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THE RISE AND FALL OF R.C.M.P. COMMUNITY JUSTICE FORUMS: RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND PUBLIC SAFETY INTEROPERABILITY IN CANADA
John Edward Deukmedjian
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
University of Windsor
RCMP executives and the Canadian government promoted community justice forums (family group conferences) in the late 1990s. They did so because CJFs offered a process consistent with the national community-policing strategy. When this strategy changed, executives cut their support for the program. This paper argues that this "rise" and "fall" was a function of the program’s theoretical and procedural alignment with shifting strategies of national governance. This raises a question about the role of restorative forums in Canadian governance. If such programs remain desirable, multi-agency forums (police, public schools, child welfare, immigration) may well align with the nascent governmental framework of public safety interoperability. The paper also considers another possibility: non-state local peacemaking forums. The conclusion discusses potential benefits and limits of these possibilities. It also offers general theoretical observations on the role of alignment in governmental programming.
STUDENT AND NON-STUDENT PERCEPTIONS AND AWARENESS OF IDENTITY THEFT
John Winterdyk and Nikki Thompson
Department of Justice Studies
Mount Royal College
Several recent reports have recognized identity theft as a major concern to law-enforcement agencies and the judicial system in Canada. While there is considerable descriptive information on identity theft and identity fraud in Canada, there is a dearth of information about peoples’ knowledge and awareness of identity theft and their potential risk to becoming a victim. This study measured the self-reported perception and awareness about the nature, extent, risk, and effects of identity theft and a variety of fraudulent behaviours among 360 college/university students and 106 non-students using a 5-point Likert scale survey. The findings indicate that students are perhaps slightly more at risk but are also somewhat better informed than adult non-students about identity theft. Based on the findings, some general policy implications and educational strategies are offered to better combat identity theft in Canada. A number of suggestions for future research are also proposed.
YOUTH AUTO THEFT: A SURVEY OF A GENERAL POPULATION OF CANADIAN YOUTH
Mandeep K. Dhami
Institute of Criminology
University of Cambridge
Research on youth auto theft has been based mostly on young offenders who have been caught. The present study involved a sample of 779 youth attending 13 schools across BC, Canada. A sizable proportion (n = 184) of this sample from a general population had thought of or engaged in auto theft behaviours, from thinking about stealing a vehicle, through riding in a stolen vehicle, to being caught stealing a vehicle. This group differed from youth who had neither thought of nor engaged in any form of auto theft in terms of some demographic characteristics, their beliefs about the factors that prevent them from auto theft, their perceptions of young auto thieves’ characteristics and motivations, and their perceptions of the problem and prevention of youth auto theft. These findings have implications for targeting and developing youth auto theft prevention and intervention strategies. The findings also highlight the importance of studying auto theft in the general population.
FOUR-FACTOR STRUCTURE OF THE CORRECTIONAL PERSONNEL RATING SCALE
Tom Mitchell, Gunna J. Yun, and Erica Pinkos
Division of Applied Behavioral Sciences
University of Baltimore
Correctional officer performance appraisals often neglect to target important job behaviours, particularly those involving ineffective as well as effective work behaviours, and interactions with other staff and inmates. The Correctional Personnel Rating Scale (CPRS) was designed to capture these behaviours as well as traditional routine task-related behaviours. Two performance ratings were obtained, using the CPRS, for each of 742 correctional officers. An exploratory factor analysis identified four factors that reliably assessed (1) desirable work behaviours, (2) undesirable work behaviours, (3) emotional control, and (4) inmate relations. Findings indicate that the CPRS in an effective, comprehensive tool for assessing correctional officers’ job performance.
CORRELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND CRIME IN EASTERN TOKYO
Hiroshi Ikegaya
Department of Legal Medicine
Kyoto Prefectural School of Medicine
Chiba, Japan
Hideki Suganami
Graduate School of Engineering
Tokyo University of Science
Many reports have indicated a correlation between climate and crime. Here, we examine the correlation between climatic factors and forensic autopsies, and show that higher rates of murder, manslaughter, and bodily injury resulting in death occur on sunny days than on non-sunny days. The largest number of autopsies was associated with days on which the weather was unstable. In addition to increased activity of people on sunny days, unstable and uncomfortable weather may result in crime through induction of psychiatric stress. More hit-and-run cases occurred on rainy days than on non-rainy days, and unstable weather may also be associated with traffic crimes. We conclude that weather factors, in addition to social factors, are important in murder and in fatalities due to hit-and-run traffic crimes.
