January 2021
Volume 63, No. 1 | Go to abstracts
Articles
Page 1
Homegrown Views? Exploring Immigrant and Racialized People’s Perceptions of Police in Canada
Maria Jung, Carolyn Greene, Jane B. Sprott
Page 23
The Social Organization of Community-Run Place: An Analysis of Community Gardens and Crime in Vancouver (2005–2015)
Yasmin Koop-Monteiro
Page 52
Exploring Inconsistencies in the Interpretation of Canada’s Section 161 Order for Sexual Offending
Natasha Knack, Julie Blais, J. Paul Fedoroff
Page 89
A Qualitative Analysis of Parole Suspensions among Women on Parole
Rosemary Ricciardelli, Laura McKendy
Abstracts
Homegrown Views? Exploring Immigrant and Racialized People’s Perceptions of Police in Canada
Maria Jung, Carolyn Greene, Jane B. Sprott
When compared to studies examining racialized people’s perceptions of police in North America, studies of immigrants’ views of police are quite rare and they often conflate the views of immigrants with those of racialized people. Yet, we know racialized people are not necessarily immigrants and immigrants are not necessarily racialized. Research that distinguishes immigrant status from racialized status has found important differences based on immigrant vs. native-born status, country of origin, and length of settlement. This research builds on these findings by specifically considering the relative influence of universal and immigrant-specific factors that may shape within-group views of police. Using the 2014 General Social Survey, variations in views of police among South Asians – Canada’s largest racialized group – are explored by whether they were born in Canada, immigrated recently, or had long settled within Canada. Our findings suggest that traditional measures – or the universal factors – used to assess perceptions of police may not explain immigrants’ views in the same way that they do for native-born individuals, and that immigrants’ views of police may be shaped in ways that are, as of yet, unaccounted for in the literature.
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The Social Organization of Community-Run Place: An Analysis of Community Gardens and Crime in Vancouver (2005–2015)
Yasmin Koop-Monteiro
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Exploring Inconsistencies in the Interpretation of Canada’s Section 161 Order for Sexual Offending
Natasha Knack, Julie Blais, J. Paul Fedoroff
Community-based risk management strategies for people convicted of sexual offences (PCSO) can hinder successful reintegration, which plays an important role in reducing sexual recidivism. Section 161 of the Criminal Code is a Canadian risk management strategy, which aims to protect children by prohibiting people convicted of sexual offences against children (PCSO-C) from engaging in behaviours assumed (sometimes erroneously) to be associated with sexual offending. This study was the first to evaluate Section 161 prohibition orders. We explored inconsistencies in the interpretation and (hypothetical) application of these conditions between PCSO-C subject to Section 161 and two non-forensic subsamples of the Canadian public – community members and undergraduate students. Non-forensic participants expressed more negative attitudes towards the treatment of PCSO, which were found to mediate the relationship between group membership and subjective legal decision-making. Degree of support for Section 161 conditions did not appear to moderate this effect. Results raise concerns about the potential for increased personal discretion when enforcing or adhering to ambiguous or overly broad legal conditions. We suggest the need for continued efforts to establish an empirical understanding of the application, efficacy, and potential collateral consequences associated with this Canadian risk management strategy.
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A Qualitative Analysis of Parole Suspensions among Women on Parole
Rosemary Ricciardelli, Laura McKendy
In studying parole outcomes, researchers have pointed to the prominence of technical violations (e.g., breaches of release conditions) in contributing to high rates of custodial returns. In the current study, we contribute to a qualitative understanding of women’s returns to custody in the Canadian federal context. Drawing on casework documents, we analyse pathways to reincarceration by examining circumstances leading up to and surrounding parole suspensions. We conceptualize parole “failure” as a process (Steen et al. 2013) that includes actions, reactions, and decisions on the part of parolees, parole officers, and case managers. Consistent with prior research, we found that parole suspensions were typically tied to non-compliance with parole conditions rather than new offending. However, events prompting suspension were seldom isolated or the first instance of violation. Preceding incidents were typically met with other types of case management response (i.e., enhanced monitoring, verbal intervention, therapeutic responses, and weighing risk against progress). Despite the important role of discretion in responses to violations, we found case management interventions to be largely oriented around managing compliance with parole conditions. We discuss the implications of condition-centric parole governance in relation to underlying principles of responsive case management.