Just think about it… a research centre whose sole purpose is to think creatively about how the courts and justice system can better serve citizens. That’s what you’ll find in the U.S.-based Center for Court Innovation that grew out of one Manhattan community court experiment in 1993. In 18 years, the evidence for community courts has shown that engaging the community in the court system, where they live, and providing practical, proactive approaches to solving individual and community issues leads to longer and more lasting change.
The Center for Court Innovation maintains a practice of “innovation based on evidence”. And others within the U.S. justice system, at the very top levels, agree. Mary Lou Leary of the U.S. Department of Justice sees the effectiveness of community courts in 5 basic principles; they:
reduce crime by addressing root causes
streamline the justice system by providing access directly within the community
change sentencing practices of the courts by providing the system with more options than just fines and punishment
solve individual problems with unique solutions
increase public trust in the justice system
Watch this 10 minute video which highlights examples from across the U.S. My favourite part is at minute 7:15 where the Dallas Police Chief, David Brown, states, “community court is not soft on crime. It’s being smartest on crime; there’s smart, smarter and smartest. The smartest law enforcement agencies attend to the social service needs of the people who live there”.
Justice, community and civic leaders involved in community courts seem to be driven by the passion for change for people and the creative solutions to help them get there. That seems smart on crime to me: evidence-based, collaborative, cooperative, flexible and responsive and with a social change orientation.
Each month we focus on research, blogs and news from around the world addressing smart approaches to crime prevention. We’re always on the lookout for websites and resources to draw from. March kicked off with International Women’s Day earlier this month. It seems only fitting that we share some items related to women.
[International] In 2007, the world’s population of people living in cities reached 50% and half of that number is women and girls. In many cities, women and girls remain particularly vulnerable to violence and crime. Women in Cities International (WICI) uses participatory research methods with groups of women in Argentina, Russia, Tanzania and India to produce the baseline findings in “Learning from women to create gender inclusive cities“. WICI doesn’t mince words when they say ensuring women’s safety should be of primary concern for urban governance and city development.
[International] Women’s Safety: A universal concern – this compendium of practices and policies on Women’s Safety comes from the International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (ICPC). Drawing from 32 countries, it includes 69 examples of municipal strategies, non-government initiatives, national government strategies and policies, and tools and resources.
[United States] The state of Oklahoma sends more women to prison (per capita) than any other U.S. state. The Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse aims to change that with its own “smart on crime” plan. Their proposal includes alternative interventions and programs at 17 different points between an arrest and incarceration. Their aim is to reduce prison costs, provide more rehabilitative options and reduce the impact of incarceration on families.
[International] And of course, there are all the resources from the UN Women program for gender equality and the empowerment of women. They have pan-national studies, statistics and best practices beyond your imagination.
What additional resources would you recommend related to women, violence and crime? Have your read anything thought provoking that you care to share? Post a comment to let us (and other readers) know about it!
International Women’s Day has come and gone 100 times and still, much remains to be done to address the inequitable status experienced by women and girls in all societies. Why does this matter for crime prevention?
Well, two World Health Organization (WHO) reports outline clearly that inequality can and does lead to violence: sexual violence, physical violence and emotional violence. All forms of violence are disproportionately experienced by women and girls in all countries across the world. The WHO advocates for an approach that addresses ALL aspects of violence where inequality is manifest; at home, in our communities, and finally in society at large.
The WHO reports also show that in all areas, a direct connection can be made between experiences of inequality and experiences of violence. Women and girls remain less valued, less paid, less powerful than their male counterparts. When coupled with issues of problematic substance use, easy access to weapons, differential value based on gender and a family history of abuse and neglect, the consequences are all too visible in the lives of so many.
But not all is lost. And that is what makes the WHO reports so SMART. They show, through research, that as we make changes to the inequitable status of women and girls, violence decreases. School based programmes that challenge the perceptions that girls are inferior have been shown to be particularly effective. I encourage you to read the reports and look for areas where you can strive to implement more equal practices in your places of work, the community, at home and your places of faith.
Author: Christiane Sadeler, ED, Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
Posted on: February 28th, 2011 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
In a recent report, Why Canadian Crime Statistics Don’t Add Up: Not the Whole Truth, written for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, author Scott Newark argues that violent crime has actually increased in Canada despite Statistics Canada reporting a decrease in violent crimes for the past decade. We could have predicted the controversy this would cause. Professor Anthony Doob and lawyer Edward Greenspan, among others, are taking Newark to task on the research methodology used for this report.
Doob and Greenspan contend that Newark’s report is flawed by his use of data that cannot be compared statistically. To get even more technical, they also suggest that Newark uses numbers from older reports with different definitions of “violence” and that he looks at overall numbers of violent crime without accounting for increases in population. Doob and Greenspan are unequivocal that these are statistical errors that end up showing an increase when in reality there was a decrease.
Anna Maria Tremonti recently interviewed Scott Newark on The Current. Audio of the interview can be found online. It is well worth a listen as Tremonti digs into the challenges of presenting and interpreting complex data like crime statistics.
While the debate about the data continues, the fact remains that Canada’s public safety and crime policies will be influenced by one set of data or another.
Posted on: February 9th, 2011 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
Measuring trends and services over time and within consistent categories is a strength that makes Correctional Services Canada reports a fascinating read. No, seriously! It’s true!
The 2010 report on corrections, crime and the criminal justice system provides data that can help with understanding some very complex issues. It also provides information needed by all levels of our community to make informed decisions based on sound evidence. We might even say that this data helps us to make “smart on crime” decisions.
Why are these numbers important? What do they tell us over time? How do we change our systems as a result of knowing this information? What is the role of ‘smart’ prevention approaches to help reduce these numbers?
