Crime & Society

Criminology background info

• Urban poor became a target of new laws that emerged to deal with some of the behaviours associated with these populations 

• New laws being created around prostitution and sex work, public intoxications, etc. 

• Behaviours morally agaisnt fabric of society at this time 

Demographics

• Statistical data that relates to the characteristic of a population or different characteristics of a population.  

• Data about the size of different age groups, gender balances, any kind of measurable information that will describe the population.  

Baby Boom 1960s

1960s population of young males in Canada and the United States and the UK increased dramatically.

Historically young men actually committed disproportionate amount of crime. So ages 15 to 24 in general are the most crime prone years for populations.  

we see rising crime rates that met this population coming of age.  

Correlation

Finding that two measurable phenomena occur together. Two different phenomena have a relationship. We don't know the nature of this relationship. If it's wanted direct cause and effect.

Demographic x coorelation

Demographic shift in terms of the baby boom was correlated with rising crime rates.  

1960s and 1970s social and political upheaval

 Entire shifts in the nuclear family. women going into the workforce doubled during the 1960s and 70s

invention of the birth control pill and the more widespread accessibility

Greater acceptance of divorce and increases in divorce rates,

Increases in use of different substances and alcohol consumption at the time.

*increase of crime, led to development of criminology

What is crime?

• An act punishable by law 

• “An act or omission that violates the criminal law and is punishable with a jail term, a fine and/or some other sanction 

• Legal (value consensus/normative position) (legal position) 

• What is a crime is agreed upon 

• Needs to be a law  

What is Sociology?

• The intersection of biography and history 

• Critical analysis of the different types of social memberships, connections and institutions that constitue society across place and time  

• Studies social structures and institutions

Sociological Imagination

• C Wright Mills: developping our sociological imagination is about learning to connect the personal problems we all experience to broader social structures 

• The vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society 

• Ex. Unemployment, individual trouble but broader social issue connected to things like job market, education, etc.  

Social constructionism

knowledge and meaning are developed through social processes and interactions

• Defitions of social phenomena (e.g crime; masculinty and feminity) vary: 

1. From culture to culture 

2. In any one culture over historical time 

3. Over the course of a person’s life 

4. Within any one culture at any time 

What is Criminology?

• Study of crime and criminal behaviour

• The body of knowledge regarding crime as a social phenomenon. Includes the processes of.. 

• Making laws 

• Breaking laws 

• Reacting to the breaking of laws 

Looking at what to criminalize, how we respond to crime, what does evidence tell us about responses to crime and their effectiveness, can studying crime help us respond to emerging challenges

Criminology as an interdisciplinary social science

• Draws on sociology, pyschology, biology, law, geography, economics 

• Includes study of law, history of law, criminalization process, crime prevention and crime control, policing, corrections and penology 

Sociological approaches to criminology

• Focus on social order and social forces 

• Examine how social condtions can influence our laws and our crime rates, importance of history to this understanding 

• Interested in what social and structural changes might be made in order to effectively respond to challenges that crime presents  

What criminologists study? 

Criminology: causes and theories of crime, its extent and effects on individuals and society 

Criminal justice: made up of institutions (police, courts, corrections) and related processes that enforce society’s laws 

Deviance: study of behaviour and how it relates to social nroms; some deviant behaviours deemed by society to be criminal in nature, others not

6 Major Areas of Criminology

1. Definition of crime and criminals  

2. Origins and role of law 

3. Social distribution of crime 

4. Causation of crime 

5. Patterns of criminal behaviour 

6. Societal reactions to crime  

Criminalization w. stigmitization

how certain behaviours become criminalized or de-crimialized over time

• Relationship between criminalization and stigmatization (strongly dissaproving of person or behaviour)  

• Ex. Immigrant populations, mental illness 

• Understanding from stigma what becomes criminalized 

Deviance

behaviours that differ from accepted social norms (criminal or non criminal acts)

