October 2017

Canada’s national statistics agency relies solely on counts, percentages, and measures of central tendency to report on sentencing outcomes in the country. While these techniques are familiar, simple to calculate, and easy to interpret, they each offer just one perspective. Consequently, important information may go unreported. This article proposes an alternative statistical approach – a relative utilization quotient – to offer an additional perspective. The technique is employed to calculate the extent to which criminal sanctions are used for a particular offence category, relative to their general use across all offence categories. Data from the adult component of the Integrated Criminal Court Survey (2013–14) are used to operationalize the technique in analyses covering five key categories of offences and a subset of detailed offence groupings. Results demonstrate that the relative utilization quotient reveals important patterns of sanction use and, when it is considered alongside conventional measurement strategies, a more complete understanding of sentencing outcomes may be obtained. Because of its valuable contribution and ease of calculation, it is argued that the strategy should be more widely adopted in studies of sentencing and criminal case processing.

_____________________________________________

“Everybody Loves a Redemption Story around Election Time”: Rob Ford and Media Construction of Substance Misuse and Recovery

Liam Kennedy, Jenna Valleriani

The crack cocaine scandal that embroiled former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford presents an opportunity to explore how we think and talk about substance (mis)use and recovery. Examining 1,836 articles from four Canadian newspapers, we analyze the ways news media frame Ford’s use of crack cocaine. We find that Ford’s drug use was often linked to a police investigation into gangs and guns, and much was made of his association with “Somali” drug dealers. Not only does this framing perpetuate prevailing stereotypes (crack cocaine use by racialized individuals living in poor and violent communities), but also it encourages the public to consider drugs a criminal justice issue and contributes to the stigma associated with drug use. Moreover, news media repeatedly suggested that Ford’s problematic drug use could be solved if he took a leave from his job and entered a treatment facility. However, Ford’s refusal to express shame and seek immediate treatment made him unworthy of compassion and instead rendered him deserving of censure. We argue that news media promoting a narrow pathway to addiction recovery and redemption ignores the realities of problematic drug use and justifies the continued marginalization of those who fail to meet this strict code of conduct.

_____________________________________________

Une analyse des qualités psychométriques du Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) à partir de la théorie des réponses aux items

Guy Giguère, Patrick Lussier

Andrews, Bonta, and Wormith (2004) present the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) as a fourth generation risk/needs assessment tool for adult convicted offenders. Very limited research, however, has been conducted to verify Andrews et al.’s (2004) assertions about the validity of this tool. This study, therefore, provides a detailed analysis of the internal structure of the LS/CMI as well as its predictive validity. This study is based on data from a sample of 17,651 adult male offenders followed prospectively over a one-year period. Using item response theory analyses, the study findings indicate that in terms of predictive validity, the dynamic items of the assessment tool do not provide a significant improvement. In the end, after removal of several factors, mostly dynamic factors, it is shown that the static items alone prove as valid as those instruments of the third and fourth generation. As a result, the psychometric analyzes raise fundamental questions about the validity of the instrument but also its use and role with adult convicted offenders.

_____________________________________________

Resisting the Right: Countering Right-Wing Extremism in Canada

Ryan Scrivens, Barbara Perry

Recent world events seem to have motivated renewed activity of and public attention to right-wing extremism, not only within a global context but in Canada as well. In a national study involving interviews with Canadian law enforcement officials, community organizations, and right-wing activists, paired with analyses of open source intelligence, we observed that the foundations of right-wing extremism are complex and multifaceted, grounded in both individual and social conditions. This suggests that so too must counter-extremist initiatives be multidimensional, building on the strengths and expertise of diverse sectors: law enforcement, certainly, but also education, social services, public health, youth workers, and victim service providers, to name a few. In this article, we suggest strategies intended to directly exploit identified patterns inherent in right-wing extremist groups and their environments to disrupt the growth and sustainability of those groups.

_____________________________________________

Take-Home Naloxone Kit Distribution: A Pilot Project Involving People Who Use Drugs and Who Are Newly Released from a Correctional Facility

Em M. Pijl, Stacey Bourque, Madison Martens, Ashley Cherniwchan

Due to a recent increase in opioid overdoses in Canada, new harm reduction strategies are emerging. One of these strategies is take-home naloxone (THN) kits for individuals who use drugs being released from correctional facilities. Given the efficacy of naloxone for overdose reversal, the distribution of this medication to drug users upon release from incarceration has the potential for an impact on the incidence of drug-related death among this population. This group is at risk of overdose post-release due to lowered opioid tolerance and drugs of unknown strength. In this article, we report on the findings of a THN kit program for newly released inmates. This pilot project embodied a strong collaborative spirit between a provincial corrections facility and a not-for-profit harm reduction agency. Due to the success of this pilot project, this program was rolled out provincially in correctional centres across Alberta, overseen by the provincial health authority.

_____________________________________________

From Defect to Dangerous: Has the Door Opened for Recognition of an Addiction-Based Defence in Canadian Criminal Law?

Michelle S. Lawrence

For purposes of liability assessment, Canadian criminal law proceeds on a simplistic conceptualization of addiction. It presumes that the continued use of drugs or alcohol on the part of an addict is willed and deliberate, without regard to the potential impact of neurobiological vulnerabilities or concomitant mental disorders that impair volition and self-control. Not surprisingly, as a result, there is no accommodation within the law of criminal responsibility for the clinical realities of accused persons with these conditions. Significantly, in its 2011 decision in R v Bouchard-Lebrun, the Supreme Court of Canada signalled a willingness to vary this approach. It suggested that, if there were a risk of future dangerousness on the part of the accused by reason of addiction, resort might be had to the defence of not-criminally-responsible-by-reason-of-mental-disorder (“NCRMD”), and the accused might then be diverted from the correctional system to the forensic psychiatric system. It is perhaps obvious that a treatment-oriented response in a health care setting would benefit individuals seeking to overcome addiction. Moreover, to the extent that substance use and criminality are linked, public safety surely would be enhanced through the supervision of recovering addicts under the terms of Part XX.1 of the Criminal Code. Care must nonetheless be taken. It would be a matter of serious concern if the defence of NCRMD came to be used – unwittingly perhaps – as an alternative pathway for the preventive detention of addict populations.

July 11, 2020
Journal