Posted on: February 9th, 2011 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
Does watching real-life crime stories increase your fear of crime or do you watch real life crime stories because you are afraid of crime? This question remains after reading Watching the Detectives: Crime programming, fear of crime, and attitudes about the criminal justice system. Researched and written by university professors Lisa Kort-Butler and Keller Hartshorn, this study shows a relationship between fear of crime and the type of television program people watch.
According to the study, people who watch nonfiction crime programs, like ABC’s Primetime or The First 48 hours, are more fearful of becoming a victim of crime than those who did not. Interestingly, they found that people who watched crime dramas, like Law and Order or NYPD Blue, were no more fearful of crime than those that did not these shows.
The article speculates the difference is related to the fact that crime dramas show the police getting “the job done and the offender gets his or her desserts”. In contrast, crime documentaries often show the authorities one step behind the criminal while they emphasis that the victim could be anyone. Despite this speculation the authors acknowledge the limit of their study. Based upon the results they simply do not know if fear of crime is the cause or the result of what TV shows people watch. This is summarized in a common used academic statement….. correlation does not mean causation.
This limitation in research is important to recognize as it is a common issue in studies. Using statistics academics can be fairly confident that one thing is related to another but in order to explain that one thing causes another is much more difficult.
The Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council has done its own Fear of Crime Report using data from the 2008 Waterloo Region Local Area Survey. While it doesn’t ask any questions about TV habits, there are some fascinating observations and findings about perceptions of safety and fear of crime. You can find a copy of the report online.
So, what do you think, do people who are afraid of crime gravitate towards crime documentaries? Or does watching real life crime stories gradually make someone more afraid of becoming a victim themselves? The experts don’t know yet, so your guess is as good as theirs!
Posted on: February 4th, 2011 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
The ongoing conversation about crime, data, fear of crime, and the combination of all three, has always been a matter of much public debate.
The debate continues in this article from The Guardian: Crime maps, policing and fear. They raise the questions… Does this type of crime data do anything to reduce crime? What does the data actually tell us? Does it provide tools for neighbourhoods dealing with crime issues? Does this information increase the fear of crime?
“If there is a lesson to be drawn from a history of fear-of-crime research, it is that the more we attempted to measure and analyse fear of crime in attempts to allay fear, the more fearful the public became.” says Murray Lee, director of the Institute of Criminology, Sydney, Australia.
Daniel Bear digs into the complexity of presenting crime data through pin-point maps that “implicitly point the finger at police, when in fact, it’s a much larger set of issues”.
Regardless of the helpfulness or harmfulness of the data… these maps attract a lot of attention and visitors, even from those who are critical of them. In fact, the UK Home Office experienced ‘technical difficulties’ after it released its crime map… it seems like 18 million visits per hour created a bit of website overload.
What are your thoughts? Is crime mapping a ‘smart’ approach to crime prevention?
Teens and pre-teens face daily relationship challenges. Words and actions do threaten and hurt. With all the campaigns aimed at preventing and reducing teen bullying, harassment and violence, we’ve come across a few that we like… and also seem to resonate with teens.
That’s Not Cool.com, is a website for pre-teens to learn about appropriate behaviour in dating relationships and what could be warning signs of potential relationship violence. The site offers safe ways for teens to identify and ‘call out’ behaviour that is… ‘not cool’.
ThinkB4youspeak.com challenges youth to think about the words they use in everyday language and that peers can feel victimized by pervasive use of hurtful language. ThinkB4youspeak.com has several ‘hit-it-home’ videos aimed at the use of the phrase “that’s so gay”. The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), creators of the website, knows that changing attitudes and language used by teens is no easy task… but it’s an important education effort to prevent LGBTQ youth from being hurt, threatened, stalked or humiliated.
ThinkB4youspeak.com encourages youth to make their ‘that’s so day’ videos. Here’s one of the best.
What smart resources have you come across that help to prevent victimization among teens and youth? Add a comment below to share them with us.
Individuals with a criminal record can face significant barriers to gaining employment upon release from prison. One of the single most important factors for reducing recidivism is finding a job.This week, the Waterloo Region Record talked with Jessica Hutchison about the upcoming Employment Forum for Federally Sentenced Women. Being smart on crime means “finding good, sustainable jobs to ensure that women leaving the prison have a successful change at reintegrating into the community”.
The forum is open to community members and takes place from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Feb. 7 2011. For more information or to register, contact Jessica Hutchison at jhutchison[at]regionofwaterloo.ca or 519-575-4757 ext. 5260.
While the Crime Prevention Council is all about preventing crime, we also have a commitment to reducing victimization which results from crime. The Missing Pieces report gives 44 recommendations for reducing and preventing interpersonal violence in Waterloo Region. “The Missing Pieces” report is part of the Violence Prevention Plan for the Region of Waterloo. This work of the Crime Prevention Council fall within our priority direction for Research and Inquiry.
The research findings and recommendations were developed after a series of interviews with victims and offenders of interpersonal violence and a number of community agencies who deal with the aftermath of violence.
“Many of the “missing pieces” are actually not missing at all – they are scattered throughout our community waiting to be assembled,” said John Shewchuk, Chair of the WRCPC, “This report will help Waterloo Region put in place the needed supports to help curb interpersonal violence and finally complete the puzzle.” Recommendations related to victims were made in the areas of system navigation, support to LGBTQ, sexual assault, male victims, elder abuse, screening for abuse, and domestic violence.
Recommendations related to offenders were made in the areas of offender reintegration, employment, housing, and the Partner Assault Response program. Recommendations related to both victims and offenders were made in the areas of cultural services and access to counselling.
