Posted on: February 4th, 2014 by Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council
How do we get at the root causes of crime and prevent it from happening in the first place?
This isn’t a direct, straight answer, but, the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council believes part of the solution is to monitor the root causes of crime over time. Then we, as a community, can better understand and address the social, community and economic conditions associated with crime and victimization. Check out the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council’s report – A Snapshot in Time: The Root Causes of Crime in Waterloo Region to find out how we are doing in early childhood development, employment, community trust and other important indicators.
In the months following the report’s release, community residents, leaders and experts wrote blogs responses to share stories, insights and examples of how our community is responding to the root causes of crime outlined in the report. When we read all the fantastic community responses together like a book, we started to notice some themes and commonalities.
Many blogs responses focused on the importance of individual actions in building a safe and healthy community. Volunteering, owning a home and having a stake in a healthy neighbourhood or simple acts of noticing instead of “pretend(ing) to be an island” all make a positive difference .
Waterloo City Councillor, Karen Scian, tells a moving story of her encounter with a ‘squeegee kid’ at a red light as a way of illustrating how social capital (positive connections between people) is something we can all build and that protects against crime.
“His green eyes instantly reminded me of [my son] Peter. What if? …I…called him over…We chatted…and [I] gave him paper money. I gave him my business card. I asked him to call his mom…He thanked me again and told me that he was going to get something to eat and that he would call his mom…I had to hope.”
Higher levels of home ownership also serve as a protective factor against crime. Local realtor Keith Marshall is optimistic since “we are trending well in Kitchener-Waterloo. Crime is down. Homeownership is up. Neighbourhoods that were considered unsafe and decaying fifteen years ago are transforming into sought after and vibrant places to live.”
Calls for transformative changes to address root causes
Many contributors spoke passionately of the need for deep structural changes in our communities and systems in order to transform the social and economic conditions that contribute to crime and victimization.
In reflecting on the “deplorable” rates of violence against women and the need for a larger shelter in Waterloo Region in recent years, Mary Zilney asks:
“Why doesn’t our government create a system whereby the women and children remain in the family home and the abuser is removed? …Instead of building bigger shelters, we need to turn our minds to how we collaboratively eradicate violence against women.”
Part of the solution lies in changing attitudes and awareness
Many contributors agreed that part of the societal transformation required to address the root causes of crime and build healthy communities is changing attitudes so that all people are valued and treated with respect and understanding.
Sara Casselman writes about an innovative program to reduce incidences of sexual assault that works “with men in positions to influence male youth.” This program “encourages young men to treat women with fairness, equality and respect and to stand up and speak out on gendered violence.”
“when we provide those in need with stable housing we give the opportunity to live with dignity, reduce crime, reduce addiction and give the opportunity for better success. It is a win, win situation…We need to put as much effort into creating awareness and fundraising for this as we do when collecting food and socks.”
“the root of all root causes…is the stigmatization of people living in poverty. Societal attitudes / values impact our political voting choices and influence policy decisions…. if enough of us TRULY believed that everyone was a valuable member of society, we’d have much better policies in place that reflect that belief.”
Thank you to the community contributors for sharing these insights and calls to action. There’s more to come. Tune in to the next blog for part two of The Community Weighs in on the Root Causes of Crime. We’ll review the some more themes and provide additional reflections and food for thought.
Over the years, our crisis call numbers have fluctuated. In the last decade, there’s been a trend towards a moderate decline in the number of calls received, but the overall demand for our services has increased significantly. The explanation for this is simple; historically we provided more basic information related to services and supports on our crisis line. With much of that information now readily available online, the calls we most often receive today are supportive in nature or focused on crisis intervention.
With new ways of communicating emerging, our Centre has begun to explore the option of incorporating live online support into our crisis and support services.
Who else is involved in addressing this issue?
Awareness of the prevalence and impact of sexual violence has begun to increase regionally, thanks to the commitment of community partners to work in a spirit of collaboration.
In 2007, our community began to mobilize on this issue. A number of service providers formed a network which evolved into the Sexual Assault Response Team of Waterloo Region (SART). SART is now a community coordinating committee made up of 18 partner agencies from the criminal justice sector, the health sector, and the social services sector.
In 2012, SART launched a community protocol for responding to sexual assault in our region. The first such protocol of its kind in Waterloo Region, its purpose is to give service providers a broader foundation for the work they do. The protocol establishes a common understanding and framework for the provision of services to survivors of sexual violence, enabling greater coordination and collaboration between community partners.
What should be done?
Sexual violence impacts people of every age and cultural background, and has devastating impacts on individuals, families and communities. Every survivor, regardless of gender, deserves access to specialized support services in our community to promote healing.
As a region and more broadly, we need to balance our investment in support services for survivors of sexual violence and with public education campaigns aimed at prevention. We have consistently seen that early-intervention and prevention are necessary and cost effective.
