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  • 2024-09-16

SOC109 Lecture 4

SOC109 Lecture 4 (20249).pdf

(SOC109 Lecture 4 (20249), p.4)
How crime data is collected and analyzed shapes public perceptions of the CLS and related policy responses.
(SOC109 Lecture 4 (20249), p.5)
conflict crimes tends to target marginalized groups in society.

• A lot of this is dependent on what's the norm.

(SOC109 Lecture 4 (20249), p.6)
crime typologies:
• Robbery, homicide, fraud, theft (i.e. specific varieties of crime).
• Violent and property crimes.
• 'Victimless crimes'
• White collar crimes or crimes of the powerful

• Violent crime obviously the easiest to report on, and thus gets the most attention.
  !SOC109 Lecture 4 (20249), p.7

• Focus of the public, yet the least common.

• CSI looks at average sentence.

• Research in Criminology is focused on homocides.

  • However they're pretty uncommon.
  • 1.94/100k 2023.

• Also distinguished by degrees.

  • Planning?
  • 1st
    • Plans to murder
  • 2nd
    • Intent to harm, no plan
    • No regard
  • 3rd
    • Manslaughter
    • Involuntary manslaughter
      • Negligence matters.

• In the court, the crown will use the 'mens rea' and 'actus rea' to figure out the procedure to prosecute.

• Mens Rea

  • Intention of committing the offense

• Actus Rea

  • Act of commiting offense

• Did they do the act? Did they intend to do it?

  • Could either end up being a case of mental health, illness, disregard, negligence.

• Property crimes involve people violating law, for a financial reward.

  • Most common
  • Apathy from the public
  • Seen as less harmful and victimless, because of insured goods, bailouts from govt, etc.
  • Can also be software, etc.
  • Costs and harms are less clear.

• Since 1980, decline in violent and property crime rates.

• Since 2013, there is an incline.

• Concentrated in city centres.

• Committed by amateurs. Unplanned.

(SOC109 Lecture 4 (20249), p.11)
Measuring the Impact of Police Discretion on Official Crime Statistics: A Research Note

• Overloading the policing system.
• Calls for service were declining. Response was declining. Reports were increasing. Volume of crime went up. Why?
  • Police were reporting everything, too much paperwork, not enough work being done.

(SOC109 Lecture 4 (20249), p.11)
suggest that changes in how police officers use their discretion contributed to substantial variations in recorded crime.

• Crime is always being reported differently, because of this, crime stats may not be a perfect evaluation or snapshot of real life.

• Learning about crime

  • We learn through alternate or secondary sources, which add their own lenses to the data.
  • Primary sources would be better.

• Crime data

  • Data may not be accurate, always different variables.
  • But this data forms our perceptions of crime in our areas.
  • Narratives don't always align with the reality.
  • Only 1/5 people thought crime was about the same.
  • People think of violent crime being 40% of all crimes, when it might be 20%.
  • Exaggerated media coverage changes the views and instills a view.

• Sources

  • Official
    • Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)
      • UCR data includes reporting by all canadian police agencies.
      • Standard reporting practice
      • Comparisons over time can happen
      • Track trends and patterns

      ---

      • Missing cases may happen
      • Sensitivity to police practices
      • Changes in law and impact data
        • What's now criminalized, what's not?
    • Juristats
  • Unofficial
    • Victimization
    • Self-reports
    • Academic studies
    • NGO's studies

• Police stats

  • Gone unquestioned, taken as fact.
  • Reporting in non-standard ways can mean that police can warp or alter data to benefit the police
  • Incentives for more reports, more solved, etc.
  • People may not cooperate or report.