Geographic Profiling

tool permitting police officers to focus on the likely residence of offenders in cases of serial crimes

Net Widening

imposing a form of control on individuals who might not be subject to such control ex. (electronic monitoring)

Brief History of Crime and Justice Media

Pre-media, sound media, visual media and new media

Developed from theather/urban legends to pamphelts, commerical film, comics, TV, arcade/video games, computers, virtual reality/news

Narrowcasting

Messages go to smaller interest groups, specializied groups and narrow audiences

On-demand nature

• Access on demand way, controlled by consumer 

Interactivity

Active participant, not passive (co-producers) 

4 Types of Content

• Advertising  

• News 

• Infotainment (news magazines, reality shows, media trials) 

• Entertainment 

Power of Mass Media C. Wright Mills

• Media acts as a gatekeeper (control what’s presented) 

• Material must travel through a series of checkpoints (or gates) before reaching the public.   

• A select few decide what images to bring to a broad audience  

• C. Wright Mills: the real power of the media is that they can control what is being presented 

Crime Waves

definition and consequences, increasing reporting leads to increased awareness (public attention)

Analyzing media content Qual vs. Quant

• Quantitative: counting, what it selected, (how many times certain things are used)

  Manifest content: visible, surface 

• Qualitative: what it made salient, (context or messaging conveyed) 

 Latent content: deeper, symbolic

Media Effects

• The concept that exposure to media has an effect of behavior ex. (young people exposed to violent media will behave aggressively 

• Assumptions and limitations (common sense view that whatever we watch we’ll react, one way relationship, doesn’t account for critical thought 

Crime Comics

• Section 163 of the Criminal Code (crime comics were illegal) (illegal to print sell or publish a crime comic) 

• Believed link between crime comics and psychopathology in young people (corrupted morals) 

• Mutual shaping of media, law and public attitudes about crime

Cultural Criminology

• Subdiscipline of criminology that explores link between culture, crime and crime control in contemporary social life 

• Explores cultural meaning of media and violence and emphasizes significance of active audiences 

Active Audience

The concept that audiences are not passive recipients of information or meanings but are instead active in the process of creating meaning.

Media Framing

• Select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more prominent in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem definition, moral evaluation, and treatment recommendation for the item described  

 

• Entman, 1993: How the media report on a given defines problems, diagnoses causes, makes moral judgements and suggests remedies 

Problem Frame

A narrative that is easily understood because it focuses on the existence of something extraordinary and “bad” that affects many people, and identifies unambiguous solutions that can be implemented in the future

Moral Panic

Phenomena—socially constructed by the media, politicians, and “moral entrepreneurs’ —in which certain people or groups are labelled or stigmatized as the cause of a perceived social problem, resulting in widespread public alarm

ideology

linked set of ideas and beliefs that act to uphold and justify an existing arrangement of power, authority, wealth, and status in society

Discourse

forms of language, representation and practices and how meaning is created and shared within specific cultural and historical contexts

moral entrepreneurs

•A person, group, or organization that takes the lead in identifying certain behaviours as deviant and in need of legal sanctions   

“These members of society make the rules that define what is deviant and create criminal “outsiders””

Primary vs. Secondary Deviance

• Primary Deviance: individual or group engages in a disapproved behavior without seeing that behavior as deviant or criminal 

• Secondary Deviance: Results from societal reaction to deviance (stigmitizationa nd control) leading them to see themselves as deviant or criminal 

Folk Devils

Originating in images from folklore, this term refers to people or groups presented in media as deviant outsiders and the cause of social problems. 

