be approved by parliament before it can become a law

• bills can start in either the the House of Commons or the Senate, most originate in the House of Commons

At the federal level, the legislative branch involves WHAT three components?

• the crown:

• The House of Commons

• The senate

Define bill, act, amendment, clause, royal assent, and coming into force: **

• Bill: A proposed law or written legislative proposal that is being considered by Parliament.

• Act: A bill that has received Royal Assent.

• Amendment: A formal change, addition, or correction to a bill or law.

• Clause: A numbered provision or section within a bill that deals with a particular matter.

• Royal Assent: Formal approval that allows a bill to become an Act.

• Coming into force: The point when an Act or its provisions become legally effective.

The law-making process can be understood in terms of WHAT four distinct stages?

1. Cabinet stage:

2. The Parliamentary stage

3. Royal Assent

4. Coming-into-force stage

What happens in the Cabinet stage?

The purpose of the Cabinet stage is to review and decide which measures the government wants to implement through legislation. The cabinet reviews the policy and decides whether to proceed. This will ensure that it is consistent with past cabinet disisions and with the Canadian Bill of Rights

What happens in the parliamentary stage?

In this stage the bill is introduced, debated, studied, possibly amended, and then voted on in both the House of Commons and the Senate

1. first reading

   • bill is introduced

2. second reading

   • principle of bill is debated & a vote is taken on referring the bill to a committee for a more detailed study 

3. committee stage

   • carrying out a detailed study and clause-by-clause deliberation, committee then reports back to the chamber with or without amendments

4. report stage

   • bill is passed by committee and further debated where amendments can be adopted or rejected

1. third reading

   • the bill including any amendments is debated and voted on

Both chambers must agree on the same version of the bill. If one chamber makes amendments, the other must agree to them before the bill can proceed to Royal Assent.

What happens in the Royal Assent stage?

once the bill is passed by the House of Commons and the Senate the bill awaits royal assent which is when it becomes an act

• granted by the governor general or a deputy of the governor general

• At this point, the bill becomes an Act of Parliament.

• Royal Assent is a formal constitutional step; it does not necessarily mean the law takes effect immediately.

What happens in the coming-into-force stage?

An Act can receive Royal Assent but not yet be legally in effect.

The legislation may specify that it:

• Comes into force immediately upon Royal Assent.

• Comes into force on a particular date.

• Comes into force on a date set by an order of the Governor in Council.

• Comes into force in stages, with different provisions taking effect at different times.

If no commencement date or other trigger is specified, the federal Interpretation Act generally provides that the Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.

Key distinction: Becoming an Act and coming into force are not always the same thing.

Why are some bills presented BILL C and some BILL S?

The prefix indicates the Chamber of Origin – the house where the bill is introduced, debated, and voted on FIRST.

• most government bills start in the House of Commons, especially if that specific legislative proposal spends public money or imposes taxes (‘c”)

• Bills will pas through both chambers but one will be first and the other one after

Why do we think about parliament?

• creates legal framework that criminal justice institutions operate within.

• defines what is considered a criminal offence, and creates rules that influence policing, bail, and sentencing

• example: introduced stricter bail laws → more accused in remand → increased pressure on jails, courts, and government budgets

• relates to penal populism:

  • introduce more punitive punishments in response to public opinion

  • raises questions about who decides what behaviour is criminal and whether proposed punishments are justified and effective

• at the same time, it is also important to understand:

  • legislation goes through several stages of scrutiny

  • parliamentary committees can question experts, examine evidence, and recommend ammendments before a bill becomes a law

  • particularly important when politicians propose laws based on public fear rather than evidence about what actually reduces a crime

What is the main claim of Boyd & Kerrs research paper?

Examines VPD reports published between 2008 and 2013 about mental health in Vancouver, BC.

• the authors argue that the VPD presents mental illness as a problem of dangerousness, violence, and the failure of deinstitutionalization and lack of policing resources.

• The authors’ concern is that the VPD’s reinforced the association between mental illness and dangerousness, emphasized control rather than support, and overall diverted attention from broader social problems.

• Overall, the issue is not so much about police responding to mental health crises but instead how they are defining the problem and which solutions it promotes

When thinking about Boyd & Kerrs research paper what did they mean when they talked about “claims maker”

a claim maker is an individual or institution that publicly defines a social problem and promotes a particular understanding of it

• the VPD institutional authority acts as a dominate claims maker and gives their interpretation a considerable influence

• this is an issue because when a powerful institution frames or defines a problem in such a way, it influences the solutions and makes them seem necessary or legitimate. For the the “mental health crises” in DTES and the way people are framed by such a dominate claims maker feeds the cycle of stigma and segregation, escalating the mental health crisis.

What is the main claim of Boyd & Kerrs research paper specifically in terms of deinstitutionalization?

• questions the way the VPD drew connections to deinstitutionalization and mental health. By emphasizing violent incidents correlated with a reduction of psychiatric beds, it frames it as a public safety issue that could be addressed by bringing back more secure institutional care. The authors argue that this did not address the wider problem; deinstitutionalization was not accompanied by sufficient community-based services and housing. In other words, the problem was not simply that people had been released from institutions. It was also that the support system they were supposed to have outside those institutions was inadequate.

