Falling Crime Rates in Many Countries
This post is under 800 words and can be read in about 4 minutes. Although many Canadians don’t seem to believe this – perhaps because so much media coverage is about crime – crime rates in Canada have fallen dramatically...
Read MoreThis blog: One year and 50 posts later
This post is 600 words and can be read in 3 minutes. This blog ran its first post just about a year ago. At that time we stated the goal as being “to help build a well-informed public, which in...
Read MoreSecurity level explains kinds of violence in Canadian prisons
This post is about 650 words and can be read in 3 minutes. Based on interviews with former male federal prisoners, Memorial University Professor Rose Ricciardelli found that higher levels of security in Canadian prisons produce higher rates of...
Read MoreCrime rates don’t affect police or prison numbers; minority population does
This post is 500 words and takes about 2 minutes to read. Most of us presume that cities have more police when there is more crime. We also assume that more people in prison is a result of more crime. ...
Read MoreSuicide in prisons: An international comparison
This post is 700 words and will take 3 minutes to read. Suicide rates among people in prison are dramatically higher than those in the general population, although this varies greatly among countries. This is the conclusion of a recent...
Read MoreRehabilitation can work
Why do we send people to jail? Although jail is taken for granted as a punishment for many crimes, people often don’t think much beyond that. Someone does something wrong, the response is punishment, and the common punishment is time...
Read MoreWhy and how do people desist from crime?
A major purpose of the criminal justice system is to reduce the number of crimes committed. The Criminal Code sections on sentencing (s 718) lists several reasons for giving criminal sentences, including denunciation and deterrence, both of which are presumed...
Read MoreCanada gives less parole despite excellent results
The National Parole Board is responsible for making decisions about parole for all Canadian federal prisoners (sentences of more than two years) and prisoners in many provinces. The Parole Board is made up of members appointed by the federal government;...
Read MoreWomen need health care to stay out of prison
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Patricia Jansen, Mo Korchinski, Ruth Elwood Martin, all from the University of British Columbia “What I have done is not who I am. Most of us are emotionally...
Read MoreThe Perils of Prediction: Evidence on the Limitations of Tools for Predicting Recidivism
In the media coverage of the recent attack in Edmonton on a police officer and several civilians, questions were asked about why this man was able to commit such a crime given that he had been questioned by police several...
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