Goode and Ben-Yehuda (1994) Criteria for distinguishing moral panics:

1. Concern (of problem) 

2. Hostility (towards a group) 

3. Consensus (members that pose a threat) 

4. Disproportionality (level of concern disproportionate to level of threat) 

5. Volatility (appears or disappears as a threat, no explanation to why it was a big problem then faded) 

Three theoretical models to explain why moral panics emerge: 

1.Grassroots (genuine public concern, ex. mob) 

2.Elite engineered (small/elite powerful groups set up to create moral panic) 

3.Interest groups (media politicians, etc. act independently with a fear of social problem (ex. Stranger danger, arising from diff child protection organizations) 

The Ideal Victim

• A person or a category of individuals who, when hit by crime, most readily are given the complete and legitimate status of being a victim 

• No “they had it coming”, make most favorable media coverage, white women, seen as needing protection  

6 Ideal Victim Criteria:

1. Weak in relation to the offender: either female, sick, very old, very young, or a combination thereof.  

2. Going about routine, respectable, and legitimate (read as “legal”) daily activities when she or he is victimized.  

3. Blameless for what transpired.

4. Unrelated to and unacquainted with the person who committed the offence.  

5. In a submissive or subordinate position to the perpetrator, who can easily be described in negative terms.  

6. Someone with enough influence, power, or sympa- thy to assert “victim status” without threatening the broader political status quo. 

Representation of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls 

• Canadian news coverage revealed less coverage, not on front page 

• More detached in tone, less in detail than white women 

• Contributes to broader societal inequalities  

• Calls to action, they are worthy victims

“The Bad Guys”: Race, Othering, and Crime 

• Black people portrayed as violent  

• Relying on good/bad guys, seen as more dangerous 

• Stereotyping, relying on binaries 

• Strips people of identity 

• Removes positive attributes 

Substantive Law

Concerned with rights and obligations 

Criminal Law

violations of public order, well-being safety (guilt vs. Innocence proven by crown) 

Sentences ranges from discharge to life in prison with no chance of parole, probition, etc.  

 

Most common is probation, supervision of probation 

Second common is imprisonment (6 months or a moth) 

 

Sentence of less than 2 years vs more is federal correctional institutions 

Third common is fines less than 1000$ 

Death penalty has been abolished in Canada 

Civil Law

infringement of contract, between people (divorce, will) plaintiff and defendant  

Criminal Law,A body of jurisprudence that includes: 

• The definition of various crimes (crime) 

• The specification of various penalties  (consequence) 

• A set of general principles concerning criminal responsibility  (evidence) 

• A series of defenses to a criminal charge (defenses) 

 

*Required to enforce laws regardless of political views

The Crown

individual who represents attorney general e.g prosecutor  

Common Law

A body of law defined primarily through successive decisions of judges, as opposed to through legislation.

Deterrence 

• A principle of sentencing or punishment intended to discourage citizens from offending or reoffending.  

• Specific Deterrence (individual deterred as a result of conviction) 

• General Deterrence (general public deterred from seeing people convicted) 

**looks forward

Denunciation

A formal expression that conduct is unacceptable. (socially wrong) publicly expressed to draw attention

*focuses on society’s values

Retribution

Punishment for transgressions. (pay for their behaviour) *looks backwards

Federal Legislation sources

• Constitution Act, 1867 

• The criminal code of Canda – first passed 1892 

• Defines criminal acts and the legal elements that must be present for a conviction (substantive criminal law) 

• Specifies the criminal procedures to be followed in prosecuting a case and the powers of criminal justice systems officials (procedural law) 

Regulatory Legislation 

• True crime offences vs quasi-criminal offences  

• Orderly legislation of legitimate offences  

• Legislation over health, fishing, etc. 

• Keep food safe, storage tanks for dangerous products 

3 types of offences:

Summary offences: less serious, theft under 500$/misdemeanor  

Hybrid Offences : majority, decides if summary or indictable. 