It is important to understand, however, that sexual violence is primarily perpetrated by men, against women, children, and trans people.
As such, we need to consider social constructions of gender when looking at the prevention of sexualized crimes. Sexual violence is about power and control, not sexual desire. It is about aggressively dominating someone else.
This knowledge was the impetus behind the creation our Male Allies Against Sexual Violence (MAASV) program in 2008. MAASV is a unique public education program focused on working with men in positions to influence male youth (such as coaches, faith leaders, teachers, and fathers). The program explores how popular conceptions of masculinity can limit men’s freedoms and harm others. MAASV encourages young men to treat women with fairness, equality and respect and to stand up and speak out on gendered violence. (More information on MAASV can be found here: www.MaleAllies.org)
Sexual violence is pervasive, but it’s not inevitable. Through public education, social change is possible. A better future exists for our daughters and our sons.
Author: Sara Casselman is the Public Relations & Operations Manager at the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region. In the anti-violence against women sector for more than a decade, Sara has been recognized provincially as a Leading Women, Building Communities Award Recipient (2011) and was featured in The Record’s 40 under 40 (2012).
Being a leader doesn’t necessarily mean being at the front of a rally with a megaphone. There are many components to leadership. It’s important, especially for the guys reading this, to remember that we are all leaders, whether to our brothers and sisters, our partners, our friends, or to our sons and daughters.
The sexism, misogyny, transphobia and homophobia found in the media and in our everyday interactions can be overwhelming and confronting these issues can make us feel vulnerable or powerless. At the same time, many men (and women) do not know how to confront these issues in their own lives. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of us remain silent. However, when we remain silent about violence against women we are perpetuating a rape culture – whether we intend to or not.
What does rape culture mean?
Rape culture is a term used to describe a society wherein sexual violence is normalized through behaviours, attitudes and practices that tolerate rape. Okay… what does that mean? Rape is not the only action that perpetuates rape. How we act and what we say go a long way in telling those around us what is acceptable. For example, if we laugh or remain silent when a rape joke is told by one of our co-workers while we are not condoning the behaviour described in the joke – we are allowing the attitude expressed by the person who told the joke to remain unchallenged and spread.
While sexist and misogynistic attitudes may not physically harm women we know that language structures our thoughts and behaviours. The more prevalent these attitudes become, the more they are internalized by men and used as justification for their treatment of women. Admittedly, the intent of jokes that dehumanize women is generally not to encourage men to physically harm women. However, the impact of rape jokes is the creation of a rape culture that tells the men listening that their behaviours and attitudes towards women are acceptable.
Undoubtedly, this is a societal issue — but it also needs to be addressed individually. I want to encourage men to become accountable in their own lives and understand that they can make a difference simply by working to be the best version of themselves that they can be. One way we can do this is by leading with lollipops:
To end, I would like to say that while men need to become more active, we must continue to be accountable to women and women’s organizations such as the Sexual Assault Support Centre Waterloo Region (sascwr.org) who have been doing this work for decades and who make the work we do possible. Men who become involved in ending violence against women are often romanticized while the work of women goes ignored or unnoticed. As such, it is important to remember that while the dominant construction of masculinity may not work for all men – patriarchy does.
Author: Stephen Soucie is a MAASV Public Education Facilitator for the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region. Currently, he is a Masters student in the Critical Sociology program at Brock University. His research areas include: violence against women, men and masculinities, masculinity and sport, and engaging men in anti-violence activism.
Stand Up. Speak out. is the invitation MAASV extends to men and male youth to be part of the work of ending gendered violence in Waterloo Region. One in five men (21%) reported that they did not actively support community efforts to stop violence against women because no one had asked them to get involved.
Well, we’re asking!
A gendered analysis of sexual violence recognizes that women and children make up the majority of those who experience sexual assault and men make up the majority (98%) of offenders (Statistics Canada, 2003). Given the high percentage of male perpetrators, the significant percentage of boys who experience sexual abuse and the men whose lives are impacted when someone close to them experiences sexual violence, this is clearly a men’s issue too.
MAASV provides training and resources for parents, teachers, coaches and social service providers or will facilitate workshops with youth. Topics include: healthy masculinity, healthy relationships, respect, diversity and more.
Check out Jackson Katz – educator, author and filmmaker – internationally recognized for his ground-breaking work in the field of gender violence prevention education with men and boys. Katz speaks about men’s involvement in ending gendered violence.
In two upcoming guest blog posts you will hear from some of our male allies about their experiences and the strategies and tools they have learned and use in their lives.
Author: Joan Tuchlinsky is the Public Education Manager at the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region and coordinates the MAASV program. She is inspired by her five children and three grandchildren to work with others to create a safer and more equitable world.
Author: Sara Casselman is the Public Relations & Operations Manager at the 