CRIM 2303 Crime and Society

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CRIM 2303Crime and Society
Week 9 Crime, Violence and Guns
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This Week

• Classification of violent crimes
• Violent crime trends (Stats Canada)
• Some characteristics of violent crime
• The causes of violent crime (Theories)
• Comparing Canada and the United States
• Why does the US have such a high violent crime
  rate?
• Guns, crime violence Group discussion

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Classification of Violent Crimes

• Homicide (first degree, second degree,
  manslaughter, infanticide)
• Assault (Level 1 common assault Level 2
  assault with a weapon, or causing bodily harm
  Level 3 aggravated assault, assault on a peace
  officer, unlawfully causing bodily harm)
• Sexual assault (level 1 common sexual assault
  level 2 weapons, threat, harm Level 3
  aggravated sexual assault)
• Spousal assault (not a separate criminal
  category)
• Robberies (taking property from another through
  the use of force or threat of force)
• Abduction (kidnapping)
• Hate Crime (separate offence, does not always
  include violence)

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Violent Crime Trends

• Overview (2002 Police Reported)
• About 300,000 violent crimes reported by police
  in 2002
• Accounted for 13 of the 2.4 million Criminal
  Code offences
• 63 of all violent crimes Level 1 (least
  violent)
• 1980s and early 1990s violent crime rate
  increased steadily.
• Since 1993, violent crime has been declining,
  including a 2 decrease in 2002.
• By 2002, the rate of violent crime in Canada was
  11 lower than in 1992, but still two-thirds
  higher than 25 years ago

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Violent Crime Trends

• Provincial Breakdown (2002 Statistics)
• Fourth consecutive year Saskatchewan recorded
  the highest rate of violent crime (1,812
  incidents per 100,000 population)
• Quebec continued 8-year trend by reporting the
  lowest rate of violent crime (719 incidents per
  100,000 population)

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Violent Crime Trends

• Assault
• 240,000 incidents of assault
• Down 2 from the previous year (first decline in
  three years).
• The 2002 rate is about the same as it was in
  1991.
• Accounts for over three-quarters of all violent
  crime.
• Common assaults (pushing, slapping, punching, and
  face-to-face threats) account for 4 out of every
  5 assaults and 3 out of every 5 violent crimes.

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Violent Crime Trends

• Homicide
• Homicide rate declined by 7 in 2003 (over 2002)
• 2003 National homicide rate at lowest level in
  30 years
• 2003 1.73 victims per 100,000 population.
• United States 5.69 per 100,000 people
• England Wales 1.93 France 1.65 Australia at
  1.63
• One in every seven homicides involved organized
  crime or street gangs (45 per cent of which
  occurred in Ontario).
• Homicide/attempted murder account for less than
  half of one percent of all violent crime.
• http//www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040929/d040929
  a.htm

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Violent Crime Trends

• Sexual Assault
• Approx. 24,000 sexual assault incidents reported
  by police
• 78 incidents per 100,000 population
• 98 were classified as level 1 (least violent
  level)
• 8 of all violent crimes in 2002
• Sexual assault rate increased steadily throughout
  1980s. Peaked in the early 1990s, then six years
  of large declines. Unchanged over the past four
  years
• All three levels of sexual assault decreased over
  past decade Level 1 assaults down 35, level 2
  assaults down 64, level 3 assaults down 65 from
  1992

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Violent Crime Trends

• Robbery
• 27,000 robberies reported by police in 2002 9
  of all violent crimes 3 decline in 2002.
• Nearly half of these robberies were committed
  without a weapon 13 were committed with a
  firearm, 38 with a weapon other than a firearm.
• All categories of robbery declined in 2002. Rates
  of firearm robbery were down 10 from the
  previous year and 64 from a decade ago.
• Robbery is the only violent crime for which youth
  make up a substantial proportion (32) of all
  persons charged. Past ten years rate of youths
  charged with robbery increased 4, compared to a
  25 decrease in rate of adults charged.

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Characteristics of Violent Crime

• Relationship between victim and offender
• In 80 of all murders, the victim and perpetrator
  were acquainted with one another (Intimate
  partners/family members 30 / Other
  acquaintances 50 )
• Gender breakdown
• Women face 1/3 the murder risk faced by men
• However, women are four times likely to have been
  killed by spouses/ other intimate partners
• Male victims are nearly twice as likely to be
  killed by friends, acquaintances, or strangers

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Theories of Violent Crime

• Theories of crime in general can be used to
  describe violence
• Social Environmental cultural pathology (violent
  society) strain, conflict, inequality, control,
  social learning, differential association,
  feminist theories
• Children who are victims/witness violence in the
  home are more likely to become abusive themselves
  (if they are boys) or to be abused in their adult
  relationships (if they are girls).
• Individual biological/physiological,
  psychological/mental illness
• Facilitating / Aggravating Factors Guns,
  drugs/substance abuse, drug trafficking/organized
  crime/gangs, violence in the media/ music/video
  games, etc.

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Theories of Violent Crime

• Three social factors have a profound impact on
  the level of violent crime in a community
• Socio-economic Crime and violence correlates
  with socio-economic level
• Spatial concentration Concentrations of poor
  families in geographic areas measures associated
  with local social disorganization poverty,
  instability, high housing/population density,
  family breakdown/violence, racial inequalities
  (crime and violence is concentrated in poor
  areas)
• Presence of local facilitating factors Increase
  the opportunity for violence to occur (e.g.,
  firearms, alcohol, drugs, gangs, high proportion
  of young males, etc.)

