Introduction
Social policies are constructed to guide society. These policies are influenced by the collective morals and values of the people living in a society. Social policies in Canada are founded on the best interest of Canadians. Most importantly, social policies address issues by creating and implementing the appropriate solutions. Politicians have the prime role in creating policies and ensuring that these policies provide an answer to key issues in society. However, along the way these policymakers face many challenges and difficulties in forming and implementing the appropriate social policies.
This thought paper is going to research and evaluate the challenges of creating and implementing crime policy. Furthermore, it will examine the contributing factor of the weak relationship between criminologists and society. The issues will then be followed up with a personal perspective on how these crime policy issues can be resolved. The conclusion will provide an overall personal perspective on the crime policy issues in Canada and will suggest how these solutions could benefit crime policy creation in Canada.
Challenges in creating effective crime policies
Over time, there has been growing gap between criminal policy and criminology (Garland & Sparks, 2000). Despite the criminal knowledge and expertise academic criminologist possess, their advancement or role towards creating crime policy has not been immense (Garland & Sparks, 2000). While various governments have introduced mandatory minimum and more lengthy sentences for offenders, there has been a lack of strategic criminological advice and knowledge when developing these policies (Garland & Sparks, 2000). This lack of criminological influence when creating and imp...
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...hemselves and discuss the issues in society. Criminologists should build stronger relationships with media organizations so they can make the public more informed about effective crime policies with radio interviews, TV interviews and by writing columns in newspapers, etc. The stronger relationship and awareness made from media will influence the public perception towards implementing academically researched crime policies. Overall, the more knowledge the public has about academic approaches to solve crime issues will consequently direct the publics pressure for policymakers to use academic methods to create crime policies that are effective in solving crime issues. Consequently, the more informed the public becomes of the criminological approaches for crime policies will create a stronger relationship with criminologist and policymakers due to the public interest.
Canadian Criminology: Perspectives on Crime and Criminality. M. A. Jackson and C. T. Griffiths Ed. Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jonovich, 1991. 315-346.
Through the first chapter of this book the focus was primarily on the notion of controlling crime. The best way to describe crime policy used in this chapter is comparing it to a game of ‘heads I win, tails you lose’. This chapter also addresses the causes for decline in America’s
Hickey, T. J. (2010). Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Crime and Criminology, 9th Edition. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
This essay will look at defining what social policy is and give a brief overview of the selected policy. Examining the need for the policy, statistical evidence supporting this. Then the pressure groups lobbying and who may have been influential in policy development.
Violent crime in Canada is on the rise in Canada as well as the types of
Marion, N & Oliver, W. (2012). The Public Policy of Crime and Criminal Justice, Second Edition.
Improved economy helped Canada’s rate of crime decrease since the 1990’s but different evidence suggests that methods used in response to serious crimes during that time may have influenced the crime trends. The Constitution Act of 1867 contains the authority to enact criminal laws and procedures to be followed by the federal government (Welsh & Irving, 2005). First enacted in 1892, the Criminal Code, continually revised, is used for setting out two main categories of offense: indictable and summary conviction, indictable being homicide and robbery, more serious kinds of crime with involved trials (Welsh & Irving, 2005). Canada is also known for its Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and these police ...
There was a decline in crime during the 1990s. Our country enjoyed seven years of declining crime for the period 1991-98, the most recent data available. During this period crime declined by 22% and violent crime by 25%. These are welcome developments, particularly following the surge of crime and violence of the late 1980s. This decline occurred during a time when the national prison population has increased substantially, rising from 789,60 in 1991 to 1,252,830, a 59% rise in just seven years and a 47% increase in the rate of incarceration, taking into account changes in the national population (Mauer 21-24).
Newburn, T., (2013) Criminology Tim Newburn. (2nd ed). 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14.4RN: Routledge.
Organized crime is a major problem in monetary terms and it costs the loss of billions of dollars every year. Organized crime violates our basic Canadian right to peace, quality of life, personal security, corruption in our political system and governments. Furthermore, weak governments and societal structures are arguably some of the root causes of organized crime. Organized society brings forth organized crime and heavy laws further promote it. The government responds to the violence related to organized crime with strong security measures while paying less attention to the causes of these
Winslow, R. W., & Zhang, S. (2008). Contemporary Theories of Crime. Criminology: a global perspective (). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
In 2013 according to Statistics Canada, out of 2,098,302 violations, 383,945 were violent crimes throughout all of Canada (Government of Canada). Violent crimes are an act of violence which Involves intentionally harming others or even threatening to harm others. Violent crimes are considered one of the most serious crimes, carrying out an act of felony. Meaning if these crimes are committed; people serve one or more years in a federal prison (Education Portal). Violent crimes not only involve intentionally hurting someone with your fists but can also involve the use of weapons, and poison (date rape drugs.) These various types of violent crimes include Terrorism, Murder, assault, robbery, Battery, or kidnapping (Education Portal).
One of the factors involved in crime policy making progress is the public opinion of crime which is evaluated by surveys and opinion polls conducted by government, interest groups. Collecting information through these studies create new visions about the influence of policies. Opinion polls and surveys also serve as standards and references for future plans. In most cases, public opinion decides the priority of the public and have the government take necessary actions about these priorities.
Criminology is the study of crime and criminals; a branch of sociology. More accurately, it is the study of crime as a social trend, and its overall origins, its many manifestations and its impact upon society as a whole. That makes it more a form of sociology than a law enforcement tool. But the trends it studies have a huge impact on the way the police do their jobs, the way society treats its criminals, and the way a given community goes about maintaining law and order. The writer will describe and give examples of the three perspectives of viewing crimes. The perspectives that will be highlighted are the consensus view, the conflict view or the interactionist view. Each perspective maintain its own interpretation of what constitutes criminal activities and what causes people to engage in criminal behaviors (Siegel, p.12).
The Classical School of Criminology generally refers to the work of social contract and utilitarian philosophers Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham during the enlightenment in the 18th century. The contributions of these philosophers regarding punishment still influence modern corrections today. The Classical School of Criminology advocated for better methods of punishment and the reform of criminal behaviour. The belief was that for a criminal justice system to be effective, punishment must be certain, swift and in proportion to the crime committed. The focus was on the crime itself and not the individual criminal (Cullen & Wilcox, 2010). This essay will look at the key principles of the Classical School of Criminology, in particular