What are the 3 styles of policing?

1. legalistic style: police enforcing the law strictly and consistently

2. watchman style: maintaining order and keeping the peace. Will use informal methods such a warnings instead of arrests or tickets

3. service style: focus on helping people, providing assistance, and responding to community needs

→ police services will develop different priorities and police officers themselves may have a different style than their agency

• reflection: whether communties have more access to housing, health care, and other resources. whereas communities experiencing concentrated poverty may face more visible social problems. Police discretion can be influenced by their perceptions of the situation. Behaviour from an individual may be interpreted differently considering which community they live in. Does policing respond differently to communities because their needs and circumstances differ, or do institutional assumptions and inequalities also shape which communities receive assistance versus enforcement?

Why are police interactions with peoples with mental illness (PMI) increased?

police frequently encounter people experiencing mental health issues

police interactions can include:

• Responding to mental health-related calls.

• Conducting wellness checks.

• Transporting someone for a mental health assessment.

• Responding to incidents where mental illness and suspected criminal activity overlap.

• Responding when someone is in crisis and other services are unavailable

Why is this increased?

• Gaps in the mental health care system

  • large psychiatric institutions were reduced or closed to transition into community-based care but it didnt get sufficient funding for mental heath services and housing

• Police enforce mental heath legislation

  • required to apprehend and transport someone to a designated facility

  • and also people are more likely to call police when someone is experiencing a serious mental health crises because of concern of safety

• stigma and perception of dangerousness

  • When people with mental illness are stereotyped as violent or dangerous, their behaviour may be interpreted as a threat to public safety, encouraging responses focused on policing and maintaining order.

a major concern is that sometimes persons with mental illness (PMI) are framed as threats who need to be controlled enforcing stigma and encourage a criminal justice response to situations that may require healthcare instead

Why is the data on police contact to PMI difficult to interpret?

1. Problems with police defining mental illness

• Police officers aren’t mental health professionals: may identify someone as having a mental illness based on their observations or perceptions of what mental illness looks like

2. police encounters with PMI in many different situations

• not every interaction is the same circumstance

3. Framing people with mental illness as dangerous and violent

• may emphasize dramatic violent events, creating an impression that PMI are dangerous. especially paired with the lack of understanding with defining mental illness becomes very problematic and results in establishing that all PMI should be policed

overall → The connection is that the way police define and record mental illness affects the data they collect, and the data they collect affects how people interpret the problem.

• What is getting recorded? What conclusions are being drawn?

  • Data collection

    How do police define mental illness, and what interactions do they record?

    Data interpretation

    What conclusions do people draw from those records and statistics?

    Consequences

    How might those conclusions influence stigma, policing practices, and funding priorities?

What are forms 4.1 and 4.2

• Form 4.1: Associated with a person's voluntary admission to a designated facility.

• Form 4.2: Associated with an involuntary admission (forceful admission) process under the Act.

  • → psychiatrist approves, police do the wellness and transporting

The connection to policing is that officers may assist with transporting or apprehending someone under applicable legal authority when the statutory requirements are met.

Police may also conduct wellness checks, but a wellness check does not automatically mean someone will be apprehended or admitted to hospital.

The broader point is that police can act as a bridge between a person experiencing a crisis and the healthcare system, even though they are not themselves providing psychiatric treatment. They use thei

What are the Federal, provincial/territorial, and municipal levels of policing?

Federal: primarily Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)

• crimes and threats affecting Canada as a whole

  • examples: organized crime, national security, and cross-border crime

Provincial/territorial policing:

• provincial police services if they exist, or the RCMP under contract if not

• enforce provincial laws

Municipal: VPD

• independent city or town services or RCMP municipal detachments funded by local governments

• enforced local municipal by-laws and public order (emergency service calls, localized crime, traffic safety local roads)

Why do we mention:

• who funds these types of policing what kind of priorities are set and services are provided

• we think about the levels of policing because it affects who provides the services, who is paying for it, and where those resources are allocated

Why do we think about allocation of resources?

allocation of resources meaning there money, staff, and time should go

• we question whether money is being distributed effectively between policing and other services

  • why did the spending increase

  • was it justified?

  • could it be allocated differently:

    • would more investment in mental-health services, housing, or community programs

What is deinstitutionalization?

was a movement particularly during the 19609s and 70s, which goal was to move people out of large psychiatric hospitals and institutions toward treatment in their communities

• However, governments couldn’t adequately fund or establish those community-based alternatives. as a result people could not access the support they needed, contributing to increased police involvement in the mental-health crisis

• goes back to why we talk about government because it highlights how government policies and funding can shape how law is implemented and how it impacts citizens.

• if we use oak ridge as an example which was a program that presented itself as psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation was later found to have inflicted serious harm on patients. As the video stated the government played a role in legitimizing an institution until it came under criticism.