Highlights from SOC 225 Criminology: Correlates of Criminal Behaviour

  1. Colonial Model

    • Indigenous societies colonized by Euro-Canadians resulting in social and psychological consequences.

    • Institutional alienation leads to high violence rates in Indigenous communities.

  2. Historic Trauma Transmission Model

    • Acculturation leads to "learned helplessness" and various negative behaviors.

    • Trauma transmitted biologically, psychically, and socially.

  3. Critical Race Theory

    • Indigenous overrepresentation in the criminal justice system (CJS) due to exclusion and harsher sentences.

    • Reflects dominant group norms and discriminatory treatment (e.g., crack vs. cocaine sentencing).