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Characteristics of Violent Crime

• Racial Breakdown
• Most homicides are intra-racial (i.e., whites
  kill whites, blacks kill blacks)
• Nonwhites are over-represented in violent crime
  arrests
• Blacks are more likely than whites to continue
  violent crime careers into their twenties

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Theories of Violent Crime

• Race, Community and Violent Crime
• Violence falls most heavily on ethnic minority
  males and occurs most often in poor urban areas
  on native reserves.
• The lifetime risk of being murdered (United
  States)
• 42 per 1,000 for black males
• 18 per 1,000 for Native American males
• 6 per 1,000 for white males
• 3 per 1,000 for white females
• Disparity is explained by higher levels of
  disadvantage in the communities in which racial
  minority groups live.
• Black/white difference reflect conditions in
  low-income neighborhoods ( disappears in
  high-income neighbourhoods)

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Theories of Violent Crime

• Race, Community and Violent Crime
• In Canada, violence is endemic on native reserves
• Social environmental factors (poverty, racism,
  physical abuse of children, etc.)
• Individual factors (high rate of fetal alcohol
  syndrome)
• Facilitating factors (substance abuse, prevalence
  of firearms on reserves, geographic isolation)
• Cultural (destruction of culture, loss of power)
• http//archives.cbc.ca/400d.asp?id1-73-516-2437

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Theories of Violent Crime

• Race, Community and Violent Crime
• In Canada, violence is endemic on native reserves

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Theories of Violent Crime

• Violence Against Women
• Influenced by historical/socio-cultural
  traditions
• Major issues control, power, objectification,
  rejection
• Legally, men have historically been given power
  and control over womens sexual and reproductive
  capacities
• Proprietary men view their partners as theirs
  exclusively, also experience feelings of
  entitlement
• Sex for men is a Power Trip! Sexual Assault To
  control women
• Aggravated by images/perceptions of women as
  sexual objects
• Male perceptions of rejection by women jealousy
  over loss of power control increased power of
  women (feminism) within society
• http//archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-70-398/disasters_tra
  gedies/montreal_massacre/

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Why is the U.S. so violent?
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Why is the U.S. so violent?

• Cultural - History of violence Rooted in their
  culture The U.S. was founded on violence
  (revolution).
• Greater availability of guns and automatic
  assault weapons (Canada and the US have similar
  rates of crime and assault, yet in the US it is
  far easier to get a gun, which increases homicide
  rate).
• The US has a generally higher crime rate (False
  The property crime rate between the US and Canada
  is about the same)
• Nature of property crime Canada has a higher
  rate of BEs (where no one is home) US has a
  much higher rate of robberies (stealing through
  physical force against an individual)
• The criminals in the US are simply more violent
  than criminals in other countries (OK, but why???)

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Why is the U.S. so violent?

• The US has a very multi-racial, multi-ethnic
  society which contributes to violence (False
  Canada is more racially and ethnically diverse).
• Very high violent crime rate among young, black
  males in the U.S. The United States has a much
  higher proportion of black males than Canada.
• The US has a greater concentration of poverty
  racism, which can lead to higher levels of
  violence. In other words, America does not have a
  violent crime problem Americas inner cities
  have a violent crime problem (true).
• Drugs and crime U.S. has a worse drug problem
  than Canada.
• Relationship between punishment (deterrence) and
  homicide Ironically, US has the death penalty,
  yet has a much higher murder rate than most other
  industrialized countries.

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Guns, Violence Gun Control

• Gun Availability and Control
• Among legal gun owners, the reasons given for
  owning or carrying a weapon hunting,
  sports-related activities, and home protection.
• US survey 75 percent reported that
  self-protection is the primary reason for owning
  a firearm.
• Approximately 37,500 gun sales, including 17,800
  handgun sales, are completed every day in the
  United States.
• Gun Control US has relatively lax controls
  compared to Canada easier to purchase, wider
  range of guns available (including fully
  automatic assault weapons hand guns) less
  registration requirements, less stringent storage
  laws, some states allow citizens to carry
  concealed weapons (Much stronger gun lobby!).

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Guns, Violence Gun Control

• Statistics

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Guns, Violence Gun Control

• Gun violence is highest among young people
• Firearm homicide rate for 15 to 24 age group
  increased 158 1984-93 (US)
• A teenager in US is more likely to die of a
  gunshot wound than all "natural" causes of death
  combined
• Firearm homicide rate for under 15 years 16
  times higher in the US compared to 25 other
  industrialized countries combined.
• Age 15 to 24 U.S. firearm homicide rate is
• 5 times higher than in Canada
• 30 times higher than in Japan
• Young African-American males
• Homicides involving firearms have been the
  leading cause of death for African-American males
  ages 15 to 19 since 1969

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Guns, Violence Gun Control

• Debate
• Guns kill people vs. people kill people
• More guns more crime vs. more guns more
  protection against criminals (less
  victimization)
• Right to bear arms (individual liberty) vs.
  collective security (rights of society as a
  whole)
• http//www.guncontrol.ca/Content/about.htm