U.1 Criminal Code Crime Rates and Media

docx

School

University of Guelph *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

3300(DE01)

Subject

Political Science

Date

Oct 30, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by ColonelCobra3381

POLS3300 Unit 1: The Criminal Justice System, Criminal Code and Media The Canadian Criminal Justice System - It is a complex network of independent but not procedurally connected police, prosecutors, courts, correctional agencies, and parole boards - Costing the government at least $10 billion in a year - Key responsibilities of the justice system include: o Prevention of crime o Law enforcement and crime investigation o Administration of justice and court processing o Punishment of offenders Independent But Connected - Responsibility for a single case is divided among many different decision makers, that sometimes have different mandates o Ex: judges have a responsibility to ensure the punishment is proportionate to the crime  However, parole board has a responsibility to ensure there is no community risk o Ex: police have a responsibility to investigate and charge for a crime  However, crown prosecutor has a responsibility to ensure justice is served which may or may not involved charges and prosecution - Different goals and mandates among different actors can create problems within the legal system o Information about a case is not shared between actors o The system as a whole operates at a slow pace - Formal actors in the criminal justice system are: o Legislators, police, courts, crown prosecution, defence counsel, parole boards and correctional services - Informal actors in the criminal justice system are: o Media, victims, groups, criminal justice advocacy groups Criminal Code of Canada - There are several sources of criminal law in Canada o Criminal Code o Youth Criminal Justice Act o Various statutes: o Firearms act, controlled drugs, and substances act o Quasi-criminal law (regulatory and provincial offences) - The largest and most important source of criminal law is the criminal code - Criminal code is statutory rather than constitutional law, meaning that is can be changed through the ordinary legislative processes in parliament - The criminal code must comply with the constitution od Canada, if a provision is found to violate the constitution, the provision will be declared invalid

3 Reforms of the Criminal Code - 1995: Royal Commission// repeal of most common law offences - 1968-1968: Decriminalization of homosexuality, abortion and contraception// introduction of gun control laws - 2001// introduction of terrorism offences// as a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States of America Crime Statistics and Media - Crime rates reflect only what is reported and may not always be an accurate measure of the occurrence of crime… this is especially true with cases of sexual assault or domestic violence - Crime rates depend on how we define crime, if we criminalize more things then crime rates will undoubtedly increase because there is more variety of offences to be charged with - Crime rates can be an indicator of policing practiced and trust in police, a higher rate might mean that police are more effective at law enforcement and the public has faith in them - Crime rates can also be used as a political tool as well, but an elected official cannot be rewarded or blamed for changing crime rates - Seeing as crime rates are a reflection of police activity they will also reflect any biases or potential discrimination that police may have Canada’s Crime Rate - From 2015-2016/// crime severity index increased 1% from 70 to 71 o Prior to then it was on a downward trend o The severity is measured using all types of reported crimes, with serious crimes being weighted more heavily than non serious crimes - Canadian police reported crime rates all followed the same pattern (total crimes, property crimes, other crimes, and violent crimes) o Steady increase from 1962 to reaching a peak in the 1980’s and 1990’s but had steadily declined ever since o Crime rate was relatively stable in 2015 to 2016 o This crime rate is calculated by tallying all criminal code offences reported to police then divided by population Determining Newsworthiness - When reporting on a crime, media does not cover all crimes in the same way characteristic of the offence - Overrepresentation of violent offences and underrepresentation of property offences - Focus on homicide and sexual offences

- Emphasis on new or unusual crimes Characteristic of the offender - Overemphasis on upper-middle class offenders - Crimes committed by women are disproportionately covered - Social or celebrity status is an important factor Characteristic of the sentence - Focus on rare and unusual sentences - Sentences that are deemed lenient Characteristic of the victim - Media more likely to report on stranger-on-stranger crimes - Innocent bystander victims - Some victims deemed less innocent because of their background, lifestyle, or race/ ethnicity -

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version