Indictable offences : serious, felonies, murder, assault, preliminary hearing 

Judge-Made Criminal Law 

Second major source of criminal law: 

• Judicial decisions that interpret criminal legislation or expound the common law 

Common Law 

• Laws that evolve in areas not covered by legislation, taken from past 

• Judges interpret criminal law  

• In canada, judges cannot create new common-law cirmes 

• However, the develop common-law defences that are not dealt with by legislation  

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Criminal Law 

• Principle of the rule of law (everyone must follow, restrains government overstep) 

• Empower judges to deem laws as invalid (e.g abortion) 

• Restricts power of the state and protects rights of individuals 

• Limits on rights (free expression, exception of harmful ex. Shouting fire in a theatre) 

• Hate speech 

Structure of the Canadian Criminal Courts 

1. Supreme court

2. Provincial court of appeal

3. Superior trial court'

4. Provincial / territorial trial court 

Provincial and Superior courts cover majority  

Superior deal with most serious, slightly fever 

 

Supreme court has fewest number

The Criminal Justice Process (6 stages)

Stage 1: Crime reported to/observed by police, police investigate and gather evidence (OPP) or use RCMP for municipal level of policing 

Stage 2: Police provide report to Crown counsel who decides whether to move forward (in public interest or not, press chargers or not) 

Stage 3: swearing of an information before a justice of the peace in Provincial Court who decides whether to order a charge  (police says crime has been committed) 

 

Stage 4: accused arrested or issued with summons to appear in court 

Stage 5: indictment --> preliminary hearing in Provincial Court,  

Summary conviction offence --> straight to Provincial Court 

Stage 6: Trial in superior court, trial in Provincial Court  (judge, or judge and jury) 

The elements of a crime needed to prove a crime: 1. Mens rea

The mental element of a criminal offence or the state(s) of mind of the offender; it is the intent to commit a criminal act. (state of mind) 

The elements of a crime needed to prove a crime: 2. Actus reus

The criminal act or personal conduct relating to a crime; it may include a failure to act but does not include the mental element of a criminal offence. (hitting someone) 

The Actus Reus Elements of a Crime  

 

3 components

• Conduct: act or omission, must be voluntary 

• Circumstances 

• Consequences: of conduct  

Subjective and Objective Mens Rea 

Subjective:  

• The accused intended to bring about consequences prohibited by law 

• The forms of subjective mens rea are: intention and knowledge; recklessness; and willful blindness  

 

Ex. Briscoe 2010 case, sexual assault and killing 

 

Objective: 

• A reasonable person would have appreciated that their conduct created a risk of harm and would have taken action to avoid the actus reus elements of the crime  

Becoming a Party to a Criminal Offence

• Individuals need not commit an offence to be convicted 

• CCC section 21 (1): anyone is a party to a crime who 

• Actually commits it, 

• Aids another person to commit it, 

• Abets (encourages) any person to commit it 

Inchoate Offences

Inchoate crime: when a person attempts to bring about a crime but it unsuccessful in doing so  

Three types of Criminal Code inchoate offences: 

• 1. Counselling: procuring, soliciting or inciting another to commit a crime  

• 2. Criminal attempt: an individual does or omits to do antything for the purpose of carrying out a previously formed intention to commit a crime 

• 3. Conspiracy: An agreement by two or more persons to commit a criminal offence 

Partial defenses:

Crown failed to establish an offence, no criminal liability (alibi) could not have voluntary done it, Mistake of fact (unaware of crime), casting doubt on actus reus or mens rea 

True defenses:

self defense, mental disorder MCRMD, lack capacity to see crime

Common Law defenses:

crafted by court, admit to commiting crime but did so under harm (held at gun point), commited one but small compared to what would have happened if they didn’t commit it  

Criminal Justice Statistics 

 Three broad types:

1. Stats about crime and criminals 

2. Stats about criminal justice system and its response to crime 

3. Stats about perceptions of crime and criminal justice  

Controversies over Counting Crime 

Coverage: How can we obtain reliable and valid data on the scope and nature of the crime 

Reliability: How consistent are the results? 

Validity: Does the tool actually measure crime? 

Methodology: Do the methods used to count crime hold up under critical analysis? 

