Introduction to Canadian Criminology

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Introduction to Canadian Criminology

• Instructor
• Office hours
• Tel/e-mail

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when there is crime in society there is no
justice Plato

• Criminology Its nature and structure WHAT IS
  A?
• Criminal
• Crime
• Deviant act
• Criminologist
• victim

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Setting the stage

• Has crime increased?
• Who commits the most crime?
• Does capital punishment work?
• What are the most serious crimes today?
• Can we control crime?

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The crime-deviance continuum

• Figure 1-1
• Define consensus vs. conflict crimes
• Examples of
• Social diversions
• Social deviations
• Crime as relative and evolutive
• Importance of frame of reference

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A call for Canadian Criminology

• Crime is universal so!
• Differences that count
• Minorities, law enforcement, sentencing, culture,
  politics, etc.
• Significant theoretical and practical
  contributions
• Review Canadian criminologists in Appendix 4
  (also see Appendix 1)

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Father of Canadian Criminology with author
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The Changing Face of Crime and Criminology

• Brief history
• criminology and P. Topinard (1879)
• Initial interest punishment and treatment
• Secondary evolution of the study of penology
• Reformers (C. Becarria J. Bentham)

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The subject matter of criminology has been
blurred by shifts of both meaning and focus N.
Walker 87

• 1920 Maurice Parmalees (sociologist)
  contribution vs.
• E. Sutherland
• See Appendix 2 variety of criminology/criminal
  justice journals

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The Criminological Enterprise

• Criminal statistics
• Sociology of law
• Theory construction
• Types of criminal behaviour
• Criminal justice system
• victimology

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The Diversity of Criminology

• Sociology social structure, social process, to
  social organization (Ch.7)
• Psychology science of individual behaviour (Ch.
  6)
• Biology chemical, genetic, and/or neurological
  influences (Ch. 5)
• Economics money the root of all evil

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• Geography/Environment crime rates a by-product
  of physical and environmental factors
• Political science the importance of social
  policy (contrast European and N.A. criminologists)

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Integrated and Interdisciplinary approach

• paradigm shift from unidiscipline to
  multi/interdisciplinary perspectives
• Calls for
• Integration of social sciences
• Recognition of the complexity of human behaviour
• Bridges specific and general aspects of crime

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every man is guilty of all the good he didnt
do - Voltaire

• Criminology requires bridging theory and policy
• Social and political challenges
• Policy in the absence of theory is guess work
• BUT serious ethical issues
• Punish or treat
• A crime or deviant act

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Summary

• Crime is a global issue
• Canada has its own unique concerns
• Criminology burgeoning in Canada
• Discipline rapidly evolving in a systematic and
  objective fashion
• Criminology an applied science that resembles a
  living organism