Only abstracts of full articles are contained in these Web pages. Research notes and commentaries are usually not summarized into abstracts. Readers who need the complete texts should contact the CCJA and subscribe to the Journal. They can also purchase single copies of back issues that are still in stock.
CONSOMMATION DE SUBSTANCES PSYCHOACTIVES ET DEGRÉ DU CRIME
Fu Sun
CICC Université de Montréal
Montréal, Québec
Marie-Marthe Cousineau
CICC Université de Montréal
Montréal, Québec
Serge Brochu
CICC Université de Montréal
Montréal, Québec
Noé Djawn White
CICC Université de Montréal
Montréal, Québec
The purpose of the article is to identify the links between use of psychoactive substances and the seriousness of the crimes committed by users. It focuses on three aspects: the seriousness of the crime in relation to (1) the types of substance used, (2) intensity of use, and (3) the user's level of dependency on the substance concerned. Seriousness is based on the most serious crime for which the individual has been convicted. The starting point for the study was a Correctional Service of Canada databank containing information on 8211 individuals who had filled out the Computerized Lifestyle Assessment Instrument questionnaire (CLAI) between 1993 and 1995 when they first entered a penitentiary.
The study shows that people consuming alcohol on the day the infractions occurred committed crimes of greater seriousness than people consuming other substances or consuming nothing at all. Those consuming illegal drugs committed less serious crimes than other consumers and non-consumers. Change in intensity of consumption seems to have little effect on the seriousness of crimes. However, users of illegal drugs who consumed a greater quantity than usual on the day of the infraction committed crimes that were significantly more serious than did the other perpetrators. Regarding analysis of dependency, the only significant link was a linear one between the level of alcohol dependency and the seriousness of the crime.
TREATMENT AT LA MACAZA CLINIC: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF THE SEXUAL OFFENDERS' PERSPECTIVE.
Martin Drapeau
Université de Québec à Montréal & McGill University
Lachine, Québec
Christine Annett Korner
Abteilung fur Psychosomatik u. Psychotherapeutische Medizin
Frelburg, Deutschland
Louis Brunet
Département de Psychologie
Université de Québec à Montréal
Montréal, Québec
Luc Granger
Département de Psychologie
Université de Québec à Montréal
Montréal, Québec
This exploratory study aimed at better understanding why pedophile sex offenders enter and remain in treatment and how they consider it to be helpful. Comparative analysis was applied to non-directive semi-structured interviews with 24 pedophile sex offenders from La Macaza clinic at La Macaza's federal penitentiary, Quebec. Three major themes were examined: 1) the offenders' impressions about the voluntary basis of the treatment; 2) the nature of the motivation for treatment of the subjects and; 3) the different ways in which therapy was or was not helpful. The results are discussed in reference to psychodynamic literature on therapy processes and sexual deviance pathology.
L'IMPACT D'UNE PERTURBATION SOCIALE MAJEURE SUR LES OCCASIONS CRIMINELLES ET LA FRUSTRATION REALTIVE: UNE ÉTUDE DE CAS
Frédéric Lemieux
École de criminologie, Université de Montréal
Montréal, Québec
We analyze how long-lasting power blackouts, while and immediately after what was called the "ice storm", have substantially - though temporarily - modified the range of crime opportunities for potential offenders and the reasons for relative frustration for the most significant victims of the "disaster". First of all, the study focused on the impact of a peak rise in crime opportunities on criminality levels. Contrary to the Montreal area, we notice that the rise in crime opportunities in Montérégie has a significant upward impact on property crimes, while it implies a downward trend in other crime categories. Furthermore, while focusing on population shifts in the Montérégie area ("the black triangle"), it seems that the intensity and scale of the connection remain. Then, we questioned whether the relative frustration of victims generates a rise in crime as a whole and in the local areas particularly touched by the weather ("the black triangle"). It appears that at the very moment dissatisfaction is general with actual opportunities to be expressed, the necessary conditions to a rise in crime are gathered.
ADVANCING SOCIAL INCLUSION
Elizabeth Sheehy
The author uses the premises and inquiries advanced by the literature on social inclusion to consider its potential for the re-visioning of criminal law and policy. She notes that criminal law and social inclusion are fundamentally at odds, but argues that governments and policy-makers committed to inclusion in social and economic policy cannot fulfill that mandate without turning their attention to criminal law. She identifies the process of criminal law reform, the definition of crime, the enforcement of the law, and the outcomes ofcriminal law as areas for which social inclusion offers insights and directions.