To change records into usable stats we need to consider methodological issues: 

• Units of count – what is being counted 

• Level of aggregation – how to combine data 

• Definitions – how to define what is being counted 

• Data element – what info is to be collected 

• Counting procedure – how to count units and elements  

Three dominant ways to count crime or describe crime patterns and trends: 

1. Official (police-reported) statistics  

2. Victimization surveys  

3. Self-report studies  

The Uniform Crime Report 

• Introduced in 1962 

• Intended to standardize (make the same) the collection and assembly of police-reported crime and statistics from across Canada 

• UCR 1 and UCR 2 (summary data vs. detailed info on each incident) 

The UCR and Crime rate

• UCR collects data presented as crime rate 

Crime rate is criminal incidents per every 1000 canadians 

• What crime rate allows 

• Seriousness rule (most serious one counted) 

UCR and crime rate concerns 

• underreporting and incomplete data collection 

• Doesn't always align with public perceptions of crime 

• Tell us more of police, what they see as serious 

The Crime Funnel 

1. Undetcted/unreported crime (large)

2. Detected but unreported crime (medium)

3. Reported crime (small)

Large amount of crime unknown or for some reasons not reported 

What is recorded becomes UCR data

The Dark Figure of Crime 

• Crime that is unreported/unrecorded 

• e.g iceberg (tip of iceberg is reported everything underneath is unreported) 

• Personal reasons for not-reporting for example sexual assaults 

• Feel crimes aren’t important 

• Police can’t help or deal with crime in another manner 

Crime Severity Index of the UCR  

• CSI addresses the matter of the crime rate being driven by high volumes of less serious offences 

• CSI is calculated by assigning each offence a weight derived from sentences given by the criminal courts 

• The more serious the average sentence, the greater the weight 

• Thus, more serious offences have a greater impact on the severity index  

Police-reported crime rates Canada 1962-2024 

General trends: 

 

Crime had a steady increase till 1990s then decreases, same for property crimes 

Violent crimes are low, small increase in 1990s, pretty flat 

Police-reported crime severity indexes, Canada, From 1998-2024 

Crime severity index decreases a lot 

Violent CSI flat and decreases in 2014, increasing then in last few years 

 

In pandemic years, drop in violent crime 

2014-2021 increase in violent CSI 

Police-Reported Crime in Canada 2024 

Non-violent crime decreases in 2024, varies from public awareness or policing practices 

Small increases in violent  

The General Social Survey on Victimization + Limitations

• Asks Canadians on their experiences with 8 types of offences: sexual assault, robbery, physical assault, theft of personal property, household victimization, break and enter, theft of motor vehicle or parts, theft of household property, vandalism  

 

Limitations: some criminal acts aren’t captured, or consensual crime (sex-work, assisted suicide, etc), lack validity 

The Construction of Crime Stats via Victimization Surveys

1. A criminal event occurs

2. Crime involves a victim

3. Victim is interviewed

4. Event is recalled

5. Event is labelled as a crime

6. Decision to tell interviewer

7. A victim statistic

Distortion in GSS measurements 

• Sampling (misses youth under 15, homeless, prisoners) 

• Victim disclosure (might not, not feel safe) 

• Telescoping (unintentionally remembering things sooner than they were, false positives) 

• Memory fade (forgetting incidents, false negatives) 

Self-Report Studies 

• Distribution of questionnaire to a sample of people, asks if they have committed a crime in a particular period of time  (specific population) 

 

Strengths: ask direct source, able to ask people what they do, research and theory contribution, people are willing to produce valid responses for petty crimes (less deviant) 

 

Limitations: difficult to survey chronic offenders 

Zombie Laws 

statutes that have been ruled unconstitutional or are no longer enforceable but remain on the books, posing potential risks for future legal interpretations.

The federal government is moving to clean up Canada's Criminal Code by stripping so-called "zombie laws" from the books: 

 

• Spreading false news. 

• Fraudulently pretending to practise witchcraft. 

• Water-skiing at night. 

• Vagrancy. 

• Procuring miscarriage (abortion). 

• Duelling. 

• Crime comics. 

• Issuing trading stamps.